cliffapotamus
Active Member
Saw this by Connor's road today. It's a really small project, but i thought the idea (and more importantly, the example) it presents is really cool, and really relevant given the City Plan's push for 25%-50% infill over the next 250k of population growth. It's a 4plex circa 1971 (according to maps.edmonton) that is taking advantage of the secondary suite clauses recently added to the Zoning Bylaw.
It's a simple idea; the RF3 on this site (and a whole lot of the rest of central edmonton, to that point) allows for multi-unit housing, in to form of Principal Dwellings requiring 150m2 of site each. the recent amendments allow for secondary and garden suites to be added in on top of the Principal Dwellings, provided the suites are each tied to a principal dwelling. We're seeing some of this in new construction, the ubiquitous corner 2 storey 4plex is now getting built with basement suites in some neighbourhoods, (for 8 units total) and it will probably become more common in time.
What caught my eye with project was the way the garden (garage) suite was being added behind an existing 4plex, itself recently renovated. The awkwardness of the retrofit aside (the original building is awkwardly placed close to the lane, so the new garage is gonna take up almost the whole yard in this case) I think it's really clever that the owner of this property is using these new zoning rules. although the site is maxed out in terms of Principal Dwellings, they are using the secondary suite rules to add a unit over the garage. I know garage suites aren't exactly new, but seeing one being added to an existing income property really struck me. I wonder how this is gonna work, I hope it ends up being worth it. We certainly have a lot of these existing, older, affordable, central-city duplexes and 4plexes on large sites, easily capable of fitting a garage with suite above.
anyways, not a shiny new thing, but a cool introduction to the neighbourhood i thought. does this seem feasible or am i being overly-optimistic?
It's a simple idea; the RF3 on this site (and a whole lot of the rest of central edmonton, to that point) allows for multi-unit housing, in to form of Principal Dwellings requiring 150m2 of site each. the recent amendments allow for secondary and garden suites to be added in on top of the Principal Dwellings, provided the suites are each tied to a principal dwelling. We're seeing some of this in new construction, the ubiquitous corner 2 storey 4plex is now getting built with basement suites in some neighbourhoods, (for 8 units total) and it will probably become more common in time.
What caught my eye with project was the way the garden (garage) suite was being added behind an existing 4plex, itself recently renovated. The awkwardness of the retrofit aside (the original building is awkwardly placed close to the lane, so the new garage is gonna take up almost the whole yard in this case) I think it's really clever that the owner of this property is using these new zoning rules. although the site is maxed out in terms of Principal Dwellings, they are using the secondary suite rules to add a unit over the garage. I know garage suites aren't exactly new, but seeing one being added to an existing income property really struck me. I wonder how this is gonna work, I hope it ends up being worth it. We certainly have a lot of these existing, older, affordable, central-city duplexes and 4plexes on large sites, easily capable of fitting a garage with suite above.
anyways, not a shiny new thing, but a cool introduction to the neighbourhood i thought. does this seem feasible or am i being overly-optimistic?
) we see a developer pick this up in the near future and announce a massive project 
