Land Use Bylaw changes coming for garden suites and secondary suites in Woodlands County

During a recent Governance and Priorities meeting, Woodlands County Council discussed garden and
secondary suites. Joan Slootweg, Manager of Community & Planning Services, explained to Council that
changes needed to be made to Land Use Bylaw (LUB) to reflect the Municipal Government Act (MGA)
changes.
“The Municipal Government Act changed in 2020 what they called Golden Girl Amendments. In other
words, you can’t make reference to family relationships, financial disparity or whatever it may be in your
Land Use Bylaw. It must be land use related. We need to make an amendment to that particular
definition,” explained Slootweg.
The wording in Woodlands County’s current LUB specifies who can have and use a Garden Suite. The
language determines that a garden suite can only be occupied by “a person or persons who are related
through blood, marriage or adoption to the Registered Owner of the Lands and for which there exists a
relationship of dependency due to financial, physical or mental incapacity and which contains one
dwelling unit.”
The changes to the MGA, in effect since December 2020, specify that land use bylaws cannot “treat
residential users differently based on their relationship to one another.” The fact sheet on the Alberta
Government’s website clarified further, stating that “these amendments strengthen the legislation and
ensure flexible and affordable housing options are accessible to everyone, including unrelated seniors
living together.” With the changes, municipalities cannot pass a land use bylaw regulating residential
users (s.640-8).
Though changes came forward in 2020, Slootweg explained that Woodlands County’s bylaw had not yet
been updated to reflect the amendments. “Our solicitors did indicate to us that at the time that
amendment was made that we would continue to use our bylaw as is until such a time that our Land
Use Bylaw was reviewed and amended. As Council is aware, that amendment will be probably starting
fall of this year. We are currently looking at our Municipal Development, and this is next on the agenda.”
She added that secondary suites would also be reviewed at the same time.
Reeve Burrows said he felt the concern of Council was that they had been “running foul of the new
MGA” by not making the changes sooner. He asked what issues that could raise. “If someone challenged
it, Municipal Affairs could do an investigation and say, hey, you need to amend that, but our solicitors
felt that if we have somewhere in our timeline that we would be amending our document, it would be a
sufficient argument,” explained Slootweg. She said the review and amendments were supposed to
happen last year, but time resources did not allow it to. “It is on schedule to happen this year,” she
added.
Councillor Deane questioned the “philosophy” behind the County’s policy with respect to it only
allowing a familial relationship for someone to reside in a garden suite. He wondered why it couldn’t be
used as a rental for someone other than a family member, citing low rental options.
Slootweg said it was the philosophy of the Council of the day that had decided they didn’t want those
types of rental properties. She said some residents didn’t want two neighbours beside them instead of

one. “It was decided then that they would put that familial relationship in, and that was often the
primary purpose of people coming to us. Initially, it was just for grandparents or parents. A few years
later, we opened it up so that it could be any family relationship as long as there was some type of
financial need there.”
Slootweg added that with things changing, Council could open it up and look into it for rental properties.
“You can play with those definitions. Garden Suite could still be there and then essentially just taking out
that family relationship (part) so that you can have a temporary structure that is smaller than the family
residence as a second home, a secondary suite, so to speak.”
Councillor Kusch asked about the difference between a garden suite and a secondary suite. “Generally, a
garden suite is its own dwelling unit, and a secondary suite is something that is internal, like, say, on top
of a garage. You can have a basement suite where you have a secondary entrance to that particular
location, or you can have a garage with living quarters on top of it. That is what we had defined as a
secondary suite. A garden suite is generally for relatives.”
Councillor Kuelken mentioned that he had a secondary residence on his property, which had been there
since 1978. “It’s registered as a secondary residence on the property, but it’s neither a garden suite nor a
secondary suite. So, how does that fit into the equation?” Slootweg asked Councillor Kuelken how many
acres he had, to which he said a half-section. “In our Land Use Bylaw, anything over 70 acres in size can
have a second residence. Generally, it is to be used for agricultural purposes. So, say you have a farm
hand you employ, then they can live in that second residence.” Councillor Kuelken said with several of
those in the county, he wanted to make sure people knew the difference between a garden suite, a
secondary suite, and a secondary residence.
Changes to the Land Use Bylaw for Woodlands County are slated to begin this fall. Before changes can
be made to a Land Use Bylaw, the proposed changes must be advertised for two weeks, and public
hearings must occur, giving residents a chance to voice their views.