A city bylaw introduced a year ago to make secondary suites safer in Red Deer has been met with some success, says a staff report.
The City of Red Deer report going to city council on Monday shows 572 secondary suite applications have been received since December 2009 when the Secondary Suite Bylaw was created. Of those, 533 — or 93 per cent — were received prior to the Sept. 1 deadline. The remaining 39 applications were for new secondary suites.
Owners of existing secondary suites — which include self-contained cooking and sleeping facilities — were told they must register their suites by last September or face fines and shutdown and eviction of tenants. The city has been trying to register all suites in Red Deer to ensure they are up to building and fire codes.
Administration suggested the bylaw has been largely successful because many owners have applied to get their suites registered.
“The bylaw is not a bad bylaw,” said Joyce Boon, co-manager of the city Inspections and Licensing Department. “It’s working, but our (proposed changes) will help it even a bit more.”
The Municipal Planning Commission, which reviews each existing suite application, has a backlog because it can only review six at a time.
The commission has approved 126 secondary suites, but another 395 applications are still pending. Since Dec. 1, 2009, until Nov. 29, 2010, 26 suites were denied — 16 were appealed and five were upheld. Only 25 suites were shut down — voluntarily.
Administration is suggesting the development officer approve applications that haven’t received any complaints from neighbours, rather than going to the commission. It’s estimated this change would see applications of existing suites finalized by October 2011, rather than an estimated February 2012.
Another recommendation going to council involves changing the wording within the bylaw, so that it no longer refers to curb appearance, principal function of a residential dwelling, and level of activity.
These references were open to interpretation and as a result, the planning commission was finding itself dealing a lot with tenant complaints when it shouldn’t be. Council can decide if any of these changes are necessary for proposed bylaw amendments, which would then come at a later date.
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com
