Crunching the data on secondary suite appeals

Finding 1:
Neighbours are most likely to appeal

Neighbours initiated 11 of 20 appeals to overturn a secondary-suite approval.

Homeowners initiated 9 of 20 appeals to reverse the denial of a decision.

Finding 2:
Parking and privacy topped the reasons for neighbours’ appeals

Neighbours don’t want to compete for street parking and they don’t want to be peered at from nearby above-garage suites.

Finding 3:
Neighbour appeals are most likely to be successful

10 of 11 neighbour appeals were successful. They resulted in either overturning the suite’s original approval (4/11) or obtaining conditions more favourable to neighbours (6/11). Only one neighbour appeal failed to prevent the suite from going ahead as is.

Finding 4:
Homeowners were rarely successful in appealing denied suites

Only 1 of 8 homeowners were able to get their secondary suite approved once it had been denied.

Finding 5:
Community associations seem to have influence on the appeal process

Of the four appeals involving community associations, three managed to get their way and deny a secondary suite or have conditions attached to it.

The Crescent Heights Community Association (N.W.) argued it didn’t support any relaxations, or rule bending for a secondary suite leading to a denial.

The Bowness Community Association (N.W.) wanted a denied suite to stay denied. It did.

The Parkdale Community Association (N.W.) obtained conditions for a garage suite — the first in the neighbourhood.

Only the Abbeydale Community Association (N.E.) backed a homeowner who was still denied the right to a suite.

Beyond parking and privacy, two community associations mentioned threat to neighbourhood aesthetics as a concern.

Finding 6:
Lawyers and representatives weren’t necessarily helpful during the appeal process

Of the 20 appeals, five cases — 3 homeowners and 2 neighbours ­— had a lawyer or representative present for the proceedings. These included Geoffrey Horne, Peter Schryvers, Doug Badke and Mike Macdonald. Only consultant Doug Badke had a successful appeal for his neighbour clients (Scotiabank tried to talk at one appeal but was dismissed as not relevant).

Finding 7:
Garage suites were more likely to be approved upon appeal than in-house suites

We found 4 of 6 garage suites were approved (0 approved; 2 denied; 4 approved with conditions).

4 of 14 in-home suites were approved (1 approved; 10 denied; 3 approved with conditions).

Finding 8:
Where the suite is, matters

The N.W. is more likely to appeal and to get suites denied.

Suites in Calgary’s N.W. quadrant drew most of the city’s secondary-suite appeals (9 in total). Of these, 5 appeals saw the suites go ahead, and 4 saw them denied.

The S.W. (4 in total) had 2 approvals and 2 denials.
The N.E. (4 in total) had 2 approvals and 2 denials.
The S.E. (3 in total) had 1 approval and 2 denials.

Finding 9:
The number of secondary suite appeals rose over the four years examined

2013 had the most appeals (7) of all years studied (2010 to 2013) — 2 were approved while 5 suites were denied.

Finding 10:
Appeals were spread across 18 neighbourhoods

Of the 20 appeals analyzed, 18 were from separate neighbourhoods.The communities of Chaparral and Renfrew had 2 appeals each.