Some Neighbourhoods Dodge Intensification: LEIPER

So, perhaps this is what was meant in September when Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper, chairman of the city’s planning and housing committee, warned during discussions about work on new zoning bylaws that: “Change is going to come to the bungalow belt.”

At yesterday’s council meeting, Leiper gave notice that he plans to introduce a motion at the next planning and housing committee meeting directing staff to expedite a zoning bylaw change needed to allow shelters to open as soon as possible in “all urban zones and designations” as of right, meaning they could proceed everywhere, except in rural areas, without a rezoning application.

And Leiper, once again, references “bungalows”, noting there will still be some rules on the size and height of buildings, but that under the change he is seeking, approval for shelters, which are currently only permitted in the densest neighbourhoods (and institutional zones and some commercial areas), would be allowed in all residential neighbourhoods.

“It doesn’t mean that you can put a mega-shelter in the middle of a neighbourhood of bungalows, but if one of those bungalows is going to be used by, for example, (as) an agency to house newcomers, our official plan is clear: Yes, that should be allowed,” he said.

And just a reminder that back in September, Leiper’s bungalow belt comment followed repeated claims at the meeting and elsewhere by other councillors that outer-urban neighbourhoods (as defined in draft zoning bylaws) in the greenbelt, like Applewood Acres and others in Alta Vista, are failing to do their fair share when it comes to intensification.

This newsletter excerpt is courtesy of the city-wide community group Your Applewood Acres (And Beyond) Neighbours.

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