Today, the Mayor and City Council approved our request to implement a cap on the number of tandem garage townhouse units vs side-by-side garage townhouse units for any new developments moving forward. This cap is now 50% tandem garage and 50% side-by-side garage vs no-cap at all. The Cloverdale Community Association has been a strong advocate with regards to creating a balanced, sustainable and livable neighbourhood in Cloverdale. President Mike Bola presented the issue to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (TIC) which is chaired by Councillor Tom Gill and had asked for a cap of 25% tandem units and 75% side-by-side. The reason for this was because most tandem townhouse owners never parked both of their cars in the garages because of inconvenience it caused when one had to leave. This would then push these cars to be parked on the street reducing the parking for guests. The city staff consulted with other stakeholders and came back with a proposal to put a cap of 50% instead. With the support of the Chair, Councillor Tom Gill, the TIC committee approved the proposal and forwarded to the rest of council to review and approve or deny. All current applications would be able to go forward “as is” however any new applications would have to follow this new bylaw. Furthermore, any development which is being built on the transit corridor can ask for an amendment to increase the tandem ratio which would in turn increase the housing densification. This is great news for our community as we have seen many developers maximize densification to increase their bottom line and not consider the problems which could arise after they sell and leave.
