2 - Friday, March 25, 1994 - North Sno News

N.Van City tightens
second-suite by

TO FEND off a possible

underground movement in sec- ; \

ondary suites, North Vancou- Bagg e Or, PT Re naaaia
ver City Council approved a Re ans “ se
staff recommendation Monday

to lighten its basemeni suite

bylaw.

NORTH VANCOUVER
CITY COUNCIL
by Greg Felton

In its presentation to council, the ‘
city’s development services depart- Ras ie Ae . .
ment told council it had received : -. fe ican Johmstone’s still needs help to move

several building plans “in which

cellar space appears to be designed f an over shipment of barbecues.

for secondary suites.” “We're trying to strike a balance

Cellars are deemed to be unsafe — in the legislation,” said White. ’ FINAL WEEKEND! SOME BARBECUES

for habitation because the windows The second step would be to

are too small to allow for safe exit. Jimi external cellar access. \f ; WILL BE DRASTICALLY REDUCED.

A basement is defined as a floor According to the report, door , = Pep °

that extends between one and five
feet (0.3m to 1.5m) below the aver-
age grade of a house, while a cellar
is more than five feet below,

Even though the current bylaw
does not recognize the conversion
of cellars into secondary suites, city
planner Ken White recommended
that council act to prevent abuses of
the city’s “liberal policy” toward
secondary suites.

The first step of the recommen-
dation involves changing the man-
ner'in which total floor area is cal-
culated.

Under current practice, base-
ment area is included in the total,
whereas cellar space is not.

The new bylaw would exempt
only the first 399 square feet (37

_sq. m) of cellar space, which the
report said is adequate for average
family use.

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wells und window wells give the
impression that the cellar is habit-
able.

To strengthen the distinction
between basements and cellars,
only one external aceess would be
permitted, said White.

Coun. John Braithwaite support-
ed the motion but questioned its
efficacy if an outside stairwell is
permitted,

“What is this bylaw doing to
prevent (a cellar) from being used
as an extra suite? ... Suppose we
said ‘no’; what would that mean?”

Fred Smith, director of develop-
ment services answered by saying it
was an cither/or proposition.

“Either they (would) have a
stairwell with no window well, ora
window well with no stairwell,
which would preclude the use of
that space as a suite.”

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