Camosun Community Association

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May 5, 2008

Mayor Leonard,
Members of Council and
Russ Fuoco,
Director of Planning Services
District of Saanich

Recommended changes to OCP regarding secondary suites

We had a large turnout at our last Camosun Community Association (CCA) public meeting this April 17th at Camosun College for a panel discussion on "secondary suites". This discussion involved a number of distinguished professionals in the field of affordable housing, and included Councilor Vicki Sanders and your Planner, Sharon Hvozdanski.

Strong Mandate: This General Meeting of the CCA concluded with a strong mandate officially empowering our Executive to continue a dialogue with Saanich to speed up the process towards legalization and regulation.

This strong endorsement to "get on with it" was a follow-up to a previous letter sent to your Planning Director (and Council members) on Feb 19, 2008 from a separate group of Camosun area residents, who spent much time studying this issue. They provided a comprehensive rationale why secondary suites ought to be encouraged in our area rather than discouraged. But more to the point, they felt that the language expressed in the Section 10 of OCP dealing with Affordable Housing needs to be strengthened to ensure a valid commitment for Saanich to move forward without delay on this issue.

The Camosun Community Association agrees with their position and, therefore, recommends wording in its OCP that reflects this important need for Saanich to address the affordable housing issue with the sense of urgency and commitment. We would like to stress that the challenge of legalizing secondary suites extends not only to the drafting of reasonable policies, standards and regulations, but in introducing a bylaw enforcement process that will ensure compliance and respect, a process not apparent at present.

To this end, we the Executive of the CCA, propose that Section 10 relating to Affordable Housing be changed to read as follows:

10: Work in partnership with Community Associations and other residential organizations, to implement a wide range of alternative housing types such as:

• flex housing, grow homes and granny flats, and secondary suites
• legal implemented on a phased and/or pilot area basis

* With the proviso added, that any such housing introduced be regulated so that the accepted nature, character and ambience of single family areas not be compromised, especially where issues such as health, safety, neighborhood nuisance, and aesthetics are concerned.

In closing, we the CCA look forward to working with Saanich staff and Council for introducing a sensible Secondary Suites Bylaw for our area. There are students and many other persons in desperate need for affordable housing and there are home owners with lots of room to share, and large mortgages to carry. For these and many other reasons, let's move forward with an Affordable Housing Action Plan incorporating secondary suites for Saanich starting no later than 2008.

Sincerely,
Sheila Critch
President,
Camosun Community Association.

Attachment: February 2008 Secondary Suites Committee reply to 1st draft OCP

cc:

Henry Kamphof, Executive Director
Capital Region Housing Corporation

Lee King, Corporate Representative
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Jim Bennett, Government Relations Coordinator
Victoria Real Estate Board
James Mitchell, Executive Director

Housing Affordability Partnership
Glen Wilson, President
Urban Development Institute, Victoria Chapter

From:
Vicki Sanders, Saanich Councillor
www.vickisanders.com

Saanich's Official Community Plan (OCP) - Affordable housing and much more

Saanich with an average housing cost in the excess of $500,000 faces the challenge of attracting people and, once here, having them remain. Housing affordability, uppermost in people's minds these days, is not about being able to afford to live in the Uplands. It is about people spending more than thirty percent of their income on food and shelter.

The Camosun Community Association (CCA) recently brought together a panel representing Saanich, the region and the community. The impetus was the Saanich's draft Official Community Plan (OCP) which suggests housing affordability options; granny suites, flex suites, secondary suites. The CCA wondered how these housing options, particularly secondary suites, would fit in their neighbourhoods. Would it create neighbourhoods with a greater diversity of ages or alter the character of the neighbourhoods or create greater problems of parking and traffic? Would aging homeowners be able to stay in their homes while confronted with the need for care and the increasing costs for taxes, food, household maintenance and transportation? By providing a "nanny suite" or mortgage helper would young people be able to become home owners? Would this provide safe accommodation for the increasing needs of UVic and Camosun students? The CCA felt the answers for their community could be found in testing the options and encouraged Saanich to accelerate the concept of a community pilot project to test secondary suites.