91原创 Township council is putting a pause on considering new single-family housing developments, at least until it receives more clarity on provincial plans.

At the Monday, Nov. 20 council meeting, the council was asked to approve a rezoning for a fairly typical development in Willoughby, across the street from Yorkson Middle School.

The project, by Qualico Communities, is proposed to include 18 rowhouses, 10 semi-detached units, and 28 single-family homes.

However, council had just heard a presentation from its own senior planning staff about the new provincial housing regulations that are on their way.

The province is set to sweep away single-family zoning across most of B.C., allowing triplexes and fourplexes on most lots now zoned for single family houses.

That has led to questions about what could be built on large swathes of land in the Township currently designated for single-family housing.

鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty clear from the presentation today that 28 single family lots is no longer 28 single family lots,鈥� said Mayor Eric Woodward.

He moved to defer the rezoning application until after the Township gets more information from the provincial government. A vote to defer the rezoning was unanimous.

鈥淚n my opinion, it would be irresponsible to proceed with this, without that information,鈥� Woodward said.

Township administrator Mark Bakken noted that the developer could seek approval separately for just the rowhouses and semi-detached units, or wait until the provincial regulations are released.

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Councillor Margaret Kunst asked about whether that would happen to any application for single-family zoning in the near future, and Woodward said he expected to ask the council to defer every application with single-family housing contained in it.

Woodward has been critical of the provincial reforms, which are aimed at increasing 鈥渕issing middle鈥� density across vast swathes of urban and suburban British Columbia.

Large parts of existing cities, including Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, and Surrey are zoned for single-family homes only. The new changes will allow what the province calls small-scale multi-unit housing (SSMUs), including triplexes, fourplexes, coach houses, secondary suites, and in areas near frequent transit, sixplexes. Complete details on the plans are expected this winter.

The new rules would not apply in rural areas that do not have municipal sewer and water connections.

However, Woodward has argued that it throws into disarray plans for developing parts of Brookswood and Willoughby, where it could throw off plans for parks, schools, sewer and water capacity, and other public amenities, all of which were based on plans that included a mix of housing, including single-family.

Although 91原创 has seen multi-family housing grow into the largest segment of new-home construction, it still sees hundreds of applications for single-family homes every year.

Last year the Township issued 521 building permits for single-family homes.

This year, as of the end of October, the Township had issued 370 building permits for single-family homes.