Langley Real Estate

Langley City will hold two public meetings to gather feedback about secondary suites.

by Angela Wiebe

The City of Langley is calling on its residents for some help.

In an effort to gauge public opinion surrounding the legalization of secondary suites, the City is holding two public information meetings.

While secondary suites are currently illegal, City staff expect 400 or more suites are located in single-family homes throughout the municipality.

The estimate comes from censuses collected from City residents, said deputy director of development services Roy Beddow.

Many people list their residence as a duplex, he said, while there are actually very few areas zoned in the City for duplexes.

This tips City Hall off to possible secondary suites, he said.

While the City's enforcement strategy is to investigate these homes only when there's a written complaint, City director of development services Gerald Minchuk said there are concerns about quality of life issues.

"[Suites] range in quality," he said. "You deal with a wide range of landlords."

The City first began investigating the issue two years ago, with a community survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid, which found that 81 per cent of City residents wanted secondary suites to be legalized.

"It was a fairly strong indicator to us," Minchuk said.

Last winter, Council approved in its budget a secondary suites study that would cost $20,000. Urban Systems Ltd. will present the study, expected to be done by the end of June.

The study will provide several options for legalization.

"It isn't intended to debate the merits of secondary suites," Minchuk said. "It's meant to focus on implementation options."

Part of the study is gathering public opinion, which will happen on two nights - Tuesday, May 16 and Tuesday, June 6, both at the Rose Gellert Hall, 4899 207th St, from 7-9 p.m.

The first night will discuss issues and concerns regarding the legalization of secondary suites. The second night will discuss specific conditions for legalization.

"The goal is to have a standard to deal with life safety issues adequately," Beddow said. "But the standards can't be overly onerous because then there wouldn't be any buying into this from tenants. It's important to come up with the right balances."

City mayor Peter Fassbender said the public meetings will help Council determine the direction of this issue.

"We think it's really important to get feedback from the public," he said on the legalization of secondary suites. "There's been a lot of talk and Council is waiting to hear what people have to say about it. None of us [on Council] are positioned one way or another."

Call City Hall at 604-514-2800 to find out more about the meetings.

published on 05/09/2006

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