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Infill Development Discussion

New infill proposal in Mount Royal

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15 Units on a site only 18 meters wide!
 
trtcttc said:
Really creative land use, but I don't envy those people living in the middle units with almost no sunlight...
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Location premium is the play here, not sunlight. The area is full of apartment buildings from previous decades that also made that trade-off - half of all units in the neighbourhood are north facing and get less sunlight that even those townhomes.

Plus, there's only so much you can do in this specific location - I lived down the street from here for a while and was very surprised how much the actual Mount Royal hill reduced sunlight in the winter. Made for icy sidewalks!

Seems like a good fit on a narrow lot with very steep topography.
 
rdaner said:
Hi: I am wondering where the most up-to-date information is on statistics for garden suites in Calgary might be found? I am also wondering if the zoning has been changed to allow for more than 2 units per lot. Change is coming! Thanks!
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Might be available here https://secondarysuites.calgary.ca/ if garden suites (by your wording, I am guessing you mean Backyard Suite in City of Calgary parlance) that may or may not be in the same structure as a carport or garage, not ground level apartments) are included in this definition. Sourced from this database, which has ~11,700 registered secondary suites in it. https://data.calgary.ca/Business-and-Economic-Activity/Secondary-Suites/jwn6-r58y

153.1 "Backyard Suite"
24P2014, 15P2016
a means a use that:

i contains two or more rooms used or designed to be used as a residence by one or more persons;

ii that contains a kitchen, living, sleeping and sanitary facilities;

iii is located in a detached building located behind the front façade of the main residential building;

iv may be attached to an Accessory Residential Building;

v is considered part of and secondary to a Dwelling Unit;

vi except as otherwise indicated in subsection (vii) and (viii), must be located on the same parcel as a Contextual Single Detached Dwelling or a Single Detached Dwelling;

vii in the R-CG District or a multi-residential district must be located on the same parcel or bare land unit with a single Dwelling Unit; and
4P2017, 62P2018, 56P2022
viii in the R-G and R-Gm Districts must be located on the same parcel as a Dwelling Unit in a Rowhouse Building, Semi-Detached Dwelling or a Single Detached Dwelling;

b is a use within the Residential Group in Schedule A to this Bylaw;

c requires a minimum of 1.0 motor vehicle parking stalls; and

d does not require bicycle parking stalls — class 1 or class 2.
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In the last civic census, 2019, there were at least 216 'other dwellings', 'Any residential structure that contains a dwelling unit which does not fit the other structure codes, e.g. shack, garage.' I'd consider the data unreliable, as records don't appear for every ward.
 
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CBBarnett said:
Location premium is the play here, not sunlight. The area is full of apartment buildings from previous decades that also made that trade-off - half of all units in the neighbourhood are north facing and get less sunlight that even those townhomes.

Plus, there's only so much you can do in this specific location - I lived down the street from here for a while and was very surprised how much the actual Mount Royal hill reduced sunlight in the winter. Made for icy sidewalks!

Seems like a good fit on a narrow lot with very steep topography.
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Agreed that location is the premium here. But are there many buildings that face the wall of another building? North facing apartment may not have direct sunlight but there should be decent natural light. These interior units on the lower floors would face the side wall of the building next door. The higher elevation unit to the south will block most of the light from that side as well.
 
The market will dictate rent or purchase price for those units with lack of sunlight/daylight being a factor. It's up to the renter/purchaser to determine whether it's critical to them or not. However right now, lack of inventory is a more impactful factor so as long as they're not priced on an extreme end they'll have no trouble being occupied.
 
haltcatchfire said:
The market will dictate rent or purchase price for those units with lack of sunlight/daylight being a factor. It's up to the renter/purchaser to determine whether it's critical to them or not. However right now, lack of inventory is a more impactful factor so as long as they're not priced on an extreme end they'll have no trouble being occupied.
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And these will be modern apartments, likely with modern amenities. The area doesn't actually have a lot of that - plenty of shared laundry, limited amenities due to the 1950s, 60s and 70s era vintage apartments making up a large portion of the stock.

Shouldn't have any issues renting it out given the current crisis.
 
I pass by that infill site all the time. My only wish is that entrances faced onto 4th street instead of being a building side. This seems to be the common articulation for many developments along 4th street, which is unfortunate as 4th street has potential to be a nice little corridor. Still the density boost is great for the area.
 
It is another example though of the density not living up to what the LAP called for. 4th Street is planned to be a Neigbourhood Corridor, lined with 6 storey multi-family apartments with retail at grade for some of it. But, due to the nature of H-GO, we aren't seeing that, instead getting 3-4 projects of this scale, rather than the bigger density that the policy document called for.
 
MichaelS said:
It is another example though of the density not living up to what the LAP called for. 4th Street is planned to be a Neigbourhood Corridor, lined with 6 storey multi-family apartments with retail at grade for some of it. But, due to the nature of H-GO, we aren't seeing that, instead getting 3-4 projects of this scale, rather than the bigger density that the policy document called for.
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Isn't this just a product of development economics of the current climate?

I have heard this critique of H-GO before but I don't quite get the concerns. H-GO is a still a big 5 - 10x density boost over existing and other parcels can still convert to apartments if the site economics and demand materialize. Townhome/family sized units as well. To the example above I get the "not facing the street" issue, wouldn't this orientation actually force more people to access their doors from 4th Street via this courtyard than if the building was oriented. I think you actually would get more pedestrians using 4th as a result.

This design reminds me a bit of a courtyard apartment design at a smaller scale (and inevitably cheaper materials) to this example in Montreal fronting onto a main street:
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Not trying to be critical, just curious on the perspectives - what am I missing here that's the issue? I guess I can see a missed opportunity if all sites on a corridor develop like this, but a few doesn't seem a big deal to me.
 
I like H-GO in general, and actually it does provide a great density boost while blending into its surroundings. My only issue with H-GO is on roads that have good potential to be a retail corridor. I think 4th street has potential for that, but it's slowly disappearing.
 
Surrealplaces said:
I pass by that infill site all the time. My only wish is that entrances faced onto 4th street instead of being a building side. This seems to be the common articulation for many developments along 4th street, which is unfortunate as 4th street has potential to be a nice little corridor. Still the density boost is great for the area.
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I've said this before but 4th st could be converted to single lane traffic all the way from 16th ave to McKnight adding on-street parking and a separated bike lane. Would make fronting onto it a lot more appealing.
 
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