Council approves secondary suites

By Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean Times Contributor

Twenty-four units in Wildflower’s Phase Four have received Strathmore town council’s approval to be built with secondary suites.
The secondary suites will be within the one residential unit, such as a basement, unlike the “garden suites” in Strathmore Lakes that are free-standing units.
Heather Zavislake, development manager at Can Corp Property Group which is developing Phase Four in Wildflower Ranch, spoke to town council at the public hearing on Nov. 6.
“For a potential homeowner, the suite is a mortgage helper,” she told council, “and it may be just the added income booster they need to qualify for owning their own home.”
Cameron Thompson, a planner with the town, said that due to economic factors, building starts are down significantly for 2019. The town wanted to create more flexible land-use options and housing choice to allow owners to add legal secondary suites to new builds in a designated area.
“We engaged with neighbours in the immediate area and the Wildflower Homeowner’s Association to get feedback from residents and address their concerns,” Thompson explained. “Most of the concerns centred around parking so we were able to accommodate the neighbourhood concerns by stipulating that each property with a secondary suite must have room for three vehicles.”
Unlike Calgary, the Town of Strathmore offers free pre-application sessions where residents who may be interested in finding out more about adding a secondary suite to their home in another area of town can speak directly with the planners. Sessions are currently held each Wednesday from 9 to 11 a.m.
“We don’t want anyone to incur costs before they know whether we can approve rezoning to allow a secondary or garden suite,” Thompson stated. “There are costs involved in the application, about $2,500, for the application and development permit, but they are cost-recovery for the neighbourhood consultation, engineering, safety codes and planning approvals.”
During the pre-application, residents who are considering adding a secondary suite will provide their address and some basic information about their property and what type of secondary suite they are considering. The goal of the pre-application process, Thompson said, is to ensure the request is likely to be approved from a planning perspective before residents spend money on the application.
Thompson added that residents who are considering such a request should allow for about three months between the application for rezoning and council approval to allow for all elements of the application to be completed.