Willix Developments is building a row of eight townhouses on 38th Avenue SW at the north end of Altadore in Calgary. The brick cladding, modest front stoops, and repeated facades suggest east coast brownstone architecture, but the tectonic massing and contemporary interior spaces reveal this Inertia design to be thoroughly modern.
Read MoreFostering Inner City Development
Within the past month, Richard White has published three blog entries on how Calgary’s City Council could foster development in established communities.
Permitted Multifamily
http://everydaytourist.ca/blog/2015/1/20/enhancing-established-community-development-multifamily
In the first entry, White proposes making multifamily development in the inner city a permitted use rather than a discretionary use. This means that if a proposed development meets all the Land Use Bylaw rules, then it's allowed as proposed. We're not against this idea, but relaxations can be an important part of making a project better or even possible. In fact, most multifamily applications have at least one relaxation. If a single relaxation exposes a developer to potential appeal, then this idea wouldn't really improve things at all.
SDAB Reform
http://everydaytourist.ca/blog/2015/1/20/enhancing-established-community-development-sdab-reform
In White's second entry, he discusses the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board. This board is famous for being arbitrary and allowing specious arguments. In our own experience, the decisions that the Board makes are at best unpredictable. We can't expect that there will be any more weight placed on the larger needs of the City than on the irrelevant claims of an unaffected neighbour. This introduces a signifiant risk to developers considering an inner city project, and certainly makes suburban development look more attractive. Unfortunately, as Richard writes, the recent review has only resulted in minor changes that haven't had an affect on outcomes.
Remove Redundant Policy
In his last entry on the subject, White suggests removing Area Redevelopment Plans from public policy. These plans were drafted to curb inner city development, and because of this, are out of sync with the City's progressive Municipal Development Plan. Case in point, the North Hill ARP begins with a nostalgic vision statement that includes: "There is a village atmosphere with young and old mingling in a way reminiscent of earlier, gentler times." The person who wrote that isn't going to stand for any change to his or her neighbourhood, especially if it might increase traffic (which is a code word for diversity). We project that the ARPs will stay on the books but will slowly fade out of relevance.
Thanks to Richard White for these three great entries and his excellent blog, The Everyday Tourist.
Calgary Herald article on new Inner City Rowhouse district by Jason Markusoff
Herald Article on R-CG
Jason Markusoff from the Calgary Herald wrote a short piece about Council's approval of the new R-CG district. This new district allows for R-C2 parcels to be redesignated as R-CG to allow for the construction of rowhouses rather than single-detached or semi-detached houses.
Essentially, by omitting the requirement for sideyards, the R-CG district gives developers more design flexibility in the creation of inner-city freehold projects. As well, the district does not have a parcel width requirement; rather, it has a minimum street facing facade width of 4.2 metres. This gives designers even more flexibility in unit configuration.
We're excited to find out the direction that the communities of Capitol Hill and Banff Trail go with this new district. We think it would be a great fit in their neighbourhoods.
Just a note of clarification: even though it is Stephen that is pictured in front of our Parcside Townhomes, it was in fact Trent that designed this project for Group 905.
Parcside Townhouses
Photo by Gary Campbell
Council Approves Inner City Rowhouse District
Yesterday afternoon, Calgary City Council approved Bylaw 24P2014, introducing the R-CG district. Ostensibly replacing the Cottage Housing District (R-CH) which saw little to no interest from developers and builders, this new district allows for fee-simple rowhouses in Calgary's inner city.
Rowhouses, as described by Calgary's Land Use Bylaw, are residential units that are located side-by-side and face a public street. They are different from the Bylaw's townhouse units, which can be within larger developments and can face internal streets or green spaces. Oddly, rowhouses have been allowed out in Calgary's suburbs since 2008 in the R-2M district. Only with this new amendment have rowhouses finally been allowed within Calgary's inner city neighbourhoods.
This new district is exciting for builders and developers because it fills a niche between the ubiquitous R-C2 district, which allows for single and semi-detached dwellings, and the M-CG district, which allows for lower density multi-residential buildings. There is now an opportunity for a developer to redesignate an R-C2 parcel into an R-CG parcel and potentially increase the allowed density by 50%. This new district does allow for three units to fit on a 50' lot!
There are still challenges for developers. Principally, when this new district comes into effect, there will be no parcels in Calgary with the R-CG designation. This means that a developer will have to apply for a redesignation, and will have to present before Council. While everyone knows that this introduces a delay and uncertainty, the prospective developer should keep the following advantages in mind:
- The new district is consistent with the goals of Calgary's Municipal Development Plan, specifically helping Calgary achieve a more compact city, great communities, and good urban design.
- Neighbours and communities won't likely be as opposed to this district being adjacent to existing dwellings as it uses the same building typology as existing development: street/front yard/house/back yard/garage/lane. The previous option for increasing density—the M-CG district—allows alternative unit configurations that can result in front doors and amenity spaces in sideyards and backyards.
- There is a permitted use Rowhouse Building in the new district, which means that if the proposed design meets all of the related rules, the Building is permitted and is not subject to appeal.
- By increasing the number of units over and above what is possible in the R-C2 district, it is possible to both get more value out of the property and to place the new units in the market under the price of a typical semi-detached unit.
This new district is exciting for communities and homeowners because it encourages modest increases in density and affordability which will encourage more people to purchase new homes in existing neighbourhoods, which will in turn support existing schools and businesses, not to mention decreases in travel times and making transit even more effective.
We at Inertia are very excited to work with our clients to take advantage of this new district.
The Residential – Grade-Oriented Infill (R-CG) District will come into force on October 17th, 2014.
The DP for this Altadore Townhouse project is about to be approved, we’re very excited to see this one approaching construction! These 6 units feature rear attached tandem garages, ground-floor offices, and views of both downtown and the adjacent greenspace.