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As we outlined in our notes from last week, the proposed bylaw covers a range of topics that aren't addressed in the other civic bylaws related such things as secondary suites, temporary container use in the city and other miscellaneous themes on commercial ventures to name a few of the items.
As part of the discussion on the theme, Council was advised of an upcoming public engagement period for the public to explain the purpose of the bylaw prior to a Public Hearing to be scheduled later for the proposed document.
On Friday, the city launched that engagement process through their Rupert Talk's social media portal.
Included in the city's information package is a look at the proposed bylaw items, the city's interim housing strategy, Council endorsed housing actions and a report from BC Housing on accessory dwelling units.
Participants can also leave their comments or ask questions of the proposed bylaw amendments through the online portal, which requires registration for those that have not already signed on to the engagement portal through past initiatives.
The presentation from planning and subsequent discussion from Monday evening on the proposed new bylaw and the city's recently approved Renoviction/Rentals bylaw, provided some views as to how the City councillors and city staff view the ongoing work on the bylaws.
On themes of duplex development, Councillor Wade Niesh offered his thoughts on the need for more development in the community
"I think it's a great plan, I think it's a good way to add housing to our community which as we all know is needed and I propose to make it so that we do not have to apply for a development permit on the duplexes" -- Councillor Wade Niesh
In response, City Manager Rob Buchan clarified some of the elements of the new zoning bylaw proposals as they related to Mr. Niesh's commentary.
"Just for clarification the recommendation in the staff report would be for this to proceed without adding duplexes to the development permit, so those were presented as options in the report. So the recommendation as its currently written would align with your thoughts -- City Manager Rob Buchan
Councillor Blair Mirau asked for clarification on wording for lock-off suites and secondary suites, also as to what the impact on density would be by adding lock off suites. The Councillor also shared some of the notes he had absorbed from some weekend reading of a BC Housing report.
"But what was super interesting was that Prince Rupert was already, were in the top ten in the entire province for the number of accessory dwelling units with 607. Behind only White Rock, Whistler and then a bunch of communities in the Greater Victoria area ... So what all of those things taken together mean to me is, that this is a tool that works really well in tourism heavy communities and industry based workforce communities who are the ones who are the ones building them and using them most. So you've done a really effective job of articulating the benefits as far as I see then" -- Councillor Blair Mirau
"The only thing that I've got a concern with is are building permits, are we waving building permits too? -- Councillor Barry Cunningham
The City Manager confirmed that the city would not be waving building permits.
You can review the range of the discussion topics from last Monday evening from the city's YouTube archive page starting at the one hour fourteen minute mark.
More notes on last Monday's City Council Session can be explored from our Council Timeline Feature.
More notes on Housing in the city is available from our archive page.
Previous Council discussion themes can be reviewed from our Council Discussion archive page.
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