PINION on North

Vancouver District's

proposal to legalize
all secondary suites subject
to certain conditions pro-
voked an almost equal split
of opinion at Tuesday's
public hearing.

The followirg is just a small
cross-section of the many respons:
esto the complex and controver
sial probiem char has dogged suc:
cessive district councils tor 10
years.

; dda

“legal suites are unrequlated
suttes and ws such may be both
unhealtire and unsafe. Simply
declaring there legal, as ts proposed,
does not magically make them
healthy and safe.”

~~ Edgemont resident Corrie
Kost, on the lack of legislated
inspection in the bylaw.

922

“Most suite-owners are afraid ta .

come forward ta have their suites
inspected because they are afraid of
the large anaual levy thar will be
charged, supposedly to cover addi-
tional use af municipal services.”
-~ Former coun-
cillor Mary Segal,
speaking in favor of
the bylaw and its
lack of inspection
fees and annual
charges.
Qo09
“People invested
their money into care-
fully chosen single-fam-
ily neighborhoods which
they understood at the
time of their investment
would stay that way.
Bylaw 6922 betrays that
trust.”
— Draycott Road
resident Maureen
Bragg, on the down-
zoning of single-fam-
ily neighborhoods
implicit in tegalizing
secondary suites.
o0og
“If you're going to
do this I suspect there
are going to be a lot of
people, and Pm going
to be one of them, look-
ing for a redirection of my taxes.”

— John Hunter, on what he
will do if his single-family
neighborhood is “dupiex
zoned.”

909

“Mixed communities require
people to pump gas and bag gro-
certes. If you want the nanntes, if
you want the people to take care of
the children, none of us make
enough to live in a home alone.”

— Secondary suite resident
Heather Stevens, on the down-
side of elitism,

900

"For the owner, the suzte isa
source of income and for the tenant
it is affordable housing. The infra-
structure of our neighborhoods is
not only rhe sidewalks, roads, street
lights and clean wate: it is alse the
citizens of our community. It is
important that we ensure that the
pioneers of otr neighborhoods are
able to remain in their neighbor-
hood — if they want to.”

—~ Diane Jolly, chairman of
the Community Services
Advisory Committee, com-
mending council for addressing
community concerns.

“] feel that we must focus this
public debate on the issues of cost-
sharing and parking which affect
neighbors and the safery asd con-
struction standards of the suites to
protect tenants. We cannot expect to
regulate behavior problems with a
secondary suite bylaw. Noise and
disturbance to peace and quiet have
to be dealt with through nosse
bylaws and similar regulations.”

— Kitty Castle, chairman of
the steering committee of the
Sunset Gardens Neighborhood
Association.

-—- Martin Millerchip

NEWS photo Terry peters
NANNY Heather Stevens has lived for four years in a North Vancouver District secondary suite.

Sunday, March 30, 1997 — North Shore News — 3

Suite input
deluges
NV hearing

By Martin Millerchip
Contributing Writer

ramshackle shanty

with rusty appliances

in the weed-choked
yard and an absentee Jand-
lord, or the mortgage-
helper that allows an elderly
widow to remain in her
family home?

Opinions about secondary suites
are hugely divergent and often
depend on whether vou live in one or
live next to one.

Approximately 45 North Vancou-
ver District residents spent four hours
expressing a full range of those opinions
Tuesday at a public hearing on a bylaw
chat, if passed, would legalize secondary
suites subject to certain conditions.

The — four-hour-long __ hearing
attracted an unusual number of
lengthy, thoughtful submissions and
at 1] p.m., with other presenters wait-
ing patiendy to speak, it was finally
adjourned until Wednesday, April 2.

Despite the length of the hearing,
district staff took biting cridcism from
Edgcmont resident Corrie Kost for the
district’s “inadequate notification.”

Kost noted that many of the
evening's speakers were community or
housing association representatives
and said that much of the general pub-
lic would not have read the district’s
newspaper advertising of the hearing.

He poirited our that the advertise-
ments (required by the Municipal Act)
for the bylaw hearing were neaded by «
generic number rather thai a headline
that stated “Secondary Suites Bylaw.”

Additionally, said Kost, the dis-
tnet's pre-recorded agenda informa-
tion telephone message had no notiti-
cation of the hearing.

A News reporter who phoned the
automated information line Tuesday
afternoon before the hearing was
greeted with the message: “There are
no public hearings at this time.”

Said Kost: “To have this bylaw
proceed to this stage with such inade-
quate notification, if not Hegal, seems
to me at the very least unfair to our
district residents.

“You may be legally right, but moral-
lv and ethically you are way off track.”

North Vancouver District proposing single-family secondary suite option

By Martin Millerchip
Contributing Writer
ORTH Vancouver District is
proposing to allow secondary
suites as an alternate housing
option in single-family residential zones.
The bylaw, if passcd, would allow secondary
suites subject to the following conditions:
@ secondary suites would only be permitted in ‘>
gle-family zones;
Bonly one secondary suite would be permitzed in a
single-family residential building;
@ size of sccondary suites would be limited to the
lessee of 90 sq. m (968 $4. ft.) or 40% of the residen-
tal floor space of the building in which it is located:
@ the owner of the building with a secondary suite
would be required to reside in either the suite or the
Principal dwelling unit;
single-family residences may still contain up to
two boarders or lodgers and/or a licensed home
occupation but not an additional secondary suite;
BW three off-street parking spaces would be required
for a building containing a secondary suite.
District social planner Mark Bostwick described the
bytaw as “not comprehensive” and “relatively narrow.”

“The intent of the bylaw is to find a way of rec-
ognizing the secondary suites thar exist in the com-
munity,” said Bostwick.

“It tries to focus on health and safety and ties to
deal in a ncn-punitive fashion by bringing suite
owners to the table.”

To become a “legal” suite all secondary suites
must comply with the new provisions of the
Provincial Building Code governing, such suites.

Recent code amendments relaxed ceiling height
sad window placement requirements, but set cer-
tain fire wali, air circulation and electrical safety stan-
dards for suites.

But according to Bostwick there are no plans to
require inspections for existing suites even if the
bylaw passes.

He said district staff would respond to requests
from builders, renovators and other inquiries by ask-
ing for drawings that would be cheeked for code
compliance.

Additionally, property-use inspectors would
respond to any valid written complaint about a
problem suite in the acighborhood.

Tenants would also have the right to ask for sate-
ty inspections under the district’s recently adopted
Standards of Maintenance Bylaw.

Under questioning from council Bostwick said

there was no certainty about the number of existing
suites in the district.

Census figures put the figure at 1,800, but a
1989 district study suggested the number was in the
2,500 to 2,700 range.

Speakers at the hearing suggested later that the
number could be as high 33 4,000.

“The fact is that right now nobody knows pre-
cisely how many suites there are,” said Bostwick.

Coun. Trevor Carolan pointed our that it would
take one inspector two years t3 inspect 2,500 suites
“under optimum condigons.”

But Bostwick admitted that “the track record is
that the existing suites don’t tend to come in for
inspection — it’s the new suites.”

District resident John Hurter argued for the
retention of the status quo in the distnet.

At present, the district acts to close secondary
suites only upon written complaint.

Hunter said that neighborhood problems could
often be resolved by the threat of informing against
suite owners and said the new bylaw offered no
neighborhood protection since there was no penal-
ty tor non-compliance.

He told council that “if only one or 2% of folks
are going to register their suites this bylaw is going
to be one of your bi, gest failures.”

er i