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Ms. Wendy Tse, Planner 2, appeared
before the Committee and provided a city perspective on the implementation of
the Coach House Program in North Vancouver.
Ms. Tse advised she has been
employed by the City of North Vancouver for seven years and has seen the
evolution of the Program from the early stages. She noted that the City
covers a small geographic area and, therefore, is forced into being a denser
city. In its move towards gentle density, the City was an early adopter of
secondary suites and coach houses.
The delegation advised that in 2008
a Coach House Working Group was formed to create design guidelines and
determine the approvals process. The guidelines focused on the following:
· respecting scale and
built form of neighbouring properties;
· minimizing overlook and
shadowing impacts;
· providing outdoor living
space and respecting existing landscaping;
· incorporating sustainable
design;
· ensuring adequate
servicing, parking, and access.
Ms. Tse stated that the original approval
process limited size (1 storey to 800 sq. ft. and 1.6 storey to 100 sq. ft.),
required consultation with neighbours, limited density, and required two
parking spaces. In 2015, she said, the process was simplified resulting in
permitting coach houses up to 1,000 sq. ft. and 1.6 storeys, and only
requiring notification of neighbours.
The delegation advised that in 2017,
coach houses and secondary suites were permitted on RS-1 lots. There was no
change in overall density and only two parking stalls were required for three
units. To date, 1.4% of eligible RS lots have coach houses.
In conclusion, Ms. Tse provided
comments on the City’s “lessons learned” and noted the need for continuous
improvement and evaluation of the success of meeting Program objectives; as
well as, experiment with modular coach houses and innovations in small
housing designs.
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