91原创 Township is looking to put a hold on approval of up to 256 proposed single-family houses as it considers the impact of provincial housing reforms.

The move comes as the Township grapples with the impact of provincial legislation that will allow fourplexes on most of what are now single-family lots across urban and suburban areas of British Columbia.

The motion, put forward by Mayor Eric Woodward at the Monday, Dec. 4 council meeting, will take effect if the Township doesn鈥檛 receive an exemption from the reforms in Bill 44, recently passed by the B.C. Legislature.

According to Township staff, there are 256 homes approaching the final stage of approval for rezoning by the Township, part of 18 separate developments.

Under the new regulations, it鈥檚 expected that once single-family zoning is in place, the owners of the lots would have the right to build threeplexes or fourplexes, without requiring any further approval from the Township.

Although the bill has passed, the detailed regulations were only released by the province on Dec. 7.

Woodward noted that some of the lots mid-stream in the approval process are in Aldergrove, where there is limited transit.

There are also concerns about parking for any potential fourplexes, as Bill 44 could cut off minimum parking requirements.

However, the potential hold on approving single-family homes does not mean the Township is going to let the projects sit in limbo.

鈥淭he intent is to modify them to move forward, not to halt them,鈥� Woodward said.

In some cases, that might mean allowing the development to be changed, so that the single-family projects become townhouses, which does allow the Township to control parking requirements, among other issues.

Many of the homes are parts of mixed developments that already included some townhouses, duplexes, or other forms of housing.