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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
I love going to the BC Home and Garden Show. Even when our home renovations were restricted to painting our hallway — just going to the show made us feel like we were “real” home owners.
This year, of course, we had a legitimate reason to be there. We are building a home! We wanted to look around at, well, everything, but there are a couple of things that we paid close attention to.
Home security: Currently we have an alarm system installed in our condo. We enter a few digits on a keypad and arm or disarm the system. This was the first alarm system I’d ever used, and I was pretty impressed with the system and the motion sensors tucked into the corners.
Seems pretty old school now. Now the smart systems can be armed or disarmed by your cell phone while you are halfway around the world. It can be run through your laptop or ipad and control your TV, stereo, heat and lights. My little carrier bag is stuffed with brochures from the various distributors, and it’ll take some serious on-line investigation to even get started on deciding what we need.
Window Coverings: It was great to see all the window coverings laid out before us. We got to see them up close, and we think we will go with Hunter Douglas Silhouette. We really love the way you can get full coverage, but also even with the blinds open the sheer outer panels give you UV and heat protection, perfect for our upstairs sitting room that faces full south.
Naturally, they can be installed to open or shut with the flick of a switch or a remote. It’s nice to dream about, but we’re talking about two 32 x 48 inch windows and one glass door — I think a pull on a couple of cords will not be too onerous.
Of course there were lots of other things to see — from celebrity appearances to basement bathrooms to roofing options plus grdens and fountains, but we just poked our heads into the booths that we related to. Although we also tried out every bar stool we saw, just to see what they felt like to sit in. We will need to get two stools for our kitchen counter/table. They will have to be a little higher than regular kitchen chairs, which are usually 18 inches high for 29-inch-high tables. Counters are usually 36 inches high, so we’ll need to accommodate that. Regular bar stools will be too tall, but we were just checking the comfort levels of different styles. Note: lushly padded seats are too precarious, your bottom wobbles on them.
Update: Here’s what four editors of BC Living magazine found to love at the BC Home and Garden Show.
I have been too busy to post — a feeble excuse but my own.
There’s lots to write about; a visit to our designer’s offices to see the final (95%) plans, another chat on the Home Discovery Show radio program, even our visits to our cabinet and window makers.
But I have been completely sidetracked by the lure of the garden.
DH told me last week that we should start drawing up landscaping plans. Pshaw, said I, we have lots of time (I guffawed) . Let’s just put grass everywhere and then decide where we want what to grow. They haven’t even started ripping apart the back yard, why fret about how it’s going to be put together?
Why fret? Because the city wants us to.
Turns out that the city wants to see a plan of what we want to grow where before we even get the permits to start building. Laurel the Designer gave us a site plan, and we are to provide, to be specific
So it was time to plumb the Pinterest page I’ve set up for my dream garden to draw up a plan.
I’ve never been much of a gardener. I don’t like dirt under my fingernails, and I have something of a grey thumb. Also — hello — bugs. But drawing up the plan I could see why people enjoy this part of it most of all. It was hard work, but it was also fun.
Here’s some of what we’re thinking:
We have to put in a tree, so how about a nice plum? (Prunus domestica Stanley)
We’ll have an arbour to the Main House yard, so let’s put in the wisteria they already own and must replant.
Along the fence, an herb garden in pots.
Beside the front door, a beautyberry (aka mulberry).
And crowning everything, our live roof.
There’s oodles more, of course, ornamental grasses in pots, tulips and daffodils in the live roof; and on the side of the laneway that faces west, in a narrow space between our wall and the neighbour’s fence, a bed of river rock flanked by ferns, bleeding hearts, and oregon grape.
Lookit me! I’m a gardener! And who knows — it’s such a tiny space to garden in, we may be able to pull this off.
Keep those green-thumbs crossed!
Hot on the heels of my previous post about ownership of our laneway comes this article on the Senior Living website.
The “canny senior” , Ann Eynon has built a laneway on her daughter’s property (such a clever idea!). She says
“It’s lovely to free up the cash rather than sitting on it,” she says while pouring over travel brochures. Where to go next?
Exactly! Plus there’s some info on how different families are handling the ownership “situation”.
Some families enter into joint ownership; others agree to forgivable loans. Put everything in writing, especially when adult children are involved……… amortizing …payback over 25 years and clarifying a payout schedule if, or when, the unit changes hands.
Or, if no payback is expected, as in Ann Eynon’s case,
she made sure everybody understood her situation before she broke ground. Ann will have her laneway house appraised and then assign percentages of its value to each of her two children.
I was showing a friend the plans for the souped-up kitchen in the laneway house (more on that in a future post) and even dragged out the little square of wood veneer to show how the cupboards will be finished. She oohed and aahed, I kvelled, it was a pleasant time. Then she said “It just makes sense to spend money on the kitchen, because of the resale value.”
And just like a needle being dragged across a record, the conversation veered off from cozy decor to cold hard facts.
We are paying for the laneway home to be built. And we’ll be spending a little more than absolutely necessary to get exactly what we want in the way of finishes, appliances and building materials. And we will live in it. But we won’t own it. The owners of the main home on the property own the laneway house as well. That’s the rule.
All our money is buying us is the right to live in the house until…..we don’t want to live there anymore.
Oh, we’ll get our money out of it. Eventually the property owners (DD and DSIL) will eventually start making payments to us for the amount we paid to build the home — but no more, no matter how much the property may have appreciated in value.
It works out very well for us all. They get a free babysitting at hand, we can share shopping trips, it’s a nice convivial living situation for everyone involved.
But we are stepping off the real estate merry-go-round forever. And that’s the way we want it.
We cannot have our cake and eat it, too. We can stay in this condo and watch it go up in value every year, but we can’t take that money and use it. Yes we are sitting on the proverbial gold mine, but that’s just it, we’re sitting on it, not mining it.
Building the laneway home gives us a chance to live mortgage-free in a lovely neighbourhood in our favourite city in the world. Next to the nicest neighbours we could imagine.
What more could we want?
Come walk with me, Down My Dark & Stormy Journey BUSINESS INQUIRIES & CONTACT EMAIL : GODSCHILD4048@GMAIL.COM
Artist and Desert Dweller with Big City Style.
Domenic Garisto / LIFE IS NOT A REHERSAL,SO LIVE IT..if you can't be the poet, be the poem..havau22.com
Lane Way Housing for the Nervous Novice
Lane Way Housing for the Nervous Novice
building a home that's not too big and not too small
Funny thoughts from a nut like me.
Words on Music
Small house designs with big impact
Lane Way Housing for the Nervous Novice
Lane Way Housing for the Nervous Novice
The Lady Who Lives Down the Lane 