More “coach houses” will be built along alleys

More “coach houses” will be built along alleys in Vancouver, Canada, beginning next year. More apartments will also be fitted out above garages on the alleys (or “lanes,” as they’re called in Canada). And for the first time, property owners will be allowed to create secondary housing units in rowhouses and apartments, not just in detached single-family dwellings. Those are among the changes taking place in the 612,000-population British Columbia city now that Council has approved most of the EcoDensity Initiative. In June, the bulk of the initiative — praised by Planning Director Brent Toderian as “a meshing of green urbanism and New Urbanism principles” — won adoption, two years after Mayor Sam Sullivan proposed it. The initiative is aimed at producing a denser, more varied housing stock and higher energy efficiency — allowing the city to accommodate a larger population and reduce the environmental damage associated with continued, lower-density development at the region’s edges (see June 2007 New Urban News). Developers of rezoned sites will be required to achieve LEED Silver standards and to address LEED criteria for energy performance, water efficiency, and handling of storm water. For rezoned sites of two acres or more, developers must explore district energy systems, solar energy, urban agriculture, and other environmentally beneficial measures. Where housing is to be built on rezoned two-acre or larger sites, “a range of types and tenures must be considered to increase affordable housing opportunities,” a city website states. Toderian says the new policies give Vancouver “the highest green standards for private-sector development in North America.” The EcoDensity Charter won approval from all three parties represented on the Council, even though voters in a June primary rejected Mayor Sullivan’s bid for another term.