The largest urban district on Vancouver Island has jumped the gun on a provincial government program to rezone single-detached neighbourhoods to allow higher density rental housing.
In April, the B.C. government introduced its Homes for People action plan, a key policy of which is mandated rezoning of most areas in the province to allow up to four more housing units on each detached housing lot. The legislation is to be tweaked and introduced this fall.
But the District of Saanich is preparing to create its own new small-apartment zone that will allow developers to build three-storey apartments on single-family lots.
Council unanimously endorsed the new zone in May, permitting the infill projects as long as they conform to several guidelines in terms of lot size, setbacks, height and open-space requirements.
Lots will need to be at least 650 square metres (around 7,000 square feet), be on major transportation and transit routes and be within the district’s centres, villages and corridors.
Mayor Dean Murdock said the new zone could create more housing options for people from students to working professionals. It’s a segment of the market that has “largely not been well served” in Saanich.
Murdock said it’s a model that “probably wouldn’t work in most locations” and is intended for very specific areas close to shopping, commercial activity, parks and schools.
“It’s really going to fall in between a neighbourhood zone and a corridor where we would expect to have a higher level of density and more people.”
The expectation is that such small apartments can be built less expensively than larger ones, as they don’t require mechanical devices such as elevators and complex heating-ventilation and air-conditioning systems.
A Saanich staff report noted the apartment buildings tend to be purpose-built rentals, and units are typically small studios.
At this point the proposed zone cannot be added to the district’s zoning bylaw until a project comes forward.
The draft zone can be applied if a project developer comes to the municipality saying they are interested in building one of these small apartment buildings on a single-family lot.
“Until that takes place, and they successfully get a rezoning, we can’t actually adopt it into the zoning bylaw,” said the mayor, who is optimistic applications will come forward.
“We have heard that there’s an interest in building these in Saanich,” Murdock said. “We’ve got a very large university and college campuses in Saanich and there’s a desire to build housing types like this that would serve that student population.”
A Saanich staff report suggested there are at least 1,200 potential single-family lots in the district that meet the minimum-size threshold.
Stratas or rentals?
While B.C.’s Home for People program prepares to roll out, there is some confusion on whether the extra units allowed will be restricted to rentals or if the property owner can add strata homes, such as condos or townhouses, that can be sold.
There is a clue, though, that the province does expect the cost of detached houses to increase when the density zoning becomes legislation, which could happen by year-end.
The Homes for People plan includes a flipping tax that will penalize speculators who buy residential properties and resell them soon after to capitalize on the price spiral. As well, the speculation and vacancy tax, which was expanded to six more municipalities in 2022, could be widened further.
