Larger new housing projects can become a point of contention for existing home-owners, but a consulting group hired by the city says such proposals should be evaluated without input from neighbours. Pictured -- a multi-family rental project on Cuyler Road was built on a former greenspace without neighbours initailly knowing the scope due to specific development policy. -- News Photo Collin Gallant, July 13,2023
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
City Hall is examining how to better inform Hatters when neighbouring properties are redeveloped, but a city consultant argues that such changes should proceed as a “matter of right” without weight given to adjacent landowners’ input.
Strong Towns is a process paid for by the city in which urban development can play a key role to rebalance a city’s finances by efficiently growing the tax base.
Essentially, that involves channelling tax assessment-boosting projects into established neighbourhoods without adding roads, pipes or services, like transit.
In June, Strong Towns consultations discussed progressive development in several public meetings, with presenters stating their preference that development rules give “by right” the ability of owners to expand buildings or demolish and build to a higher use.
The speaker, Norm Van Eeden Petersman, told an audience that so-called “upzoning” should be allowed as a standard practice without hearings or the ability of neighbours to insert arguments about “neighbourhood preservation.”
“If my neighbour buys a big truck, I don’t get a say,” he told the gathering, adding that in a city Medicine Hat’s size, it’s unlikely to see major high-rise developments that might be objectionable to most.
Allowing greater leeway for less obtrusive projects would be a strategy to avoid such large projects, he argued.
Scaling development “by right” is a major discussion in North America as municipalities tackle housing affordability and budget concerns.
The concept is to allow, and for planners to encourage, additional suites and additions to single-family homes, duplexes on home lots and small- to mid-sized apartments built on previous duplex sites, and so on.
Much of that is already allowed in Medicine Hat’s land-use bylaw and was included years ago to make approval processes easier on developers.
But, public hearings on rezoning land for new construction typically includes concerned neighbours worried about the effect on parking, their own property values, streetscape and the “character” of low-density residential neighbourhoods.
At their June 5 meeting, councillors seemingly sided with residents having greater access to provide input on projects.
At that time several land reclassifications were heard to align recent development with actual use, rather than previous land use.
The seemingly roundabout process sparked debate after residents of Cuyler Road objected that new townhouses had been erected on a green space without them knowing until crews arrived.
That was the result of “medium-density” housing being listed as a discretionary use on “community service” and up to planning staff to decide on a case-by-case basis, rather than the municipal planning commission.
That was changed in the land-use bylaw 12 years ago to speed the process of selling and redeveloping a number of struggling churches for sale.
It ended with council calling on administration to review how the planning development alerts adjacent property owners to applications.
“We can put up high rises all we want, but the reality is that people in the community aren’t happy, we don’t have happy communities,” said Coun. Shila Sharps after the meeting.
“We need to be more able to pivot for developers, but we also have to be conscientious. When we made the change (on Cuyler Road) we didn’t acknowledge that they could throw a high rise up there.
“If we know A could affect B, then let’s be honest about what B is, and make sure everybody knows.”
Top administrators told council recently they are now reviewing how the planning department notifies neighbours of projects, but a number of contentious building practices are already included as standard uses, not open for public input.
On a low-density residential lot, applications to build single-family homes or duplexes are approved quickly, but planners can consider and approve discretionary uses like cluster housing, backyard suites, secondary suites in the main building, or homes on smaller than minimum-size lots.
If they meet specific minimum building standards, they generally do not require approval or discussion by the municipal planning commission, but even those can be relaxed to a degree without informing the planning commission.
But planners do have the ability in cases of major changes or different use to have the municipal planning commission provide approval.
On the other hand, many applications can be simply approved by planning office staff as processes have changed over the last decade to speed up approval times.
Many of the Strong Towns suggestions – like providing flexibility on setbacks and other requirements – are already part of policy and practice at the city’s planning department.
Mayor Linnsie Clark has backed the Strong Towns exercise saying it’s a chance to improve city policy and interactions, and she thinks the public conversation will determine the end result.
“(Strong Towns) is meant to be community led, it’s not about foisting anything on the community, but leveraging some of the insights of Strong Towns policies to improve on what we have,” she said at the event. “We definitely have to do a better job of informing residents … adding signs and other ways to inform people about what’s happening.
“We want to take a more intensive approach to changing the community conversations, providing people with tools they need to evaluate what is good for the community.”
At Cuyler Road, since the site’s land-use district of includes medium-density housing as a discretionary use, no special notice was required, nor was a public hearing.
Permits however, must be publicized. It occurs in the News each Saturday on a public notices page and the city’s website, as well as by mail to addresses within a certain distant in some cases.
Land rezoning applications proceed automatically to a public hearing at city council.
