City council may have tempered proposed changes to massing regulations on single-family homes, but that shouldn’t deter people from turning out for a public hearing this Monday evening.
Recommendations emanating from a city council planning committee last month surrounding things such as minimum rear yard setbacks, lengths of walls and projection of garages angered a number of residents, who voiced their disapproval at a subsequent city council meeting.
As such, several of the items in question were rolled back to the original city staff recommendations, the main one being rear yard setbacks, which are now being proposed at a minimum of 25 per cent of the lot depth.
However, one of the residents who has been fighting to curtail the impact of large, single-family homes in Richmond, John ter Borg, said people should still go to Monday’s public hearing at city hall.
“I think this is still a great opportunity for people to speak their minds; that’s what a public hearing is for,” ter Borg told the Richmond News.
“It’s still very important for people to make their voices heard and get it on public record; this is one of those times where they’re free to speak. This is never a done deal and this could be the end of this discussion for a while.”
Ter Borg claimed a recent planning committee meeting was “hijacked” by the building community, who “got what they wanted” when it came to amendments to massing regulations on single-family homes.
“(After the planning meeting) we ended up with something that was removed from what city staff had recommended,” he said.
“Richmond should aim to be at least average; that way it won’t be coming down too hard on anybody and people can still build beautiful houses, if they want to. What I think this does is provide some common sense.
“The builders have gotten a lot of what they wanted for some time.”
Ter Borg said it’s important to note that “it’s not going to look drastically different from what is out there right now.
“But this is a very important conversation about affordability and liveability.”
In a recent letter to the News, Mayor Malcolm Brodie told how, for the past two years, “council has worked diligently to address various community concerns about house size and related regulations.
“We’ve held numerous meetings and heard from hundreds of residents, builders and other stakeholders. There are widely divergent opinions on the appropriate approach for dealing with these issues.
“Consequently, the city has proposed a number of changes to our regulations to best serve our community.”
The public hearing on massing regulations on single-family homes takes place Monday, July 17 at 7 p.m. at Richmond City Hall.
