We had a meeting with the Mayor and City Councillors of West Vancouver to get approval on a couple of variances for the house that we were requesting. The first was a variance on the height because the solar panels put us over on the maximum allowable (though were still below the height of the peak of the existing house) and the second was to ask for an 179 ft2 of FSR (allowable floor space) to make up for the lost area because of the additional 5 inches of insulation in the walls. I was a bit nervous going into the meeting but was hopeful with the support from the city staff, I had also met with two of the Councillors in advance to get their support, had 12 of our neighbours sign letters of support and West Vancouver has recently adopted a Community Energy and Emmissions plan to encourage energy efficient buildings. Special thanks to Councillors Nora Gambioli for her support and Bill Soprovich who came and toured the property and ask lots of good questions about Passive House. Here is a link to a video of the meeting. https://westvancouver.ca/government/mayor-council/council-videos on May 1st. Some interesting parts are:
- 6:39:17 – The city staff presenting the project to council
- 6:43:43- Me giving my pitch on why we are building a Passive House and asking for Council’s support
- 6:52- Questions and comments from the Councillors and Mayor
I am pleased to report that the vote from council was unanimous to support the variances. Thanks to the Councillors for their support and encouraging words and our neighbours who have been very supportive as well.
West Bay Passive House 