A 5-2 vote of council will mean a one-foot increase in side-yard setbacks between new single-family residential lots, despite pushback from the development community.
The Oct. 24 voted resulted in one developer storming out of council chambers.
“This is a statement to the community that we care about their safety,” emphasized Coun. Jeff Toews, referring to the fire concerns that result when homes are built too close together and firefighters cannot properly put up ladders in between homes.
“Let’s show the people in this community that we as a council are in fact the ones making decisions for our community – not developers who obviously do not have the best interests of Cochrane citizens in mind but are clearly self-serving and motivated entirely by financial gain.”
Mayor Ivan Brooker and Coun. Ross Watson voted in opposition, with Brooker saying that he felt passing these setbacks would create an administrative nightmare.
Watson said the increased spacing between homes on 32-foot lots would result in narrower homes and a lower quality housing product.
Toews said some residents have expressed concern that councillors are too preoccupied with what developers want and less concerned with what the community wants.
He added safety concerns, which now top his list of reasons to move ahead with the new setbacks, were not what originally motivated he and Coun. Gaynor Levisky toinclude the setbacks in their (now adopted) Community Enhancement Matrix.
The setbacks were initially viewed as a way of increasing privacy, improving esthetics and moving away from a congested, cookie-cutter look, increasing yard sizes and parking capacity.
Levisky reiterated Toews’ concerns, also emphasizing that “we can still meet density requirements if we look at doing density differently … where density makes sense.”
Council discussed estimations that increasing the side-yard setbacks for all new single-family residential lots from four to five feet would result in costs to the developer upwards of $8,000 to $10,000 per home.
“Can the development community afford to eat (this)? Absolutely,” said Toews, adding that developers are not going to price themselves out of the market.
Brooker called the change an “elitist” move that will drive the cost of housing up. He added it might set Cochrane back to a time reminiscent of the limited affordable housing options available to Cochranites in his 2001-2004 term as councillor.
Council gave second reading to the bylaw to include the amendments that the town would provide an automatic relaxation of up to one foot for all parcels with an R-1 land use designation approved prior to Jan. 1, 2017; all such lots will also be deemed to be conforming with four-foot side yards providing they meet all other R-1 requirements.
Coun. Morgan Nagel also made a motion that administration will conduct a comprehensive review of R-1 and R-2 districts, including increased setbacks, minimum lot widths and maximum lot coverage to present to council for further review.
