{"id":15564,"date":"2016-10-13T09:16:53","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T16:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/?p=15564"},"modified":"2016-10-13T09:16:53","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T16:16:53","slug":"infill-housing-considered-new-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/2016\/10\/13\/infill-housing-considered-new-west\/","title":{"rendered":"Infill housing being considered in New West"},"content":{"rendered":"

Infill housing like laneway homes<\/a> and coach houses isn\u2019t yet allowed in New Westminster. But that could soon change.
\nCommunities around Metro Vancouver are trying to come to grips with rising housing prices that are limiting choices for families and young adults. Some are being forced out of the cities and neighbourhoods they love. The problem is compounded as available land is built out.
\nFilling in existing properties with more types of housing is one solution.
\nThe City of New Westminster is currently reviewing its Official Community Plan to create a vision that will meet the city\u2019s housing and land use needs for the next 25 years. Infill housing is part of that plan.
\n

\"Infill<\/a>
The design and construction of infill housing like laneway homes is often strictly regulated so they conform to the neighbourhood.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n <\/p>\n

Guidelines for infill housing<\/h4>\n

In September a draft report<\/a> on design guidelines for infill housing like laneway, carriage homes and triplexes was presented to city council. The report is part of an ongoing review of land uses in the city\u2019s Official Community Plan to regulate its future growth. More housing choice beyond single family homes and apartments or condos is one of the goals of the plan. In fact, two-thirds of the participants in a series of workshops supported laneway and carriage homes.
\nBut wanting<\/em> infill housing like laneway homes is still a long way from actually getting<\/em> it. Infill housing has\u00a0to be designed to fit within existing neighbourhoods and have minimal impact on streetscapes and neighbours.
\nAlready the city has determined two neighbourhoods will need special attention as it considers infill housing: Queensborough because it has no lanes and Queen\u2019s Park because of its heritage\u00a0 character.
\nIn its report, the city is proposing infill housing like laneway and carriage homes can be 350-950 square feet. They\u2019d also have to be at least 16 feet from the main house and four feet from neighbouring properties \u201cto help ensure adequate open space, light and privacy for the new unit and the main house.\u201d
\nEach laneway home would also have to have its own private outdoor space of at least 160 square feet and there would have to be a planted area between the home and the lane to \u201ccreate an attractive interface between the lane and the new unit.\u201d A three-foot path from the unit to the street would also be required to make it easy for emergency services and visitors to find it.
\nLaneway homes could also be two stories, but the second storey would have be smaller than the first, integrated into the roofline and its windows would have to be oriented to minimize overlook into neighbours\u2019 yards.
\nThere\u2019s also guidelines for lighting, parking and even the removal and protection of trees<\/a>. And the city must decide whether each infill housing project must apply for rezoning, or whether it will amend zoning generally to allow the construction of laneway homes and carriage houses.<\/p>\n

Public consultation for infill housing<\/h4>\n

The city is in the midst of public consultations<\/a> including open houses and workshops to consider the draft guidelines for infill housing like laneway homes and carriage houses. The next one is Saturday, Oct. 15, at Richard McBride School.
\nThere\u2019s also an online survey<\/a>.
\nThe guidelines will then be presented to a design panel and the city\u2019s Advisory Planning Commission. That will be followed by consultation with stakeholders like builders, designers and developers.
\nThe report also recommends once the guidelines have been finalized, the city should issue only a set number of permits as a trial period to determine their success and viability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Infill housing like laneway homes and coach houses isn\u2019t yet allowed in New Westminster. But that could soon change. Communities around Metro Vancouver are trying to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[887],"tags":[273],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":887,"label":"Your Community"}],"post_tag":[{"value":273,"label":"Featured"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"James Garbutt","author_link":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/author\/james\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":887,"name":"Your Community","slug":"your-community","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":887,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":146,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":887,"category_count":146,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Your Community","category_nicename":"your-community","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":273,"name":"Featured","slug":"featured","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":273,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":99,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garbuttdumas.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}