After months of debate in city hall, Grande Prairie residents will have the option to build detached garden suites on their property.
This comes as the city continues to battle GP’s housing availability problem, with the city’s vacancy rate floating as low as zero per cent according to several council members and administrative staff.
Deputy Mayor Mike O’Connor says the bottom line is the city needs more housing to continue growing and providing more options for residents, as of right now, seems to be the way to go.
“We need to increase our housing, whichever way we have to do it, this is the thing we need to do for our community, we need to have more places for people to work so we can attract more businesses so they can move here and have a place to live, it’s very simple,” he says.
The topic has been met with some controversy, with numerous councillors raising concerns regarding fire safety, disruption to neighbours, and parking availability; however, Councillor Dylan Bressey maintains this is “nothing new” for Grande Prairie.
“I think it’s really important to point out that this isn’t new, today, under the old bylaw, you could build a garden suite, but you had to put it above a garage, this is just allowing residents an option to build a smaller property to achieve the same thing they’re already able to do today,” he says.
When it comes to housing starts as a whole, O’Connor explains housing prices and rental fees are simply too low in Grande Prairie to attract developers, but talks are underway to address that issue.
“Our housing prices and our rental fees are not high enough for developers to build structures so we’re trying to find ways to incentivize our builders to start building,” he says.
Councillor Bressey adds that the reduction of red tape surrounding garden suites is just another way for the city to put money in the pockets of homeowners, rather than corporations and big business.
“We want the maximum amount of options for people, especially people who are looking to buy property to develop what will work for them and their family,” he says. “For me, to have rental options that aren’t just apartments and condominiums that only a corporation can own, but rental options that can have an owner-occupied component or can have multiple generations of a family all under one roof, that’s a win to me.”
Multi-generational living seems to be the city’s biggest selling point for the new bylaw, and Bressey says providing “as much variety as possible” for residents to open up those options will only serve homeowners better.
“Sometimes you want to live with grandparents on property, but not necessarily under your roof, or your standing house doesn’t work to have them under your roof, so this is another option,” he says. “It’s also an option for residents who want to age in place, and need to downscale, but they don’t want to leave the beautiful yard they’ve been working on for decades.”
Some residents and even some councillors presented concerns regarding disruption in the neighbourhood given the council’s motion, but Bressey maintains the change will only impact a few residents, at least in the near future.
“Honestly, I don’t expect a huge impact, we already allow these suites above garages and we have only a few of those in the community, I don’t think we’re going to see dozens and dozens of these happening any time soon, I think it’ll just be a few, but for those few residents where this is a good option, I’m excited they’ll have the opportunity,” he says. “We haven’t taken away the ability for residents to do anything, we’ve just given them further options to do a smaller-impact structure if that’s what they want to do,”
The motion passed seven to two, with councillors Chris Thiessen and Mike O’Connor voting against, but O’Connor maintains this was a council decision, and he stands with his colleagues on the matter going forward.
