Coming Up: November 2
Council meets on Monday. On the agenda:
Delegations and Letters
South Peace Regional Archives
Downtown Supports through Downtown Rehabilitation
Secondary Suites
Following is more information and my take on agenda items.
As always, any mistakes or opinions belong to me and me alone, not to Council or City staff.
While I express my current views below, I work hard to go into meetings ready to listen and with an open mind. I learn new information and participate in debate. This always informs, and sometimes changes, how I vote on issues.
If you would like to watch the meeting or read any of its supporting material for yourself, you can do so by clicking here. The City will post the highlights of Council’s decisions here.
DELEGATIONS & LETTERS
During all Council meetings, members of the public are welcome to come address Council. More information about how to do that can be found here.
This week, several delegations have told us they will be taking part in our meeting:
Veterans Memorial Garden: asking for assistance in security for the property after recent theft and vandalism incidents
Youth Emergency Shelter: this group was granted $500,000 for a new shelter build, contingent on 75% of the project funding being raised by the end of 2020. They are currently only at 62% because COVID has slowed their fundraising down. They are asking for a one year extension.
Council will also be receiving two letters:
MD of Greenview: we were working with the MD and County of Grande Prairie to develop a Tri-Municipal Industrial Park south of Grande Prairie. The MD is notifying us that it is ending the partnership, and will continue to develop to project on its own.
Alberta Transportation: the City had federal money allocated to it for Transit projects, but was unlikely to need the funding. Council was recently enabled to re-allocate this funding to other projects in order to provide COVID-19 economic recovery stimulus. We are receiving a notice that the projects we’ve proposed have been accepted by the Minister. You can see a list of projects here.
SOUTH PEACE REGIONAL ARCHIVES
The Archives currently work out of the Grande Prairie Museum. However, they are running out of space and need room for their growing collection.
The basement of Centre 2000 has been identified as a suitable place for the Archives to move to. This is currently housing the Heritage Discovery Centre, which would need to be re-located to the Museum.
It is recommended that Council approve the proposal for the South Peace Regional Archives to relocate to the Heritage Discovery Centre space no sooner than 2023.
The Archives board, City staff, and managing board for Centre 2000 are all agreeable to this relocation. And it makes sense to me. I’m likely to approve this recommendation.
DOWNTOWN SUPPORTS
Downtown Phase 4 Reconstruction is happening this summer. As two blocks of 100th Ave will be shut down, the City wants to make sure that impacted businesses are well supported.
There are a number of non-financial supports that are being offered by the City. For example, staff parking at City on 99 will be moved to another location to allow for public parking in that lot, and work is being done to allow for additional street parking on 99 St.
There are also some financial supports being proposed. These will be voted on by Council this Monday. The two recommendations before us:
Downtown Association Grant of $90,000- ~$25,000 would be used to hire two Marketing Coordinators to act as Downtown Ambassadors and assist with event planning. ~$25,000 would be used to put on events which encourage people to hangout and shop downtown. ~$20,000 would be used for Marketing and Communications. And ~$20,000 would be used for more Art in the Alley projects. This funding would come out of the budget already allocated for Downtown Rehabilitation, and so would not have additional tax impact.
Downtown Façade Improvement Grant Program of $200,000- If approved, any property in the downtown could apply for matching funds to improve the front look of their businesses. Businesses that will be directly impacted by Phase 4 could also apply to improve their rear entrances. This money would come from money already set aside for Downtown Incentives: it would be a re-allocation of existing money, not new money.
I’m likely to support these grants.
I was not supportive of going ahead with Phase 4 this year, and have great concerns about its impact on businesses that are already struggling. So if we are going to go ahead, then we need to be doing everything reasonable to support businesses. These recommendations seem reasonable to me, and I appreciate that they are re-allocations of funding instead of additional costs for taxpayers.
SECONDARY SUITES
In the past, Grande Prairie didn’t have restrictions on the number of secondary suites in a community. It also had no limits on driveway widths and low requirements for on-street parking. This led to a few neighbourhoods that are not well planned: they have huge amounts of secondary suites with little to no on-street parking available.
Since they were built, a number of new rules have been introduced. There are minimum on-site parking requirements for secondary suites, and maximum driveway widths are limited to make sure that there is on-street parking available.
There is also a limit on secondary suites. Within any 50m radius, a maximum of 2 suites are allowed. It doesn’t matter if the suites share the same road, or if they are on completely different streets- any 50m circle within the City cannot touch properties with more than 2 suites on them.
BILD Grande Prairie is an association representing home builders. Its members have experienced a higher demand for homes with secondary suites than they can meet under current restrictions. It has recommended a Land Use Bylaw that would allow up to 5 Secondary Suites in a 50m radius if those suites are located:
On a corner lot
Across from a public greenspace (ex: storm pond)
Across from Medium or High Density Housing, Commercial, or Industrial property that provides its own on-site parking
Across from the side lots of other homes rather than front yards
It is recommended that Council direct Administration to create Land Use Bylaw amendments that would be consistent with this request. If this recommendation passes, those amendments would be brought to a future Council meeting for approval: Council cannot make any final decisions on Monday.
I’m likely to support this request. It seems reasonable to me. Here are some considerations that go into my thinking:
People should be able to do what they want with their property as long as it doesn’t have an undue impact on neighbours. Given the nature of where these suites will be located (ex: across from greenspaces) and other relatively new rules in the City (ex: maximum driveway widths)- I don’t think they’ll contribute to problematic communities like we have seen in the past
If there isn’t ample opportunity for legal secondary suites, more illegal suites will be created in our community. Illegal suites often have a bigger impact on the neighbours than properly planned legal suites. And tenants can be more vulnerable to bad landlords if they are in an illegal suite.
Our housing market is suffering right now. Mortgage rules and a struggling economy are making it difficult for people to buy homes. Secondary Suites are one way to make a home purchase more affordable.
Reducing our residential taxes is a priority to me. Creating more density in neighbourhoods means that it is more efficient to deliver services to our residents, which helps taxpayers save money
That’s what is on our agenda for Monday. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
You can comment below. Or, you can contact me at dbressey@cityofgp.com or 780-402-4166. I'm happy to talk online or over the phone. I'm also always willing to setup a time to meet for coffee.
We also always have great conversation in the GP Round Table group on Facebook.
After Council meeting, you will be able to find highlights posted by the City here.
Thanks for reading!
-Dylan