Tiny homes for Big Valley

AnAlberta village of 350 people plans to get cozier bybuilding a neighbourhood exclusively of tiny homes.

Big Valley, 220 kilometres south of Edmonton, intends to build a subdivision containing 22 undersized lots measuring 30 feet by 80 feet. A normal size lot in the village is about 50 feet by 120.

"The idea came from someone calling in and asking to put a tiny log cabin in one of our residential districts," Michelle White, chief administrative officer, said in an interview on Edmonton AM.

"Unfortunately we were not able to accommodate them because of the zoning of the area."

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The municipality continued to get requests from people wanting tobuild homes under 700 square feet many whowere not Big Valley residents.

White said the village council expects many who showinterest intiny homes will be snowbirds, people who want to spend winterin the U.S.while maintaininga Canadian address.

Council recently decided to change the bylaws to accommodatetiny homes in one subdivision.

"Putting them all together in one subdivision will give unity to the area and a community-type feel," White added.

The homes will have to be on a permanent foundation, be connected to municipal water and sewer and have hook-ups for gas and power.

White said they had to look to the U.S. to find out what regulations existed for tiny home neighbourhoodsbecause they couldn't find a similar model in Canada.

"Hopefully we'll be able to provide a bit of a template for future use."

Before the tiny homes go up, council mustpass a land-use bylaw, engineer the subdivision and decide what the lots should cost.

White expects the village will start selling lots this year and estimates the infrastructure will take until 2018 before the neighbourhood is liveable.

Big Valley is home tothe Stettler steam locomotive and is known for its Wild West-era store fronts, making it a popular tourist destination, drawing 18,000 to 20,000 visitors a year.