Langley Township will go to the public before voting on new rules that would ensure more condos are “family-friendly” units with three bedrooms.
A staff report recommended that up to 20 per cent of all new condo units be built to a three-bedroom standard, but at the Monday, Dec. 4 meeting, council decided to go forward with a lower number.
“We received some good input on this,” said Mayor Eric Woodward, who moved the amendment to reduce that number.
Increasing the size of 20 per cent of condos to three bedroom could affect the number being built.
Another reason is that townhouses that have similar numbers of bedrooms are fairly close in price to larger three-bedroom condo units anyway, Woodward noted.
Councillor Barb Martens noted that 20 per cent was “a bit high,” and that Coquitlam, which mandates 10 per cent of units be three-bedroom, is seeing some of those go unsold.
According to the staff report to the council, many communities around the Lower Mainland mandate a percentage of condos be three-bedroom, ranging from 10 to 25 per cent.
Two other parts of the same report were deferred, as the recently-passed provincial Bill 44 likely impacts or overrides them.
Those recommendations would have allowed for new detached suites – also known as laneway homes – on single-family lots, as well as for secondary suites in duplexes.
Both Township rule changes would have mandated parking minimums for those additions.
The council voted to put those potential changes off until they had a chance to look at the new provincial regulations based on Bill 44.
A public hearing on the condo three-bedroom mandate will be scheduled for sometime early next year.
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