The City of Calgary will be proposing minor technical amendments to Land Use Bylaw 1P2007, and is expecting to bring forward a report to the Standing Policy Committee on Planning and Urban Development on December 13, 2017 as part of a response to the Zero-Based Review of Calgary Building Services.
The Zero-Based Review Program reviews operations to find efficiency improvements. Calgary Building Services’ review indicated that homeowners and small businesses are primary areas in which improvements could be made. More information on the Zero-Based Review program can be found here. While a complete review and re-write of the Land Use Bylaw is out of scope, technical amendments to remove barriers and provide opportunities for homeowners and small businesses are being proposed along with housekeeping amendments to make phrasing clearer, and correcting spelling, grammar, and other inconsistencies.
The following proposed amendments are focused on improvements for homeowners:
- Loosen the rules on side setbacks for projections on homes to allow for things like fireplaces, window wells and other projections to be present on both sides of a home. This allows a homeowner to do projects such as finish their basement, with more opportunities to increase windows and window wells to comply with the Alberta Building Code. Other rules, such as those that limit how close window wells or other projections can get to the property line, and how wide they can be will remain to ensure impacts are minimized.
- Require Development Permits for retaining walls 1.2m or higher (an increase from the current requirement of 1.0m). This aligns Calgary’s Land Use Bylaw with the Alberta Building Code, resulting in fewer permits required for minor retaining walls, while maintaining the safety standards of the Alberta Building Code.
- Allow small sheds and accessory buildings less than 10m2 to be placed next to the house. Currently these small buildings must be at least 1m away, unless a Development Permit approves otherwise. This gives homeowners more flexibility to place a small shed in their yard. Other rules will remain unchanged, such as not allowing drainage from the roof into neighboring parcels, and accessory buildings will still not be allowed in the front setback.
The following proposed amendments are focused on improvements for small businesses:
- Clarify the Child Care Service land use definition to state that kindergarten is included in this use along with day cares, pre-schools, and out of school care. This clarification will allow consistent review of Development Permit applications when required.
- Expand opportunities for Home Based Child Care – Class 2 land use type to match provincial licensing rules. The Land Use Bylaw currently only permits this use in single family homes, but there may be instances where it would be appropriate to allow these businesses in other housing forms, such as semi-detached homes. These businesses would still require a Development Permit to ensure they are placed in appropriate locations, and would still require all their provincial licensing.
- Expand the Beverage Container Drop-Off Depot land use type to include other types of recycling drop off as a stand-alone activity. Electronic recycling has become more popular today, and some businesses would like to operate separate from a store or other use. Amending the bylaw to be more inclusive of these activities provides opportunities for new businesses, but allows for a review similar to bottle depots to ensure impacts are minimized.
- Clarify that home-based businesses may use an enclosed accessory building, such as a garage, for storage providing that it is not impacting the parking requirements for the home.
We are currently seeking input and comments from internal City departments, and external stakeholders to inform the final list of amendments, and the final report will be presented in December. For more information or to submit comments, contact Courtney Stengel at courtney.stengel@calgary.ca or 403-268-5526. Comments can be submitted until October 20, 2017.