Friday 27 October 2017

Your (Affordable) Charming Little Hideaway







When lane houses come up on the agenda of the Committee of the Whole (COW), Oct 23, 2017, nobody but news media are left in the gallery. This after 2 going-on-and-on presentations about tree-management to a nearly full house.
So the audience possibly just has to get out of there.

Or hasn't come for lane houses.

As in: out-of-town trees get considerable space in the Star promptly after the COW - in-town lane houses of this same COW get no mention at all in the same report.

Seeing that they - and more secondary/basement suites - could be an at least partial solution to our collective housing-issues everybody has been on about incessantly, a lane house presentation is prominently featured in the Star just prior to the COW, as a warmer-upper.

                                                           Nelson considers laneway housing
                                                                                         Star, Oct 17, 2017

But!


Poor Focus
When lane houses are given a superficial go-ahead some years ago, this is in tandem with legit basement suites. What pretty much then makes both non-issues is the bizarrely reasoned over-the-top water-rate increase for such suites, passed by the previous Council.

Result
Fact: This water-rate increase makes many who have been considering a legit basement suite reconsider, while reinforcing the general image of City Hall as cash-grabbers.
Fact: This spilling over into the lane house concept.

While said rates have been adjusted in the meantime - though this never clearly communicated to the general public - lack of trust in City Hall processes: here - perceived as time-consuming byzantine, unfocused and expensive hoops to be jumped through for possible lane houses - largely have made both a no-go since.



Fix
As already mentioned in posts
Home Sweet Home (is not a condo) - 1/2/3
Dec 2016 - Jan 2017,
in order for City Hall to get traction with this now, both options need to be made real-time now-time attractive to possible converters/builders, with streamlined relevant processes - no matter how many concise new ones - and offered incentives: financial and bureaucratic.

Secondary/basement suites must continue to be focused on parallel to lane houses. Both addressing housing shortage and affordable housing on the municipal level.
Conditions permitting: a home-owner building a lane house should also be allowed to run a basement suite. Oddly - not allowed now! 

Anyway - to convince thus make this double-concept fly - there needs to be a definitively clear vision, a strong context - recorded in words and images - everybody: planners and public - then can look at and work towards together. Prior to!
Same vision - same future Nelson.

Not easily to be shed: the general public's strongly negative view of the City's Hall St stumble downhill. And those held responsible. A grudge-fest for a long time to come.
Unless City Hall can ramp up its credibility-rating quickly and substantially!





By/For Whom, Why, What?
A lane house - restricted by lot-size, privacy-issues, access and parking-needs - will be significantly smaller than the house out front. Somewhere between tiny house and lesser Better Home & Garden. Therefore cheaper. Therefore more affordable.

Random dust-ball spaces superseded by bright cost/efficiency/practicality-concerns.

Possibly piggy-backed by a property-owner and leased within an option-to-buy framework, after a substantial downpayment, followed by monthly cheques.
Possibly built separately on a sliver of backyard sold outright.
Attracting singles, working couples, retirees with fewer current/future plans/needs.
A starter-home.
Paring down.
A nest.

The target-market would be similarly focused for rentals of basement suites.




Size Matters
Pam Mierau, Nelson Planning & Development Manager - the driving energy behind lane houses - envisions possibly 3 pre-approved designs. Conceivably they will be based on available funds and/or for certain numbers of people to live in them.
Pre-approved designs would cut down dramatically on paperwork necessary for such projects. And costs. 

Outside, looking in: simplified, locked-in processes would also mean City Hall can't follow its usual just-making-stuff-up-on-the-fly pattern. The prime example of that: Hall St (again!) all the way down. Splash!

The planned design-competition must not be limited to local architects. Considering: Nelson Commons is boring and already entering its next phase: Kelowna stodge. And the ultimately rejected Flying Nun Cottonwood Market design was without any practical merit as a basic market-shelter.

Lane houses will need expert know-how in ingenious use of condensed spaces. Except for possibly Tiny Houses folks: Nelson simply doesn't have what it takes to make this happen.

  

Module Design
The way to go may be prefabricated - ideally flat-packed - modules: minimizing overall costs, assembly-time, size. These modules added to with other modules clicked-in to increase the number of volumes horizontally/vertically. They also may incorporate parking.

In effect - owners would still be participating in the overall design - from basic to expanded. Later to be prettified at leisure. Pink flamingos, gnomes, Santa on the roof - you name it!
Sort-of like a base-unit with apps!

Here designers must be those focused on this kind of housing specifically - with a proven track-record of appealing houses larger inside than out. And manufacturing-capability.
The 3 blog-posts above show some examples and their designers/manufacturers.






Transformative Concept
As a whole this lane-house concept will need way-out-there imagination and willing cooperation towards a common goal by several City Hall departments concurrently - including a proactive nudge-nudge Council - in meticulous planning and timely lateral execution.

Run by whom? will be interesting to watch.



Image Credits:
Richard Woods, Folkestone
wayfair.ca



Pam Mierau, Nelson Planning & Development Manager
pmierau@nelson.ca

Deb Kozak, Nelson Mayor
dkozak@nelson.ca

City Council
nelsoncouncil@nelson.ca

Kevin Cormack, Nelson CAO
kcormack@nelson.ca

Colin Innes, Nelson Public Works Director
cinnes@nelson.ca      

2 comments:

  1. 3 pre approved designs, OK. This to me means costs should be known, give them to me, total costs other than unknown site specifics, show me a business case. Because most readers who have this option in the city are not aware and scared as they should be to stick their neck out for no return, why should anyone? Everyone I know that was, might repeat or enter this realm have quit, they tell me its unaffordable. City beauracracy, red tape, permits blah blah they have quit period. Show us it can be done for profit.

    This might help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdHwewUuXBg&t=22s

    ReplyDelete
  2. Norm is right. Lane housing numbers won't add up....

    http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/michael-hungerford/laneway-housing-vancouver_b_4298984.html

    ReplyDelete