Public Hearing Needed On Lumby Affordable Housing

Sep 24, 2018 | 6:54 AM

A public hearing is to be held in Lumby on a text amendment to the village’s zoning bylaw as it relates to affordable housing options.

The amendments changes some wording and better defines allowable housing.

Mayor Kevin Acton says the amendments were realized after first reading.

“Because we wanted to really nail down what we meant by secondary homes on the property. We wanted to make sure that the definition included modular homes but we didn’t want to have trailers. So, we had to go back and look at what that would look like.”

He says any homes will need staff approval to ensure they are aesthetically pleasing and not abused.

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“We don’t want people just building little slums everywhere. We want things to be done right and we want the people that are going to be using them to be well cared for. We don’t want people just putting up a garden shed in their back and putting somebody in there that can’t afford anything better.”

Anything built will need to meet a code or a design that is comfortable for both the person living in it and the person looking at it.

The plans include opportunities for apartments above commercial buildings.

“There is some new word in there that allows for two floors of residential building above commercial properties in the C-1 zone. We’re really encouraging downtown infill.”

Acton says increasing density downtown will help keep the area vibrant while also slowing urban sprawl.

He says there will also be new parking regulations and suggests that over the next few years those will likely tighten up.

That could mean no overnight parking in some areas because of challenges with snow removal and dust clearing.

No date has been set for the public hearing.

by Tom Mark