Council allows non-conforming suites in post-flood market

City council spent several hours today talking about the always contentious issue of secondary suites in Calgary.

Council agreed to make it easier for flood-damaged secondary suites to hopefully return to the market.It'sanestimated 500 secondary suites were damaged by June's flood.

Many of these were non-conforming suites,which means they were around long before current secondary suite rules came into force.

Some aldermen fearedthe owners of those suites would notbe interested in paying toapplyfor the rezoning they need to legally get those units back in the rental pool.

Council agreed today to allow those pre-existing suites to continue on without requiring rezoningprovidedowners make them safe under the city's building code.

Council also agreed to waive the $4,500cost of applying for a legal secondary suite.

But some aldermen, like Ward 7'sDruh Farrell, say they don't even know how many homeowners would take advantage of the offer, butgetting any suites back in the market will helpgiven the shortage of rental units.

"[It]might not last forever but we're just trying to remove the barriers around those," she said.

Mayor NaheedNenshi called today's moves just small steps to allowing more secondary suites. He would prefer to eliminateall zoning restrictions city-widesomething a majority ofcouncilhas repeatedly rejected.