North Vancouver Skips Past 'Secondary Suites,' Allows a Third 'Coach House' on Every Lot

Jeremy Shepherd reports on the political debate surrounding the city of North Vancouver's decision to allow "a home, secondary suite and a coach house on every single-family lot in the city."

"The city’s previous policy allowed either a coach house or a secondary suite, but not both," reports Shepherd. Moreover, the new bylaw allows the owner of the property to live in any of the buildings on the property. "The previous policy specified the owner occupy the main house."

According to Shepherd's description of the situation in Vancouver, the council allowed the new flexibility for secondary houses and coach houses to address a demographic shift that has reduced household sizes in Vancouver residential neighborhoods. Fewer people are living on single-family lots, leaving potential space for more to move in. In a city with a 0.3 percent vacancy rate, that new density of housing will comes as a relief, according to the rationale behind the bylaw, as well as an alternative to sprawl.

Though the North Vancouver City Council's decision at the end of February to allow the three types of housing on every single-family lot was unanimous, the decision not to require parking to go with it created more debate. The debate produced a memorable quote from Mayor Darrell Mussatto, who said: "Maybe we can look at housing people as a priority as opposed to housing our cars."