Parking Bylaw Variance Explained

As planning for the new Dr. F.W. Green Memorial Home redevelopment project continues, we sat down with Michael Morton, corporate director of major capital projects at Interior Health to talk about a proposed parking bylaw variance at the facility and what that means for the community:

Q: Can you explain what the parking bylaw is, as it relates to the Dr. F.W. Green Memorial Home?

A. To successfully receive a building permit for the Dr. F.W. Green Memorial Home redevelopment project, Interior Health must have the required ratio of on-site parking stalls to the expected people in the building, per city parking bylaw. For Dr. F.W. Green Memorial Home, including the building expansion, number of required on-site parking stalls is 110.

That being said, the specific use of the Dr. F. W. Green Memorial Home has a very different parking demand than the general parking bylaw requirement for Assisted Living facilities. The bylaw requires one parking stall per bed with the assumption that residents are autonomous and would be driving their own vehicles. Our residents, however, do not drive and the stalls would be mostly used for family, visitors, and staff.

We had a traffic engineer provide a realistic parking demand using two methods including "Industry Standards" and "First Principle." These estimate the parking demand to be between 80 to 105 stalls. The bylaw inflates this number to 165.

Q: What is the parking bylaw variance requested for the Dr. F.W. Green Memorial Home?

A: Interior Health has requested to the City of Cranbrook that the ratio of parking stalls to people is reduced from 165 stalls to 110 stalls, including 66 on-site parking stalls and 44 on-street parking stalls adjacent to the property.

Q: What are the benefits to changing the parking bylaw to have less on-site parking stalls?

A: While the number of parking spaces required by bylaw is reduced, the redevelopment project still increases the overall number of parking stalls on the property. The additional parking stalls supports accessibility, convenience, and safety for staff and visitors of the Dr. F.W. Green Memorial Home. The additional planned parking stalls will optimize available space at the site and minimize parking impacts to our neighbours.

Q: How will on-street parking be improved through the changes?

A: Through our proposed street upgrades, 17th Avenue and 18th Avenue will be widened to meet City of Cranbrook bylaw requirements and ensure safe flow of traffic in both directions. Curbs and sidewalks on all four sides of the property will be upgraded and we will also beautify the site along the side walks through landscaping, providing a safe walking loop for the Dr. F.W. Green Memorial Home residents and neighbourhood residents alike.

Q: What other benefits will the re-development of Dr. F.W. Green Memorial Home have for the community?

A: Our investment in the community and in this project will more than double the long-term care capacity for Cranbrook, increasing the number of beds from 60 to 150. This will also support our acute sites by allowing those requiring a long-term care bed to become residents of the F.W. Green Memorial Home. We are also investing in a childcare tenant space on site to serve the community.

The Dr. F.W. Green Memorial Home is a long-term care home in Cranbrook that currently has 60 publicly funded beds. A new five-storey building is planned to be built at the same site at 1700 4 St. South. The planned expansion will add 90 new long-term care beds, including three hospice beds for a total of 150 beds. Construction is expected to start in Summer 2025.