Secondary suites bylaw for Calgary's central wards passes 1st reading

After a marathon public hearing, Calgary city council has given first reading to a bylaw that could become the blueprint for regulating secondary suites in the city.

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The proposed bylaw debated on Tuesday night would legalize the suites in the wards 7, 8, 9, and 11, replacing the case-by-case approval process that Mayor Naheed Nenshi has called time-consuming and arbitrary.

Nenshi says he envisions a system that would allow people to apply online for a secondary suite.

"I would like it to be an application where a person could go online and say 'I would like a secondary suite.'They would pay a very nominal fee and have a multi-year licence, and basically what that does, it allows us to know where these are," Nenshi said.

Coun. Shane Keating says amendments to the original proposal giving residents input into the process were key to getting the bylaw past first reading.

Debate continues June 29

"It gives them the ability to say, 'This what we want in our neighborhood'. Without that ability you give no representation to the citizens of Calgary," he said.

The bylaw comes back to council for second and third reading on June 29.

Council voted in 2011 to allow secondary suites in any new communities built on the outskirts of Calgary, but proposals to open the rest of the city to them have so far been rejected.

Last year, council agreed to waive the $4,500re-zoning application fee for a legal secondary suite, encouraging more applicants to make their pitch before council.

The city defines a secondary suite also known as abasement suite or mother-in-law suite as aself-contained living space witha bedroom, bathroom and kitchen located within or on the same property as a single-family home.