What should densification look like in your neighbourhood?
The City of Red Deer is currently engaging citizens on methods of densification in all neighbourhoods. These methods can be divided into two topics:
1. Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF2) Initiatives
2. Backyard Suites Review
Below is summary of what we know about these initiatives followed by opportunities to make sure your voice is heard. All of the information here has come from City of Red Deer Council Agenda reports, website, and the City of Red Deer HAF2 application and agreement. You will find links to these sources below.
IMPORTANT: The deadline for the HAf2 and Backyard Suite city surveys is JULY 18. Links to the surveys are found at the bottom of this page. Scroll down to "What Can You Do?"
All links are underlined and blue. This webpage will be updated periodically as more information comes forward.
THE HOUSING ACCELERATOR FUND INITIATIVES (HAF2)
Red Deer has received a $12M HAF2 grant from the Federal Government to spur housing development. A requirement of the grant is the City MUST permit up to four housing units on ALL residential lots. You may think the lots in your area are too small for four units, but part of the initiative is to increase heights and reduce setbacks (build closer together) to allow four units.
This could include a multi-storey fourplex, a house with backyard and/or house suites, a duplex with each unit having a suite, a triplex with one unit having a suite, or a townhouse. “Permit” means that development applications for up to 4 units on a lot MUST be approved by Provincial law. Neighbours will not be consulted or have the right to appeal.
To promote the development of these builds, the City is also looking at reducing or eliminating off-street parking requirements for ALL residential buildings, increasing height and floor area limits, reducing side, front, and rear yard minimums, and providing developers with loans and grants. The emphasis on neighbours’ rights to amenities such as sun access and privacy will likely also be reduced.
This does not mean that every lot will be developed with fourplexes. Landowner desire and economic feasibility will be factors in future developments.
The information in the above 3 paragraphs comes from a brief Council Agenda report from February 10, 2025. See the report here.
See Council's decision here.
If City Council chooses to make four plexes a permitted use and accept the HAF2 grant, The City will have to issue permits for 1177 medium and high density dwelling units over three years, an achievement that will require investment by the City well beyond the $12M grant.
As part of the HAF2 application, City administration outlined the following 7 steps they intend to take to reach that goal:
1. Transit Proximity: Making more than 4 dwellings per lot a permitted use and allowing 8-plexes as a discretionary use, further increasing building heights, further reducing or eliminating parking, and creating higher minimum density requirements within 800m of Gaetz Avenue as a main transit corridor. See the photo of a City of Red Deer map presented at one of the public engagement sessions. The 8-plex zone is marked off with a red dotted line and includes all of
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Bower,
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Parkvale,
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Pines,
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Normandeau, and
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Highland Green Estates,
and significant portions of
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Mountview,
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Woodlea,
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Waskasoo,
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Kingsgate,
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Kentwood,
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Glendale,
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Riverside Meadows, and
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Westpark.
Up to 4 storey heights would be permitted in the low density residential areas.
2. Dollars for Doors: Provide developers with grants and loans for medium and high-density development, prioritizing developments with more than 4 units.
3. Rapid Residential: Waive fees for developers ($5000 to $100,000 depending on size of buildings), fast track medium and high density development applications, and pre-approve (or make permitted) the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Design Catalog designs for yard suite, duplex, fourplex, and sixplex developments.
4. Red Tape Reduction: Reduce developers’ risk and wait times by reducing public consultation and rights to appeal, removing development decisions from City Council and the Municipal Planning Commission, and giving more authority to City staff to approve rezoning and development permits. The City's development process will also be digitized including rezoning, subdivision, and permit processes. Developers will also have "concierge support" through the process.
4. Incentivize Affordable Housing: Provide grants to incentivize 100 units of affordable housing
5. Land Disposition: Sell or lease underutilized City-owned land and/or buildings to developers for medium and high-density housing. There is no map of where these might be located but the application states there are 32 parcels in "mature," "desirable" areas.
The rest of the lengthy Council report can be read here.
Council's decision can be read here.
The initiatives are also briefly covered under the Business tab on the city webpage at https://www.reddeer.ca/business/planning/housing-accelerator-fund-haf-projects/
Read the City's grant application here.
Read the grant agreement with the federal government here.
General information on the HAF2 grant and how it works can be found here.
BACKYARD SUITE REVIEW
City Council has directed City staff/Administration to review the Backyard Suite regulations. Recently, two applications on lots with small main houses in Parkvale were strongly supported by Administration.
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One suite was 1500 ft2 which was 383% over the allowable floor area and was one storey taller than the maximum.
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The other suite was 1200 ft2 which was 100% over the allowed floor area.
The applications were sent to the Municipal Planning Commission (MPC). The hearings were contentious, and MPC requested a regulatory review report.
Council has asked Administration to focus on:
1. Reducing the maximum height of Backyard Suites
2. Amending the floor area maximum regulation
3. Developing special regulations for Backyard Suites for Woodlea, Waskasoo, and Parkvale
4. Defining ‘Storey’ and preventing livable attic space in Backyard Suites.
The information above comes from a brief Council Agenda report from April 22, 2025. See the report here
And Council's decision here.
So that you are aware of regional standard practices, we have created the following chart comparing Red Deer to other Alberta cities regarding heights and floor areas for backyard suites
Other backyard suite regulations in regional municipalities include:
- Suite must match or compliment main dwelling (Penhold, Lethbridge, Sylvan Lake, Lacombe)
- Suites must be consistent in scale and style with surrounding vicinity (Lacombe)
- Windows must face streets, alleys, or main dwelling (Penhold, Sylvan Lake)
See relevant land use bylaws here: Red Deer, Airdrie, Calgary, Edmonton, Lacombe, Lethbridge, Penhold, Sylvan Lake
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Backyard Suite Review will result in a report to Council in the Fall. Actual changes to the regulations may have to wait for a new council to decide after the municipal election.
As for the HAF2 initiatives, the City has been granted the grant, which is given in annual installments over three years. Red Deer received the first installment but will not get the next installments unless City Council approves allowing 4-plexes on every residential lot. That will happen after a Public Hearing in the Fall after the municipal election.
If Council turns down four plexes, the grant will be cancelled and the money that's already been received will be returned.
If Council approves four plexes, the city will recieve the rest of the grant money in three installments over three years. In addition to allowing fourplexes on every lot, the City then must also issue development permits for 1177 medium and high density units over three years. 751 of these must be medium density, 126 must be high density. Of the 1177 units, up to 140 will also have to be affordable housing but the VAST majority -- 1037 units -- will be market priced, for-profit housing. If the City misses these targets, they will not receive the final grant payment.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
These densification methods will change the fabric and feel of the city and your neighbourhood and will cost much more than the $12M grant will cover. Whether or not you like some or all of these initiatives, your voice needs to be heard, so City Council can make a fully informed decision.
Here is a list of ways you can be heard:
SURVEYS:
Take part in surveys on both these topics on engage.reddeer.ca under “Growing Red Deer Together” and Backyard Suite Review. Deadline for comment is JULY 18, 2025.
EMAIL THE CITY
Send an email to the City's Public Relations Department at communications@reddeer.ca They will forward your message to the appropriate City department.
TALK TO COUNCIL
Call, visit, or email City Councillors (contact information is on reddeer.ca)
MAKE THIS AN ELECTION ISSUE
Go to candidate forums and question candidates who are running for Council in the fall
STAY INFORMED
Check back here for updates, sign up to the Waskasoo email list at www.waskasoo.com and follow us on Facebook
Questions? You can reach the WCA at secretary@waskasoo.info. At this point in time there does not appear to be contact information for City Administration beyond filling in the survey or contacting the Communications Department at communications@reddeer.ca.
PAST DEVELOPMENTS
2024
INFORMATION FOR BYLAWS PUBLIC HEARING
On May 13, the City passed new Land Use Bylaws that include significant changes to the Public Service (PS) zone even though PS will not have any public consultation until late 2024 or 2025.
Now, the discretionary use “Assisted Living” (defined as full-time nursing care e.g. Parkvale Lodge) is replaced with “Supportive Living Accommodation” (which encompasses (a.) full-time care and (b.) independent living defined as “where the operator provides or arranges for on the Site services to assist residents to live independently.” The examples provided by planning staff were services such as hairdressers or massage therapists coming to the building.This shift now allows Independent Living Apartment complexes as a use on PS Land.
The WCA requested and Council unanimously agreed to a Public Hearing where the unreviewed change to the PS Zone may be amended so that on the lot between Gateway School and the Red Deer River the Supportive Living use is restricted to Assisted Living (nursing care) only. NOTE: the other PS uses of recreation, sport, schools, churches etc are also still available to this lot.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Write a letter to Council. Letters are highly impactful. It can be as simple as stating you oppose/support the changes to PS, but will have more impact if you add one or two of your own reasons. Send it to david.girardin@reddeer.ca by noon on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Please cc us at secretary@waskasoo.info
Attend the Public Hearing at 5:00 pm at City Hall on May 27th – PLEASE WEAR RED to show you are with the WCA. Again the number of people in attendance has impact.
Speak at the Public Hearing if you are able.
MORE INFORMATION PROVIDED BELOW:
1. Read the WCA's position on the changes that have been made to the PS Land Use and why they have not been fully reviewed
2. Read a Board member's private letter to Legislative Services outlining numerous errors in and changes to the PS Zone. It was this letter that alerted the City that schools were no longer a use on PS land and that gambling establishments were.
3. Watch Council deliberate the amendment to the new bylaws.
4. Read the proposed bylaw amendment/land use exception for 4240 59 St
OTHER RELEVANT LINKS
2024
Information on Letter Campaign
2023
PUBLIC HEARING FOR EAST LINCOLN PROPERTIES' PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE WASKASOO AREA REDEVELOPMENT PLAN AND CITY OF RED DEER ZONING/LAND USE BYLAWS
LINKS TO THE PROPOSAL, CITY REPORTS, RESPONSE LETTERS & MORE ARE BELOW
Background
In 2020, East Lincoln Properties purchased 4240 59 St, the large 4 acre lot located between the Red Deer River and Gateway School. The lot has been zoned Public Service and has been part of Red Deer's Open Space Major System since the earliest city bylaws were created in 1978. It has been a key part of the Waskasoo Area Redevelopment Plan and its Environmental Character Statement since 2016.
East Lincoln Properties wants to build two apartment buildings on the land, a use that counters both the land use zoning and the Waskasoo Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP). Therefore, in 2022, they applied to the City of Red Deer to rezone the property from PS to R3 multifamily high density and to amend the ARP and character statement.
The City of Red Deer sent out two calls to Waskasoo residents and landowners for responses to the development. They received 110 letters against it and 0 for it. Responses were also submitted by:
The Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary Committee
Waskasoo Environmental Education Society
Red Deer River Naturalists
Red Deer River Watershed Alliance
Red Deer Public School Board
Camille School
Local Biologists and
Waskasoo Community Association
On April 3, the proposal to amend the bylaws went before Council. It was supported by City Administration and Council passed First Reading. It is now scheduled for a Public Hearing.
For the hearing, Council received an additional 67 opposing letters and 1 letter in support of the amendments. See Link to Public Hearing Letters.
East Lincoln Properties also submitted a second package (pg 81)
Stantec supplied a comparison of trip generation rates between assisted living and seniors adult housing (pg. 76) and
Matrix Solutions Inc supplied reports on vegetation and wildlife (pg 201)
Any citizen who believes themselves to be impacted can attend the Public Hearing. If you are inclined to do so, you may also speak to Council:
City Hall
May 3, 5:00 pm
You will also be able to speak to Council. (5 minute time limit)
To show solidarity with Waskasoo, wear RED!
LINKS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Video of First Reading discussion and resolution begins at approximately 2 hours and 8 minutes.
Note: Numerous letters are missing from the agenda packet supplied to Council.