The Infill working group met for the first time since their introduction to one another and the group’s objective on March 1st. Below are the items that were discussed.
The Infill working group is comprised of members from Bridgeland Riverside, Parkdale, and Calgary Rosedale.
Discussion focused on encouraging front porches. Agreed upon principals for front porches were:
- Opportunity to provide more social interaction by creating a space within the private realm close to the public realm;
- Porch may provide greater informal security (eyes on the street);
- Area must be functional, therefore, area must be large enough for whatever activities a homeowner wishes to conduct within that space; and
- Any considerations for incentives/exemptions should only be for porches facing a street (ability to project into front setbacks and/or street side setbacks on a corner lot).
Items for refinements:
- Amount of projection into the front setback:
- Considerations of losing front yard open space when each home is allowed to move closer to the property line;
- Impacts to the calculation of the “contextual front setback” which may further impact front yard open space;
- Impacts on massing;
- “Ceiling to floor” height for the porch; and
- Whether to include uncovered balconies on upper storeys to be exempt from “building coverage”.
If you have any thoughts on front porches , please send them to Carrie at engageinplanning@calgarycommunities.com