WCEL > Issues > Urban Growth and Development > Smart Bylaws Guide > Part 5 > Secondary Suites > Whistler

Smart Bylaws Guide – Secondary Suites – Whistler

Whistler is a resort municipality where average rents for a one bedroom suite range from $900 to $1200 per month year round.  Increasingly, employees cannot afford to live in the community and must commute from Pemberton or Squamish.  Whistler has allowed the creation of attached and detached suites within a property owner’s existing allocation of gross floor area for many years.  In most RS zones, the zoning bylaw dictates that a suite cannot be used for tourist accommodation.  Historically, on average 75 secondary suites are built in Whistler each year.  However, in recent years, the annual figure has dropped to only 20 per year.

To address the affordable housing problem for employees and the decline in secondary suite construction, the municipality recently amended its zoning bylaw to allow a density bonus, protected with covenant on title to land, for employee suites.  In the residential RS1, 2 and 3 zones, a density bonus of up to 56 square metres (600 square feet) is permitted for a restricted employee suite.  To ensure that the suite remains affordable, the property owner is required to place a covenant (s.219 Land Title Act) on the suite, which would set maximum rental rates at $1.25 per square foot. A resale covenant is also placed on the suite in the event of a strata subdivision of that space to limit the resale of that space to $125 per square foot.  This density bonus is only be permitted where a 0.35 floor space ratio is possible. 

Whistler Zoning Bylaw No. 303 Section 11, Residential Zones (Consolidated to December 2006)

For More Information

Melissa Laidlaw, Planning Analyst, (604) 935-8167, Toll Free:1-866-932-5535 Ext 8167, mlaidlaw@whistler.ca