A 10-unit cottage development has been proposed just north of Northeast 28th Street in Vancouver’s Image neighborhood.
The development is being planned for a 1.17-acre lot at 3005 N.E. 133rd Court, according to pre-planning documents sent to the city of Vancouver.
A duplex and eight single-family cottages would comprise the 10 units. The homes would be either one or two stories and approximately 860 or 1,600 square feet in size. A community building with a kitchen and dining area is also planned to be part of the project, as is a community garden and outdoor community space, according to the planning documents.
The area is currently zoned as low-density residential. New housing code updates adopted by the Vancouver City Council over the summer, however, allow for cottage clusters in lower-density residential zones. The city of Vancouver defines a cottage cluster as small cottage-style homes surrounding a common area.
William and Jan McBride of Camas bought the property in January 2021.
“The newly approved cottage development regulations led us to modify our plans on how to develop this parcel,” William McBride told The Columbian. “The regulations are clearly having an impact on this project and others.”
Housing availability is a particular passion for McBride, who said that for too long communities have stuck to a detached family home model. But he’s glad to see cities reconsidering that now.
“We’ll have quality places for families to live that won’t cost so much,” McBride said. He hopes the city of Vancouver will take its housing changes further, he said, after projects like his provide additional housing for the community.
Since the city’s code updates this summer, a number of cottage projects are now in the pipeline, according to the city of Vancouver. However, it remains to be seen how many will be designated affordable housing properties and how many will be market-rate properties.
The Northeast 133rd Court property’s application said this project was being constructed for rental units with the infrastructure there to possibly convert them into condominiums in the future.
McBride expects the units to be leased at the market rate.
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