Community Articles
General News · 7th November 2024
Bianca Lee
Greetings,
Perhaps you’ve heard that the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) is updating the zoning bylaws that govern development on Cortes. These bylaws should have been updated to reflect the Official Community Plan (OCP) over a decade ago. As a result, our currently bylaws are quite outdated and this update is a very important opportunity to shape housing on island for the next decade. The SRD staff recently presented their current directions at a community meeting. It is now a good time to let the SRD planning team know where you stand on their proposed changes.
The CHS commends the SRD for identifying additional opportunities to provide housing and recognizes that changing zoning or adding more housing is contentious on Cortes and in most communities. Overall, the Cortes Housing Society believes that the SRD staff have made reasonable and balanced recommendations.
While the Cortes Housing Society sees the need for additional housing and might advocate to the SRD to go further than they have in their current recommendations, we recognize the varying perspectives on this and are making the following limited suggested changes:
Tourism Zoning- Allow employee housing on tourism zoned properties. Locations such as the Gorge Harbour Resort and Hollyhock need to provide housing for employees on-site and this should be explicitly enabled through the zoning bylaw. This change will support businesses that are critical to the Cortes economy to hire and house a full complement of staff.
Public Assembly Zoning- This zoning covers the school, Manson’s Hall, and the Fire Hall properties. Currently it permits one dwelling in these zones. We would like to see up to 3 dwelling units allowed on these properties. In many communities, schools, libraries, community centers and fire halls are integrating housing. This is leveraging the value of public land for maximum public benefit.
Community Services Zones- We recommend removing the cap of 25 units per lot. For larger lots, such as Rainbow Ridge, additional housing should be enabled over time, without requiring large parcels to be subdivided. This would support better site planning on large lots and reduce barriers to providing community service focused housing. There shouldn’t be a minimum lot size in this zone.
Additional Dwelling Units (Formerly known as cottages)- We recommend that these are permitted to be larger than 60 m2 (645 square feet). We recommend allowing these homes to be 120 m2 (1,200 square feet), which would more comfortably accommodate a small family. The market will then be able to determine whether small or larger ADU’s are required, rather than being limited by the zoning.
Additional Housing Allowed in the Residential Zones- The proposed addition of one additional dwelling unit is encouraging. We recommend that the size of lot requirements for additional dwelling units be reduced in half as noted in the chart. This will support added density on the smaller lots that are close to Manson’s, Squirrel Cove, Whaletown and Cortes Bay, and help focus density in existing residential areas.
Overall, the Cortes Housing Society thanks the SRD staff for their thorough engagement with the Cortes community and for listening to our community’s aspirations to maintain our rural character while allowing some additional housing. We also thank so many Cortes residents for weighing in and sharing perspectives. We encourage people to share your opinions with the SRD planning staff by emailing: planningsrd.ca
Whether you want the bylaws to accommodate more housing or not, these changes are subtle and will likely play out slowly. Hopefully, over time, they might create more of the much needed rental housing for Cortes.
Perhaps you’ve heard that the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) is updating the zoning bylaws that govern development on Cortes. These bylaws should have been updated to reflect the Official Community Plan (OCP) over a decade ago. As a result, our currently bylaws are quite outdated and this update is a very important opportunity to shape housing on island for the next decade. The SRD staff recently presented their current directions at a community meeting. It is now a good time to let the SRD planning team know where you stand on their proposed changes.
The CHS commends the SRD for identifying additional opportunities to provide housing and recognizes that changing zoning or adding more housing is contentious on Cortes and in most communities. Overall, the Cortes Housing Society believes that the SRD staff have made reasonable and balanced recommendations.
While the Cortes Housing Society sees the need for additional housing and might advocate to the SRD to go further than they have in their current recommendations, we recognize the varying perspectives on this and are making the following limited suggested changes:
Tourism Zoning- Allow employee housing on tourism zoned properties. Locations such as the Gorge Harbour Resort and Hollyhock need to provide housing for employees on-site and this should be explicitly enabled through the zoning bylaw. This change will support businesses that are critical to the Cortes economy to hire and house a full complement of staff.
Public Assembly Zoning- This zoning covers the school, Manson’s Hall, and the Fire Hall properties. Currently it permits one dwelling in these zones. We would like to see up to 3 dwelling units allowed on these properties. In many communities, schools, libraries, community centers and fire halls are integrating housing. This is leveraging the value of public land for maximum public benefit.
Community Services Zones- We recommend removing the cap of 25 units per lot. For larger lots, such as Rainbow Ridge, additional housing should be enabled over time, without requiring large parcels to be subdivided. This would support better site planning on large lots and reduce barriers to providing community service focused housing. There shouldn’t be a minimum lot size in this zone.
Additional Dwelling Units (Formerly known as cottages)- We recommend that these are permitted to be larger than 60 m2 (645 square feet). We recommend allowing these homes to be 120 m2 (1,200 square feet), which would more comfortably accommodate a small family. The market will then be able to determine whether small or larger ADU’s are required, rather than being limited by the zoning.
Additional Housing Allowed in the Residential Zones- The proposed addition of one additional dwelling unit is encouraging. We recommend that the size of lot requirements for additional dwelling units be reduced in half as noted in the chart. This will support added density on the smaller lots that are close to Manson’s, Squirrel Cove, Whaletown and Cortes Bay, and help focus density in existing residential areas.
Overall, the Cortes Housing Society thanks the SRD staff for their thorough engagement with the Cortes community and for listening to our community’s aspirations to maintain our rural character while allowing some additional housing. We also thank so many Cortes residents for weighing in and sharing perspectives. We encourage people to share your opinions with the SRD planning staff by emailing: planningsrd.ca
Whether you want the bylaws to accommodate more housing or not, these changes are subtle and will likely play out slowly. Hopefully, over time, they might create more of the much needed rental housing for Cortes.
