Committee recommendations would help grow local housing inventory

If North Bay City Council approves the recommendations from a special committee meeting held Monday, it will help add needed rental units to the area.

The community services committee moved forward three separate rezoning applications and placed each of the three properties under site plan control under the Planning Act.

The first property involves the White Fawn Motel, located at 4319 Highway 11 North. The rezoning of the property would permit the conversion of their 12-room motel into efficiency units. There is also a small home the owners plan to renovate and rent.

According to the report from Senior Planner Peter Carello, an "efficiency unit" is a smaller form of a dwelling unit consisting of a main room and some combination of bathroom, kitchen, closets, dining alcove and hall space.

Carello told the committee, despite the rural setting of the property, the conversion of the motel into efficiency units would result in the creation of new affordable housing units. 

According to the report, "Both the Provincial Policy Statement and the Official Plan have policies encouraging the creation of new affordable housing units, where possible. The provision of affordable housing provides tenancy opportunities for residents that are continuously in demand."

Deputy Mayor Tanya Vrebosch worried about transportation for potential tenants beyond the established transit and on-demand transit coverage area.

Rick Miller of Miller & Urso Surveying, agent for the property owners said "there is no intent to change the built form, the units would just be converted." 

Miller added issues with the North Bay–Mattawa Conservation Authority and a neighbour regarding the property's surrounding land and septic system have been reviewed and are in the process of being addressed.

The second rezoning matter, if later approved by Council, will see an existing duplex converted to a triplex at 155 Fourth Ave. E.

Carello observed this sort of in-fill development has financial benefits to the City as existing services will be used. "It reduces the requirement to expand services and there are environmental benefits to in-fill development, as far as limiting the size of the community overall."

Paul Goodridge of Goodridge Goulet Planning & Surveying advised the committee a previous land severance agreement will allow for access to the rear of the building. There, tenants will have three spaces to park, and there is room for snow storage.

The third recommended rezoning adds a new, larger, housing unit and pertains to a property at 879 Cassells St., between Third Avenue West and Fourth Avenue West. The owner's application requests for the building to also be categorized as a single-dwelling unit, in addition to its current permitted uses.

In its current configuration, the two-storey building has a vacant retail space on the ground floor with a residential unit above. Carello said the owner has had several tenants occupy the retail space but has had difficulty retaining a consistent tenant.

The owner maintains the small building and its layout are better suited to be used as a single-detached dwelling, and Carello's report supports that. He also noted the rezoning would still allow for the building to be used as a retail space or as two separate units in the future.