District of Squamish is inviting the community to an open house on proposed zoning bylaw amendments to affordable housing. The open house takes place on September 20, from 5 pm to 8 pm, and will be held at 38014 Fourth Avenue.
Open house events are a chance for any interested community members to review the proposed changes to the zoning bylaw related to the Section 4.49 amendments and have any questions answered by District staff.
What’s proposed? Here are some of the regulations related to affordable housing that are proposed:
Allow affordable housing in any zone where residential is a principal use.
Allow the height of a principal building where all of the units are secured as affordable housing to increase to 23 metres (six stories).
Exempt affordable housing buildings from lot coverage.
Apply a parking requirement of one space per dwelling unit for affordable housing units.
An amendment to Section 4.25 Gross Floor Area is also proposed to exempt gross floor area use for affordable housing.
Another amendment to Section 4.10 Height of Buildings and Structures is included to apply a maximum building height of 26.5 metres or 8 storeys, which ever is less, in any zone that may permit a taller building height, as this is currently the tallest building height that the District’s Fire Department can safely fight a fire in.
The open house will include a general overview of the proposed amendments, and a casual discussion with opportunities for questions and comments from those who will attend the session. District has published a dedicated web page for those wanting to understand the amendements in detail. A recent report by the District of Squamish noted that the community is short of its housing targets, and there is lack of townhomes in the community.
