Dwelling Heights

Dwelling Heights for homes on Local Streets and Collector Streets in Pineview. 

A bungalow is measured at 4.82 metres high

2 story home = 8.0 metres as stated in Fort Sask Bylaw C30-20

2 1/2 story home = 10 metres as stated in Fort Sask Bylaws 68-22, 67-22, 65-22 

3 story home = 11 metres as stated in Fort Sask Bylaw C23-20

The 2nd Draft of the Pineview Land Use Bylaw, released on Feb 18, 2025, states the maximum height for Detached, Duplex and Stacked Duplex that can be built in Pineview on local roads and collector roads can be 10 metres high. That is equivalent to a 2 1/2 story home. 

During the Feb 2025 Pineview residents engagement sessions which were conducted by the planning department the residents overwhelmingly stated the Pineview maximum dwelling heights should be 8 metres. 

This 8 metre height is conducive to the neighbourhood low scale profile and aligns to the Land Use Bylaw objectives: 

• “The current LUB paints the entire city with the same brush. It doesn’t really respect if you are developing in the old Fort, Pineview or Westpark.”

• “The regulations are the regulations and they are all the same. We wanted to create specific regulations for the particular character area or place type.”

• “Those regulations will be specific, maybe context sensitive. An example of this is if you are in the old part of Fort Saskatchewan where the houses and buildings are generally fairly low scale. “

As an example of height sizing the Fort Sask LUB's 68-22, 67-22, 65-22, states that a 2 1/2 story home is 10 metres. 

The Forest Ridge LUB (C1-25) also states that homes can be (2.5 story Max 10 metres). How is it possible that Pineview height of homes would also be the same as Forest Ridge? This makes no sense whatsoever. Only 1% of the residents who provided feedback arising from the Feb 2025 Pineview District Land Use Bylaw engagement sessions support 10 Metres height. 

This dwelling height difference was also recognized by a long term experienced Fort Sask planning official who stated that 10 metres is too tall for Pineview. This is common sense and can be seen just by driving through the tall neighbourhoods and then through Pineview. There is no comparison. 

Keep in mind the planning department stated the intent of creating the specific LUB's for each district is to preserve the character of the neighbourhood and doesn't overwhelm adjacent built forms instead of having a one size fits all LUB for the entire city. 

The Pineview residents definitely don't want the neighbourhood to start looking like what is happening in Edmonton and other cities where monster homes pop up randomly alongside low profile dwellings because their bylaws allow 10 metre dwellings to be built. Residents get extremely outraged when a monster dwelling is built beside their home and then the residents get labelled as they just don't like change. You just need to look at the pictures to see why this outrage is happening. Densification is fine as its going to provide housing choices that don't overwhelm adjacent home types. 

The height of Pineview homes are Single Story,  Bi level, Split level and 2 Story. This is stated in the Pineview Land Use Bylaw when the neighbourhood was built. The maximum height in Pineview today is a 2 Story home (8 metres). 

As an example of height sizing the Fort Sask LUB C30-20 states that a 2 story dwelling is 8.0 metres. 

Typical Dwelling Heights 

The following dwelling heights were measured in Pineview in Feb 2025.

• Bungalow 4.8 to 5.1 metres

• Split level 5.5 metres

• Bi level 6.0 metre

• 2 story home 7 - 8 metres

Practical and Useable Land Use Bylaws

Somebody once said, "They will never build something that high in Pineview anyhow as it would be out of character". When creating policies you don't put standards in the policy that are not practical or ineffective and out of character for the neighbourhood. That defeats the entire purpose as to why the specific LUBs are being created for each district which is to blend in with the neighbourhood character. 

The LUB needs to be robust enough with checks and balances for all developments to prevent the scenario below from happening. 80% of the dwellings stated in the 2nd draft LUB do not have a section for robust checks and balances to ensure a proposed dwelling is compatible with adjacent homes. 

Below is an actual picture of what a 10 metre monster home would look like in the low profile Pineview neighbourhood.  This is an actual Pineview home picture. 

The residents during the engagement sessions compromised and stated that the dwelling heights in Pineview can be 8 metres. 

As a result of Pineview residents engagement with the city planners in the February engagement sessions only 1% of the residents indicated that they supported the dwelling height of 10 metres.  Where the residents stated dwelling height as a concern 100% of the concerns were that 10 metres does not preserve the character of Pineview but 8 metres would be a good compromise. Other Pineview residents stated to leave Pineview as it is and allow for like for like replacements of dwellings. That data is printed in the planners What We Heard report.  

An 8 metre dwelling height would allow homeowners to proactively convert their bungalow into a two story stacked duplex if they wanted to rent out the upper floor to a family and stay in place on the main floor. This aligns with the intent of the Municipal Development Plan (MDP) to have more middle housing. 

Other resident concerns were also raised in which they said to leave Pineview alone as it is a good neighbourhood just as it is. People move to Pineview because of the existing character.  A 10 metre home beside a 5 metre bungalow does not fit the character of the neighbourhood. 

Look at the picture below and ask if you would want a home 10 metres tall built beside your bungalow.  The 10 metre one size fits all height is stated in the Pineview 2nd draft land use bylaw. This home was measured for height and actual drawn to scale.