The draft Municipal Development Plan for Canmore has a strong focus on finding ways to promote development of affordable housing in the community.
The MDP is the ultimate planning document for the municipality and sets out direction for council, administration and the community for future development and land use. The draft document is out for public feedback before first reading is considered by council and it is proposed to replace the 1998 MDP.
Manager of planning Alaric Fish said the previous MDP acknowledged affordable housing as an issue for the community as well.
“This one is not that different,” he said, “except that it recognizes that in the last 13 years we have made limited progress to adequately address the issue.
“Through engagement, we hear affordable housing as consistently the most important issue in the town of Canmore. Based on current need analysis we are a long way from achieving our goals and we need to take more assertive action in the coming years if we are going to achieve those goals.”
The MDP chapter on affordable housing sets out general policies as well as policies for market and non-market affordable housing. The latter includes a target of 15 per cent of non-market affordable housing be required on an annual basis.
Fish said 15 per cent of new residential construction being a target to achieve the development of affordable housing is an important clause and the plan includes incentives for reaching that goal.
He said the number was established out of a 2004 study on housing that estimated Canmore needing 1,000 units of affordable housing by the time the community reaches buildout.
“We looked at how many we have now and how many we have left to build and that leads to 15 per cent if we are to achieve that 1,000 target and they need to be affordable in some form,” Fish said.
While there is a section on affordable housing, it is not defined in the document explicitly and Fish said it is not considered a type of land use, but is more of a detail around ownership or development of housing. He added affordable housing can mean different things to different people.
“We don’t have a definition of affordable housing in the Municipal Development Plan because there is a huge spectrum of what it is,” he said. “By defining it too narrowly we would miss some of the areas where there is a need for housing, so we have chosen not to define it in the MDP and other policies would have more detail.
“The MDP is trying to look at ways that land use can be used to encourage more affordable housing. It provides guidance for how land use changes could occur, but passing this document in itself does not change any regulations.”
Those other policies include the Land Use Bylaw, which would likely see changes to it given the direction of the MDP. One area that will more than likely be changed in the LUB is secondary suites, as the MDP gives direction to encourage suites and provide incentives for those who build them.
Fish said research conducted by Canmore Community Housing in 2014 on secondary suites influenced the draft MDP as CCHC recommended providing incentives for the development of accessory suites in various forms.
“We know that a lot of existing communities have concerns around secondary suites, but even if the MDP passes, it would not result in changes to R1 (single family) districts, it would provide direction,” Fish added.
He said there is concern already in the community that if the MDP is passed in its current form that changes will occur in existing neighbourhoods immediately.
“Any change in existing neighbourhoods would require a land use zoning and that is where the details of that change would be considered,” he said. “It does not change existing regulations or require them to change.”
Fish said affordable housing in Canmore is not just a social issue, it is an economic issue for the community as businesses are struggling to find staff, which is why the section of the MDP also provides direction for employee housing as well.
“I think the key concern in the community is around what kind of affordable housing can be accommodated in existing neighbourhoods and that is where the real tension is,” said Fish, adding the plan sets out to find ways to accommodate affordable housing without altering the essence of a community or neighbourhood.
Administration has scheduled three open houses throughout September as opportunities for the public to provide feedback including on Sept. 8 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Civic Centre and Sept. 12 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Elevation Place.
Because one of the biggest changes to the MDP is a section dealing with developing near steep creeks, an open house on that specific area is scheduled for Sept. 16 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Civic Centre.
Go to www.canmore.ca/mdp for more information and to download a copy of the document.
