Council votes to remove garden and garage suites from land use bylaw 

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Strathmore revisited the discussion regarding their garden and garage suite bylaw during the June 4 regular meeting.

Bylaw 25-09 was brought back before council, being a land use bylaw amending bylaw, which proposed to remove garden and garage suites from the local land use bylaw. 

Town of Strathmore staff had met with council previously during the March 12 and April 9 Committee of the Whole meetings to discuss the bylaw. The preferred suggestion indicated in the town’s June 4 meeting agenda was to remove allowance for garden and garage suites and explore different avenues for increased urban density and affordable housing.

“Garden and garage suites are allowed in many municipalities across Alberta. Strathmore has had zero applications in the past 10 years or so. Uptake and interest for the suites has been low; we were expecting a couple of these a year just due to the costs of constructing these, but that has not been the case; we have not received any,” said Chuck Proctor, manager of development services. “People can still apply for a garden or garage suite, but the decision would be with council on a site-specific basis, and a direct control land use bylaw.”

The report on the amending bylaw which was provided to council indicated there are no further plans for town staff or resources to research garden and garage suites further in the future unless specifically directed by council at a later date.

Mike Mathieu, who registered as a speaker to appear before council during the meeting, advocated to keep the garden suite bylaw in place, citing it as a “progressive thing for the town to adopt.”

“Given the housing crisis that we all hear about in the media and how governments at all levels are looking at more ways to increase housing, including this council, I am not sure why the town is looking to reverse course, given that this has not really been given a fair amount of time to see how it might be utilized by the town residents,” he said. “I do know some residents who have had great difficulty finding rentals in town and these suites do offer the possibility of more, smaller options.”

Claude Brown, who also spoke before council, argued inversely, advocating council to continue with repealing the garden and garage suite bylaw. 

“I know that no one has applied to build any garden and garage suites to date, but it is a lot easier to prevent a bylaw than put the genie back in the bottle once it is out,” said Brown. 

During his presentation, Brown cited numbers he collected through surveys personally undertaken throughout Strathmore, suggesting many residents were not in favour of the garden and garage suite bylaw. 

Following discussion, both second and third readings of bylaw 25-09 were passed by council. Subsequently, a motion was brought forward by Coun. Brent Wiley to direct administration to bring back information on current zoning in the downtown and offering possible solutions to increase density, including the option of garden and garage suites. This motion was also carried.