Building fourplexes in town just became a lot easier.
As Innisfail seeks to build up its tax base in downtown areas through infill development, council recently voted unanimously to relax a number of stipulations for building the apartment complexes within areas zoned R3.
Areas currently the focus of developer interest for the medium-density units include 49 Avenue behind Co-op to Highway 2A, strips of land between Main Street and the schools and parcels north of the tracks towards Dodds Lake.
Front yard requirements have now changed from eight metres to six metres, corner side yard requirements move from four and a half metres to three metres, and interior side yard requirements move from three metres to one and a half metres.
Depth of landscaped areas changes from six metres to four metres in front of windows of living and dining rooms and bedrooms. One tree is required just every 84 square metres instead of every 50 square metres. One shrub is required every 40 square metres of required landscaped area instead of every 20 square metres.
Now 1.24 parking stalls are required instead of two stalls per unit.
Rudy van Doornum said he's worried about development altering the look of his neighbourhood.
“Apparently all of 48 Street is being used for infill,” he said. “We don't exactly know where it's going to be.
“I'm going to be affected by the change.”
Mayor Jim Romane asked administration to clarify whether the general R3 standards would apply within the direct control district in which van Doornum lives.
“Sometimes the general standards will apply,” said Craig Teal, director of planning and development. “Other times in the direct control district the development authority have a little more discretion.”
Romane noted that few architectural standards would have applied in the '40s and '50s when the older areas of town, currently targeted for the fourplex infill development, were originally built.
Teal said the apartment complexes themselves have gone through a visual renaissance over the years.
“I think if you were to look at some of the older types of fourplexes that were built, yeah, they were relatively plain boxes,” he said. “If you were to go look at some of the ones that were built in the last five years, I don't think you could fairly characterize those as being plain boxes from an architectural perspective.”
Alysa Tams, a local resident with her sights set on new fourplex development, also spoke at the public hearing.
“It's just relaxing the setbacks to what would be the same as a residential property,” she said. “It's more onerous at the present time with the setback requirements, which makes it hard to make those spaces, those infill lots, workable for fourplexes.”
Between 2003 and 2012, in 80 per cent of cases the requirement for eight on-site parking stalls was relaxed as were yard requirements, according to officials.
Last month council decided to usher fourplexes into discretionary uses along 48 Street between 49 and 51 avenues.
