A new organization called the EGB — Emerging Green Builders of Metro Vancouver are inviting the general public to an information session on laneway homes on March 20.
Category Archives: Housing
A draft of the new laneway home regulations is available….
Thanks to the nice people at Lanefab for tipping us off to the news that the proposed amendments to the laneway housing program are available as a pdf.
I’m all for them, but since our designer has already gone through the intake process at city hall, these are unlikely to affect our project. Which is good, because we have already got our plans at such an advanced state.
Living large in Hawaii
Johnny Sanphillippo had a dream — to own his own home. But, daunted by the housing prices in hometown San Francisco (and his salary as a housekeeper), he knew he had to come up with his own solution.
Read this Huffington Post article about how he managed to build a place he could call his own — without a mortgage.
Guest Post: Getting the Backyard Ready for a House
Hi folks,
The new hedge location.
It’s me, DD (dear daughter, of “Main House”). I’ve been enjoying reading my mom’s posts about her purging and planning and prepping. We’ve been busy at the main house too, so I thought I’d contribute a little about what’s been happening on our property as we prepare for the new structure.
We’re actually very fortunate that the majority of our backyard is a concrete parking pad. The excavator will take care of that. On the other hand, having an excavator arrive on our back doorstep will have quite an impact. We do have some yard, and it’s populated by some great plants: boxwoods, rhododendrons, heathers, a firebush, a wisteria, a fig … we have a lot of creepers.
Mapoleon in his new spot. The first question DH asked was “won’t their branches get all tangled up?” Yes. Probably. Fine.
Our first plan was to simply transplant everything to the front yard and create an amazing garden up there. We hit a couple of roadblocks. First, the city won’t let the laneway house pull water service from the back alley – so our contractors are going to have to chop up our front lawn. They'[re going to run a bobcat up there and dig, dig, dig. Second, we are planning to re-do the front of the house in the next few years (including weeping tile) so we can’t really create permanent gardens of awesomeness. Anything not touched this round will be squished during that phase of renovations.
So for now, a compromise. First we moved Mapoleon, our miniature Japanese maple, from his spot directly in the path of the new water line. Yes, we moved him under another tree, and yes, there will be some branch negotiations. It’s really the only spot that was free.
We’re going to re-home some of the boxwoods to a new sidewalk hedge (leaving a 40″ space for the bobcat), and put the rest in pots on our deck and nooks and crannies out front. The contractors are going to lay weeping tile (drain tile) along the water line trench they dig on the West and South sides of the house. (The front and East sides will be covered by a future project). And we will have to get used to moving our plants to and fro until all the projects are complete.
Easy peasy? Not exactly. The goal with the Main House is to do as much ourselves as possible. But over the last weekend we learned we’re not landscapers. Here are some challenges we experienced:
Only one person can work at a time, because we have a toddler.
Root balls are massive. And heavy. We’re strong but. Really, they’re heavy.
Stripping sod is hard work, especially as you have to haul away the heavy sod somewhere else.
A wheelbarrow will not work if the tire is flat. (Did I mention we’re not professionals? We’re not even really amateurs.)
It rains a lot in Vancouver. So far we have timed every move to the rainiest possible moment. The bonus is the plants need moisture for successful transplantation. I guess there’s that.
We’re wet, sore, tired and we’ve barely begun. That said, it’s worth it to save our (sentimental and expensive) plants. We’d just caution other homeowners undertaking a secondary dwelling to budget for a landscaper to transplant for them … or budget a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to make it happen.
The Vancouver Sun’s Shelley Fralic features our story in the paper!
My great-grannie always said that a lady should have her name in the paper 3 times in her life — when she is born, when she married, and when she died.
But great-grannie did not know of what she spoke. Because this morning I got a huge charge looking at page 3 of the Vancouver Sun to see myself looking back!
Columnist Shelley Fralic wrote the story “Meet the Lady Who Lives Down the Lane” after meeting with DD, our builder Laurel and I last week. She had heard about the blog on The Home Discovery Show and thought her readers would be interested in our story.
Be sure to check out the story. I am quite chuffed about this sudden celebrity.
Let’s see — radio, now newspaper. Who should I get to play me in the movie of my life?
Information sessions on new laneway regulations
The Courier ran this story about information sessions on laneway regulations.
And the City of Vancouver’s website confirms the Information Session on March 7.
That linked page says:
Come to an information session to learn more about proposed changes to the City’s laneway housing program, which allows for smaller, detached homes built on a single-family lot near the lane. They provide more housing choices in single-family neighbourhoods, adding rental options for a diverse range of people including seniors who want to downsize or renters who want to live in detached housing in established neighbourhoods.
Currently, laneway houses are permitted in certain single-family zones (RS-1 and RS-5) in the city. We’re looking at amending the program to improve the fit of these homes in neighbourhoods and create more livable units. The program would also be expanded to include the remaining single-family home zoning districts (RS-1A, RS-1B, RS-2, RS-3/3A, RS-4, RS-6, RS-7).
Drop by a session to find out more.City staff will be on hand to answer questions.
Vancouver expands laneway house initiatives
Good news, everyone! Vancouver civic government recognizes that the laneway house movement is a great way to add density to our city without sacrificing the character of neighbourhoods.
Yesterday the story appeared in Business in Vancouver, The Vancouver Sun, and on Global News on how the city is planning to increase the number of laneway homes.The Business in Vancouver says
The city has announced that, later this spring, city staff will report to city council with proposed amendments to the program and guidelines to expand the program to other single-family zoned areas.
According to the city’s guide,
Laneway houses are allowed on lots
in RS-1 and RS-5 single family zones
They want to expand the program into more zones. Plus they are planning to streamline the process and encourage more single-storey buildings.
I hope we will have laneway neighbours up and down our street, and the city will embrace this “new” way of housing that truly reflects our society and our culture.
Promises made paper
We have a signed agreement with the homeowners — our daughter and son-in-law. DD drew up the agreement from information on the internet, we went back and forth a few times adding a line here and adjusting the budget numbers. Then we sat on it for six months. But the building plans are going before the city this week (it’s called intake) and in 6 weeks or so we will be calling in the heavy equipment to start serious construction.
So it was time to get things signed.
I found a notary public on-line and made an appointment for Saturday afternoon (not many notary publics — notaries public — are open Saturday). We all met, our grand-daughter hurled her stuffed toys around an office, and we signed the contract and had it notarized.
Then we all went back to our place for spaghetti dinner and a dvd of Peter Pan.
It is done.
There’s nothing much to the contract, it’s just to save arguments and more importantly, hurt feelings when we run across unexpected costs or problems. But it feels good in an official kind of way.
Another way to live in Vancouver
I love Vancouver. I was born here (yes! native-born Vancouverites do exist) but I was also lucky enough to live in a small town, and I choose Vancouver because I love it.
But there is a heavy price for living in this city — literally. That price is the cost of housing. Housing is expensive here. If they put up thousands of rental units and hundreds of low-cost condos the housing price may even out — temporarily. Because more and more people are going to move here, and those houses and condos and rentals are going to be filled up and it’s just going to be on a giant roller coaster of prices — it’s never going to be cheap to live here. It’s like when they build more freeways to bring people into town from the suburbs. Guess what! That means more people will move to the suburbs and those freeways will be filled up again in a few years and you go back to the beginning, world without end.
But the cost of housing here is not reflected in our wages and salaries. So most of us are caught in a real squeeze, especially if you are raising children. Affordable private housing for families of 3 or 4 usually starts at about $650,000 (if you are lucky enough to find it).
So it’s always nice to see someone trying to do something for those families.
In this story in BC Business, a proposal for co-housing has been brought to Vancouver City Hall for approval. The idea is a hybrid of private ownership and co-op housing.
As opposed to a co-operative housing complex, wherein a corporation or association owns units and residents own shares in that corporation, co-housing allows each individual to own some living space outright, and share other areas with fellow residents.
I lived in a co-op with my children for over 12 years, and for me, it was great. There was always someone for the kids to play with, space for them to play in, people watched out for each other, and we made a community. But you always knew that you weren’t living in your “very own” space. It was just like having a nosy landlord — except all your neighbours were your landlords.
So I welcome the idea of co-housing. And the price will be more reasonable than detached houses. But it won’t be cheap.
the complex estimates the price of a 875 sq. ft. unit to be $480,000.
The Lady Who Lives Down the Lane 