Neighbours say no carriage houses

A group of Penticton residents wants their neighbourhood declared a “carriage house-free zone.”

The residents, along Kendall Crescent and Ridgedale Avenue, are reacting to one property owner’s plans to build a two-storey carriage house next to his existing house. Since the proposal would have required variances, planning manager Blake Laven said it was brought before council on Aug. 7.

“There were some things that didn’t conform to the bylaw. It’s a little bit too tall and a little bit too big,” said Laven, adding that council voted not to support the variances. “Through that process, the neighbourhood said they didn’t want to see any carriage houses in their neighbourhood.”

The opposition wasn’t finished, sending a follow-up letter to city council asking that they “exclude the approval of carriage houses as a permitted use in this neighbourhood.”

Their concerns included that secondary detached dwellings contradict the purpose of single family zoning, and that setback and height requirements in the existing bylaw needed to be reviewed to protect privacy and enjoyment for neighbouring properties. They also want to see improved bylaw enforceability and penalties for existing short-term or vacation rentals of carriage houses.

“They sent some correspondence to council, requesting that council review carriage house regulations and put a moratorium on until we can tighten the rules a little bit on the design and processes for carriage houses.”

They’re unlikely to get their wish to block carriage houses in their neighbourhood. City council was in favour of having staff make some changes to the bylaw, but not blocking carriage houses.

“We obviously have carriage houses because we need them. We need housing, that’s the bottom line,” said Coun. Helena Konanz. “I don’t think we should restrict carriage homes, just the design.”

Council directed staff to revisit the carriage house bylaw, looking at items like not permitting basements, limiting the overall square footage and the language around the carriage house being subordinate to the main building. Council also supported sending the discussion to the Official Community Plan review that is currently underway.

“There was a movement about 10 years ago to look at how we can get more density on our single-family lots. First, it was secondary suites within the house and then people were looking towards these detached suites,” said Laven. “It’s relatively new to our zoning bylaws. I think 2010 was when carriage houses were first introduced in Penticton.

“I’d say they are pretty typical now. I think most communities had allowances for those detached secondary suites.”

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