Strata Developments builds new types of density in Fort Saskatchewan
While multi-family buildings of six, 10, and 40 storeys sprout up in central Edmonton, a developer is building density differently in another part of the region.
Strata Developments is working with home-builder JL Developments to test market reaction to several new, medium-density styles of housing in its Southfort Meadows neighbourhood in Fort Saskatchewan.
"People have huge concerns about density being near them, and I think the biggest concerns are for projects that are highly vertical adjacent to something that's two and a half storeys or lower," Andrew Usenik, a partner at Strata Developments, told Taproot. "We're able to capture all the benefits of those densities, but still have a housing product that I think most people will be more accepting of."
Along Greenfield Link in the new neighbourhood now stands a row of duplexes with double garages. Fort Saskatchewan city council rezoned the lots to a direct control zone to allow them to be 22.5 metres deep (the measurement from front to back for a lot), far shallower than a typical duplex lot, which is about 35 metres deep. The homes also don't have backyards, a rare building type.
"When we put together the idea, the hypothesis that we were trying to test was that not every buyer in the market wants or needs a backyard," Usenik said. "Ninety-five percent of our community is different kinds of houses with backyards, but we thought that the market would be large enough to be able to justify doing this one project."
A few groups of people were interested in living in homes without a backyard, Usenik said, especially because the front yards don't have a typical grass lawn that needs to upkeep. One were retirees who are downsizing and spend part of the year in warmer climates. Another were industrial workers who spend weeks working in the oil patch and don't want to spend time doing yardwork on their days off. Yet another were single parents, whose kids play in the large park across the street instead of in a private backyard.
"We measured out the distance between the front door to the park, versus the front door to where the backyard would be, and it was literally a shorter distance from the front door to the park," Usenik said.
Thanks to the shallower lot size, the duplexes have a density of 55 units per net developable hectare, instead of a typical rowhouse, which would have 35 to 40 units per NDH. The Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board growth plan sets Fort Saskatchewan's minimum density at 35 units per NDH.
Farther down Greenfield Link, there are a row of duplexes with basement suites. Strata also had to get these lots rezoned because Fort Saskatchewan's zoning bylaw does not allow basement suites in duplexes.
