riverwood rs
Phase one development underway in the new Riverwood neighbourhood last summer.


Secondary suites, also known as basement suites, could be on the rise in Weyburn.

The in-fill form of entry-level housing has seen virtually no growth in Weyburn during the housing boom, but following City Council's decision on Monday (July 20) to permit discretionary approval of secondary suites in the Riverwood Development area, that number could be on the rise.

"This is a bit of a pilot project to see if there's a market for it in Weyburn and we think there is," said Munir Haque, development manager for Riverwood Development Corporation. He explained the first phase of development could include up to four such suites and more in phase two. To this point, the City has only received three secondary suit permit requests in since 2012.

"The effort in Riverwood was always to offer something for everyone and offering a duplex with a secondary suite affords a different segment of the population an affordable housing option," he said. "In this scenario, somebody could buy the half duplex or the entire duplex. They could live in part of it and rent out the other part and make it much more affordable for them."

Some concerns were raised about parking and the potential extra stress on infrastructure, but Haque said the impact would be minimal.

"We've done it in such a way that it won't be detrimental to the community. We are working with an architect who is designing these houses so they will fit in with the street scape and they'll be held to all the same standards for the architectural controls for all the other houses and developments within the Riverwood community," he said.

Each duplex or semi-detached home with a secondary suite will have an extra parking space accounted for on the property, meaning on street parking should not be needed, and the extra pressure on infrastructure will be virtually non existent.