Saskatoon city council passes infill housing rules

Saskatoon city council is adopting regulations to keep oversized homes from being built on empty lots in older neighbourhoods, overshadowing existing smaller homes.

Most of the people who addressed council before the vote spoke in favour, including a real estate agent, representatives of community associations, and developers.

"These regulations are a model of flexibility and adaptability, very likely the most flexible model of their kind in the country," said Mark Bobyn, a local property developer who also served on the steering committee that worked on infill development strategy.

Bobyn told council he looked at proposals over the last four years to redevelop 25-foot lots, and "probably 95 per cent of the proposals would fit" within the new rules.

"So really these regulations are primarily targeting that five per cent that are grossly out-of-scale," he continued.

Architect opposes new rules

Curtis Olson, another local developer, also expressed support, but called for further changes.

"I think they should be conceived of as a working document, something to be refined and fixed over time," Olson said.

He called for a zoning-by-agreement process on single family homes, to deal with "outliers" that don't fit within the rules, but could work on certain lots.

However, one architect spoke against the new rules.

During a power point presentation, Paul Blaser showed photographs of houses he believes fit well into neighbourhoods, that would be disallowed under the new rules.

The city administration said it will check on how well the new rules are working after one or two building seasons.

After the council vote, Blaser told reporters "I think it'll be important to monitor how much infill development actually happens, and whether we continue to see our core neighbourhoods actually grow."