Secondary suite (Photo 29614721 © Irina88w | Dreamstime.com)

By Kevin Rothwell

Looking at removing barriers

Vernon reviews secondary suite bylaw

Feb 8, 2021 | 5:15 AM

Vernon council is reviewing several parts of the secondary suite bylaw to improve clarity and potentially remove some hinderances. The move comes as the city tries to close the affordable housing gap for both rental and owned properties.

Staff recommendations include:

• Removing business license fees for suites.
• Eliminating the additional garbage and recycling utility fees for secondary suites.
• Look at the feasibility of adding secondary suites as a permitted use in zoning districts which permit semi detached dwellings.
• Review the impacts of removing parking requirements for secondary suites in areas within walking distance of neighbourhood centres which are served by transit.
• Permitting secondary suites in duplexes and townhouses to take advantage of recent B.C. building code changes.

There are only 135 licensed secondary suites in Vernon. There is no reliable count of unlicensed suites.

The most accurate data is from B.C. Assessment, which currently identifies 1,031 secondary suites within single family dwellings in the city.

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For context, there are 17,805 dwelling units, of which 8,800 are single family homes. This represents a secondary suite potentially in one of every nine single family homes in the city.

The changes would fit with council’s strategic plan 2019-2022; to create accessable and attainable housing for families with income of less than $70,000, review and streamline the development approval process and promote transit oriented mixed use development.