Lantzville is on its way to meet its housing targets, according to a staff report, with 374 new homes approved and the zoning potential for more.
In December, District of Lantzville council received an updated summary of interim housing needed in the municipality. It was funded by the Regional District of Nanaimo and is mandated by the province.
The intent is for the numbers to be used to update Lantzville's official community plan by the end of 2025 in preparing for population growth. As of the 2021 census, there were 3,817 residents.
According to the plan, in five years Lantzville will need 286 additional housing units, and in 20 years Lantzville will need 840 new units. There's no requirement from the province to achieve the number of homes in the time frame, but the district is provincially required to plan for it.
George Robinson, director of planning and community services, told council at a committee meeting on Wednesday, March 19, that based on active applications that staff have confidence will go ahead, Lantzville is estimated to have a minimum of 374 new units in the next decade and a maximum of 602 new units from the new subdivisions.
This is due to a provincially required change to zoning capacity, which resulted in several lots being 'up-zoned' to allow for a maximum of four dwellings on a single property.
"In line with provincial guidance, we can count the zoning capacity that was created last year in terms of small scale multi-unit housing projects," Robinson told council. "So, for example, if you have an existing single-family lot that may have a secondary suite or carriage house, maybe there's two dwellings on that lot, the zoning capacity for that lot if it has water and sewer is four dwellings."
Following the meeting, Robinson told the News Bulletin that it is unlikely that every property owner will utilize this new allowance, but he anticipates a number will do so in the coming years.
"We haven't received any development unit applications for any four-unit developments on existing lots yet, but the municipality as well as a lot of the other planners in the region that I have spoken to anticipate that we will see more of these developments as time marches on," he explained. "It's a bit of an adjustment for both property owners and the building industry, to be frank, to kind of pivot to building a different kind of build form than what they have built in the past."
Councillors recommended that staff bring forward amendments to the official community plan to incorporate the housing needs report, and begin a community consultation process to collect public feedback, which is required when an OCP is changed. Council also recommended putting updated development permit guidelines in place.
