Regulations could be changing around site lines for driveways, porches, yards, fences, landscaping and more on corner lots.

Council is set to vote on first reading of the changes to the zoning bylaw this evening after they were brought forward last week.

The report that went to council detailing the changes highlights a number of issues with the current regulations, beginning with driveways.

“The bylaw currently requires a driveway not cover more than 50 per cent of the width of a lot,” Mélodie Simard, the city’s manager of planning and sustainability, stated in her report to council.

“This is not practical in all instances, particularly when a residential lot is pie-shaped and narrows towards the front.

“The proposed edit gives more flexibility in these situations, but still restrict driveways from covering an entire lot frontage.”

The changes would see driveways not exceed six metres where the width of the lot is fewer than 12 metres; 50 per cent of the lot width where a lot is between 12 and 20 metres; and 10 metres for lots that are wider than 20 m.

The proposed changes would also impact corner lots, where it can be difficult for builders to meet all the requirements in meeting site regulations.

These edits would see:

• Porches on corner lots (currently required to cover 15 per cent of both frontages of the house) could be built on one front side instead and cover 25 per cent of that side;

• Developers of corner lots able to consider the same yard projections as if there were no cut corner. Currently, a “cut corner” is kept as public land to give more flexibility for intersection design;

• Limiting fences on corner lot side yards to 1.5 m or 1.8 m high if the fence is built with semi-transparent lattice material. Currently, front yard fences are limited to 1.2 m high, “... but developers often install side-yard fences for corner lots at the same two metre height as non-corner side fences.”

Temporary fences would also be restricted under the proposed bylaw changes.

Regulations around security costs for things like landscaping have also been altered to keep them in one section and to provide greater clarity.

If council approves first reading of the bylaw changes this evening, a public hearing on the proposal will be held at council’s April 23 meeting.

A report on the hearing would then come forward April 30, with second and third readings on May 7.