A huge backlog of existing secondary suite applications will be significantly reduced with changes to a Red Deer bylaw.
City council passed several resolutions this week to improve the year-old bylaw governing secondary suites.
One change would see a city development officer approving self-contained suites that have met all conditions and haven’t received any opposition from neighbours.
Several councillors favoured the idea because it would speed up moving 395 applications through the process.
Councillors Chris Stephan and Dianne Wyntjes supported this step because neighbours would still have the opportunity to appeal.
“I speak in favour of the development officer taking a wider role,” said Councillor Lynne Mulder.
Plus, the application process is taking up staff time, she added.
Staff spends six to seven weeks to process each application, including letting neighbours know about a proposed secondary suite.
Councillors Tara Veer and Buck Buchanan voted against the resolution because they said it’s important for each application to be discussed in a public forum, namely the Municipal Planning Commission.
Council also resolved to have the Secondary Suite Ad Hoc Committee look into what can be done about 17 pending applications within West Park on the east end. That area has already reached the 15 per cent cap for secondary suites within a neighbourhood.
A report will be brought back to council by June, at the latest.
The Municipal Planning Commission as well as the secondary suites committee will explore whether rules surrounding density and proximity of secondary suites will need to be changed. Other items that will be considered include the licensing of secondary suites and having a centralized system for complaints.
Any resolutions will come back to council for approval in the form of bylaw amendments.
Mulder thinks the city is on the right track for improving secondary suite conditions.
“There’s a lot of things that need to be looked at, but I think this will make a difference to both people who own secondary suites who are looking for approval, to our administrative staff, and to council in terms of how we move forward on this.”
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com