Coldstream carriage house rules coming this spring

Feb 25, 2021 | 6:00 AM

The District of Coldstream’s planning and development staff are working on policy to deal with carriage house applications.

At Monday night’s council meeting, a motion was passed to have staff prepare a rezoning and development permit based approach to carriage house regulations.

The proposed process, guidelines and informational materials will be presented to the Advisory Planning Commission (APC) for comment prior to being returned to council.

“Council has set some broad parameters, we will establish a framework, take that to APC in March and hopefully have that back to council by Easter (early April),” Ryan Roycroft, Manager of Development Services, said.

Policy established by other Okanagan municipalities will be reviewed as part of the process.

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At Coldstream’s Jan.18 meeting a spot rezoning was approved for a carriage home on a large lot on Cunliffe Road.

Roycroft stated at the time there is ‘significant interest’ from residents, based on inquiries.

The development department determined there are roughly 700 properties of 1,200 square metres, and 1,200 properties of 1,000 square metres that might be suitable for carriage houses, minus 10 to 20 per cent for other considerations.

The Regional District of North Okanagan’s (RDNO) housing need assessment completed in June 2020 stated:

“New home construction in Coldstream has been quite low, adding, on average, only 34 homes per year since 2016. As a ratio of the population, this is the lowest rate of home construction in the region (9 homes per 1000 people compared to the regional average of 15 per 1000 people). Of the homes that have been built, almost all (94 per cent) have been detached homes, perpetuating the dominance of this housing form in Coldstream.”

Dwelling mix Coldstream vs RDNO (photo / RDNO)

Coldstream has been under withering criticism from some members of Vernon council, over the lack of affordable housing options in the district.

The regional affordable housing strategy adopted by the RDNO calls on all local governments and first nations to be part of the solution, to the housing crunch.

by Kevin Rothwell

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