Big plans for tiny houses
Resident looking for permanent spot for mini home, seeks neighbours
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Monday, September 21, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
City staff are helping a man looking to find an affordable spot to place his tiny house, while councillors brainstorm about the future of a tiny-house neighbourhood in the city.
Etienne Croteau seen here standing before the 350-square-foot house he built mostly using plywood pitched his idea for a tiny house neighbourhood to a packed council chambers on Monday night. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo |
The so-called tiny house movement the architectural social movement advocating living simply in pint-sized houses could take root in Yellowknife if people like Etienne Croteau can find a place to plant their little buildings. Croteau pitched his idea for a tiny house neighbourhood project to a crowded council chambers at last Monday's municipal services meeting. He said he's been living in the city four years working for a French Community Organization and he's tired of renting with one or two room mates.
"I'm convinced there must be a solution to unit self-sufficiency and personal economic sustenance," he said. "The tiny house was my answer."
He said so far he hasn't found a suitable spot to put his 350-square-foot house, which he's almost finished building. He can't put the home on an existing private property because the city's zoning bylaws prevent residents from owning secondary suites on somebody else's land, said Croteau.
"I propose to enter into a pilot project where the city could grant me a one-year lease on city owned land you see most fit for this project," he said, adding he envisions an initial group of 10 tiny homes.
Croteau said the city could use the wording it would use in writing an RV park bylaw, with a caveat specifying that only tiny houses could be placed in the area, and allowing residents to buy the land.
He said he's followed building codes in building his little house, but RV zoning would also mean tiny home builders wouldn't have to follow building codes for homes, increasing the likelihood there would be good uptake in the project.
The movement became popular after the U.S real-estate crisis, said Croteau. Tiny house owners have privacy, which gives them a better quality of life over renters, he said.
Croteau told councillors tiny houses cost between $20,000 and $50,000 to build. Croteau's cost $80,000.
He said they can generate personal savings and have the chance to get a return on the investment. A neighbourhood dedicated to tiny homes, said Croteau, would have a smaller carbon footprint than a conventional neighbourhood. Tiny houses could be the answer to the city's resident retention problems, said Croteau.
The homes can be powered "sharing solar energy renewable resource combined with regular power," and his home uses a composting toilet, further reducing impact on the environment, he said. In his case, his home runs almost entirely on propane gas, using electricity only to power the fan in his composting toilet.
He said his home is sitting on wheels right now so he'll be able to move it when he wants to. He said he thinks fixing the tiny homes on wheels would make it easier to service them with necessities because you could take the house to the supplies rather than the opposite. If council decides they'd prefer the homes be set on foundations he said he's open to that as well.
He said his home covers an area 8.5 feet by 22 feet and would need to be placed on a lot a little larger than that to give him room to move around it. He said he'd like to sign a one-year lease with the city, with the intent to own the land in the future.
Croteau said it took him three months to build his tiny plywood home. He said his father, Rosair Croteau, a contractor and the mayor of his hometown of St. Ferdinand, Quebec, helped him to assemble the structure via Skype.
City council supportive
Councillors said they like the idea. It's a throwback to earlier times, since the city's first settlers lived in homes that would be considered tiny today. Coun. Niels Konge said the project is a throwback to earlier times, since the city's first settlers lived in homes that would be considered tiny today. He said he'd like to skip the pilot project all together and start building a tiny home community.
"We have areas in town Š that would be suited to that," he said. "We recently changed our zoning, I think some smaller houses are allowed. We're close to being able to do this, it's just a question of where. In the three years we've been here I don't think we've ever had so many people in the gallery. That's great. I think it's certainly something we should be looking more closely at."
Coun. Adrian Bell said there's a lot of interest in the tiny house movement in the real estate market. He said tiny homes are a way the city could increase population density in the downtown core.
"I happen to know of about 8 lots downtown Š where you could get six of these, maybe even nine, and then you could have the private developer put in the septic tank as well as talking with the city about getting a piece of city land."
Coun Dan Wong said council changed zoning bylaws last year, and removed the minimum-size limit.
"We took those away and said you can go as small as you can go," he said. "Clearly there's much more work that needs to be done. We haven't addressed the land problem. They don't have anywhere to put them that's affordable."
Council directed staff to help Croteau find a suitable place to put his home for the time being. Mayor Mark Heyck said a motion to direct staff to research a tiny house neighbourhood will be brought forward at their October meeting.
