Grand one-storey ceilings stay in Richmond while home heights reduced back to nine metres

RICHMOND NEWS 
SEPTEMBER 15, 2015 05:37 PM

A brand new home awaits its new residents…

New residential zoning bylaw amendments to address the size of homes officially passed Monday evening at a Richmond city council meeting.

Councillors Carol Day and Harold Steves voted against the amendments, stating they do not do enough to address the massing, or bulkiness, of homes.

Day and Steves wanted the city to invoke greater limitations on ceiling heights. As it stands now, builders can construct five-metre tall ceilings and not have that space counted as two storeys.

“If a builder or developer wants to build 20 foot ceilings, they can still do that but the space will be counted twice,” said Day.

Coun. Bill McNulty voted for the amendments but said they still don’t address massing. He said design controls need to be looked at in order to bring home sizes down.

Coun. Ken Johnston called the amendments a “good compromise.”

Coun. Linda McPhail noted there is still more work to be done on issues such as rear yard setbacks.

The new bylaw limits all home heights to nine metres, down from 10.5 metres.