Some Councilors are wondering whether or not Terrace’s Bylaws could be dissuading some from building housing.
With housing availability a more hot button topic than ever, the City’s Councilors asked staff whether or not they should be reviewing their base bylaws, rather than continually issuing variance permits.
Council questioned whether or not the bylaws were restricting some from building secondary suites on their property which do not meet parcel size and setback restrictions.
According to staff, sewage system limitations restrict large scale densification, and variance permits help them to still allow some new housing.
Councilor James Cordeiro mentioned that using the bylaw as a bare minimum and having the permits easily acquired when needed allows the City to manage the number of suites on properties.
With housing space becoming limited in the City, Mayor Carol Leclerc asked whether or not it was time to start looking at the costs of improving the sewage infrastructure to allow more expansion.
This would mean funding a lift station to shift away from the gravity controlled sewage system currently used.
Ultimately, most of Council agreed that housing space will need to be addressed in the future.
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