Backyard suites can be a great addition to your home, bringing in additional rental income or providing independent living spaces for family members.
Is a backyard suite allowed on your property, though? That’s determined by the City of Calgary backyard suite zoning bylaws, and it’s important to familiarize yourself with the basics before you go too far down the path of planning a secondary suite in your backyard or beside your property.
Here, we’ll unpack what you need to know about Calgary’s backyard suite zoning rules:
Key Takeaways
- Calgary’s recent rezoning allows for secondary suites, but backyard suites still require development permits.
- Bylaw information for your property is available online.
- Working with a custom home designer can help you navigate backyard suite zoning regulations.
What Is a Backyard Suite?
Backyard suites, as they’re known in Calgary, are sometimes called garden suites, carriage houses, or laneway houses. They are secondary suites that are detached from the main dwelling. While the city has made it easier to get approved for backyard suites with blanket rezoning last year, bylaws still apply, and in most cases, you will still require a development permit.
Backyard suites are built to provide housing for aging parents or growing kids who need a more independent living space, but they can also be a great source of income when used as rental properties.
What to Know About City of Calgary Backyard Suite Zoning
Backyard suite zoning in Calgary varies from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. Secondary suites are allowed in H-GO and R-CG districts, but a development permit is required for backyard suites.
A development permit ensures that proposed developments are in compliance with land-use bylaws and community planning, while building permits ensure projects align with the National Building Code (Alberta Edition). Even in areas where backyard suite zoning allows for them to be built, only single-detached and semi-detached homes are eligible to have backyard suites in Calgary.
On top of those, a separate electrical permit, plumbing permits, a mechanical permit from a licensed HVAC contractor, and a gas permit if there will be any gas appliances in the suite.
All backyard suites must also have:
- Bedrooms with proper egress windows
- A separate bathroom
- Separate cooking facilities
- An entrance that is accessible from the outside without passing through the main
- dwelling unit.
It’s important to remember, as well, that the City of Calgary allows for only 45% lot coverage, and that includes anything that’s covered on your property, including covered decks, covered entries, and garages. That can limit the space available for building and often makes building above a garage more appealing.
Can You Build a Backyard Suite on Your Property?
While the city’s blanket rezoning last year allows for secondary suites in H-GO and R-CG zoning districts, backyard suites still require development permits and are subject to local bylaws.
Just because a neighbour who lives across the street from you was approved to build a backyard suite above their garage, that doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get the same approval from the City of Calgary. That’s why it’s important to understand your backyard suite zoning.
To figure out what’s allowed on your property, there are a few steps you can take.
- Visit the City of Calgary’s My Property Page: This is a great resource for homeowners who want to know about the City services that are provided at their homes, but it will also confirm which Land Use Bylaw applies to your property.
- Visit the City of Calgary’s Bylaw Site: This will tell you whether backyard suites are permitted or discretionary. If something is permitted, that means it only requires a building permit. If it’s discretionary, as most backyard suites generally are, you’ll need a development permit, as well.
- Call the City of Calgary Planning Department: While the City’s online resources are generally quite useful, you can also call the Planning Department at 403-268-5311 to get all the information you’ll need about your property and the land-use bylaws that apply to it.
- Review the City’s Backyard Suites How-To Guide: This guide is intended to inform the design process for backyard suites and helps guide City staff when they’re reviewing the development permit. It includes everything from building placement to sunlight and shadowing to tree preservation and height.
On their own, these factors may not determine whether or not your development permit application gets approved, but they are design principles that need to be considered.
Note about power lines: Enmax power lines may be located close to the rear property line along the lane. If this applies to you, you will need to set your proposed backyard suite several meters further back than the minimum rear setback required by the bylaws. This is necessary because Enmax mandates an increased setback due to safety concerns regarding potential damage to power lines during extreme wind and weather events.
How Working with a Custom Home Designer Will Help with Backyard Suite Zoning
Homeowners can’t be expected to know every city bylaw that applies to their properties, but it can be frustrating to go through the early stages of the process to get a backyard suite built and then find out it’s not possible. That’s where a custom home designer can be so useful.
Working with custom home designers like the team at Ellergodt Design puts experts in your corner. We’re familiar with Calgary’s backyard suite zoning bylaws and what is likely to get approved. Every neighbourhood is different, and even different houses on the same block may be subject to different bylaws.
Custom home designers also understand where allowances might be made by the City’s staff during the development permit application process and, conversely, what is likely to see your application get rejected because of the backyard suite zoning bylaws.
Backyard Suite Design
Backyard suite zoning can seem complicated, but with the team at Ellergodt Design on your side, we can help you design and build a backyard suite that meets the City of Calgary’s standards. Contact our team today to get started.
FAQs: Backyard Suite Zoning
A backyard suite is a type of secondary suite, but they are not the same thing. Secondary suites can also include basement suites, for example. The City of Calgary defines them as being “self-contained residences with two or more rooms and include a kitchen, living area, sleeping and sanitary facilities.”
Almost always, no. Backyard suites require a foundation, just like a home, and most garages cannot support a second floor.