Photo: City of Penticton

Rejected plans for a 2,700 square foot carriage house in Penticton

Penticton council has directed city staff to tighten design regulations for new carriage houses in the community.

The decision came after a lengthy conversation Tuesday afternoon, sparked by the rejection of a 2,700 square foot carriage home on Kendall Crescent earlier this month.

Planning manager Blake Laven told councillors Penticton takes a considerably more hands-off approach to regulating the development of secondary homes compared to other communities such as Kelowna and Vancouver.

Guidelines around design aesthetics, in particular, are quite lax with existing bylaws focused limiting the height and footprint of the structure.

Councillors directed Laven to have his staff draft a set of changes that limit the actual living space of carriage homes. Aesthetic guidelines will most likely be updated through Official Community Plan discussions already underway.

“We obviously have carriage houses because we need them, we need housing, that’s the bottom line,” Coun. Helena Konanz said.

“One thing I do know, I drive through Vancouver and Kelowna, and the designs of their carriage houses really are very nice — and sometimes to tell you the truth am disappointed with what we allow… many of our carriage houses look like silos.”

The changes to the carriage house guidelines will likely be presented to council for a vote in late September or early October.

Those changes will come too late for unhappy neighbours in the Kendall Crescent and Ridgedale Avenue area. While bylaw variances for the proposed carriage home at 142 Kendall were rejected, the homeowner is still free to build a two-storey carriage home under current bylaws.

Council received a petition from 22 properties in the area asking the city to declare the area a “carriage free zone” and implement a moratorium on new carriage homes until regulations can be overhauled. Eight homes in the neighbourhood did not sign the petition, but one of those is Coun. Judy Sentes and another is vacant.

Council heard they have no power to block the building permit application at 142 Kendall as long as it fits current bylaws, because the application was opened before council directed the changes take place.