WESTLOCK — The Town of Westlock is moving forward with several of its initiatives under their Housing Action Plan to encourage housing development and the construction of more housing units in Westlock.
Councillors discussed the initiatives at the April 15 committee of the whole (COW) meeting and voted to rise and report on three of them to the April 22 regular council meeting, which included a residential tax incentive, residential grant program and a consolidated land use bylaw amendment.
At the April 22, regular meeting councillors gave third reading to and passed the Residential Tax Incentive Bylaw, adopted Residential Development Grants Policy and gave first reading to Consolidated Land Use Bylaw Amendment Bylaw and set a public hearing date for May 13.
“Under the Housing Accelerator Fund, that the town was successful in obtaining, there are some policies that we need to put into place in order to fulfil those initiatives that were proposed in the grant,” said CAO Simone Wiley.
Director of planning and development Danielle Pougher said as part of the Housing Accelerator Fund applications, one of the initiatives the town had in the plan was a residential development incentive program.
“This component of the incentive program is a residential tax incentive bylaw and this will allow for newly constructed housing projects to be eligible for a one-time tax cancellation in the taxation year following the completion and occupancy of the new dwelling.”
The tax incentive bylaw is very similar in format to the non-residential tax incentive bylaw the town passed last year, she said, but pointed out, “the main difference is that we’re only offering a one-time, 100 per cent cancellation for the municipal portion of the tax, for these residential developments.”
Pougher said the new granting program is geared towards residential development, which includes new construction for up to four units. The grant program also includes suite development, with builds like secondary suites, garage suits or garden suites.
Pougher noted the two grants fall under ‘new residential construction’, which covers a $15,000 grant per new dwelling unit (up to four units maximum per property) and ‘suite development’ that covers $10,000 per new secondary, garage or garden suite (with one suite developed per property).
Wiley noted the consolidated land use bylaw amendment was “about making it easier for folks to get their applications in and the process for making secondary, garage and garden suites.”
Pougher said the amendment proposed changing secondary, garage and garden suites from a discretionary use to a permitted use.
“The key difference between those two is that adjacent land owners would not be able to appeal approvals for a permitted use in an R1 district,” she said, adding that it increases application surety for those applying and noted strict guidelines already in place under the current land use bylaw.
“We already have very strong regulations in terms of the different suite types and their impact on adjacent neighbours and neighbouring lots,” explained Pougher.
