Estevan City Council put the finishing touches on Estevan’s revised community plan by giving the extensive document’s bylaw second and third readings Monday night.

The community plan governs the different classifications of construction in the city, including single-family and multi-family residential dwellings; commercial, industrial and institutional buildings; garages and miscellaneous projects. 

As part of the new community plan, secondary suites, including suites that are situated above a garage, will now be permitted.

The province also has a secondary suite program available that would provide funding for up to 50 per cent of the cost, with a maximum of $24,000.

“There haven't been a tremendous number of changes, we just fixed up some areas,” said Estevan Mayor Gary St. Onge.

St. Onge said that the secondary suites should help alleviate some of the rental crisis in Estevan. And the people who complete the suites will benefit, not just from the provincial funding, but from the monthly rent.

There are rent caps, St. Onge said. A one-bedroom suite will be capped at $650 a month.

Also, as a means to further encourage the development of rental accommodations, the CANDO incentive program will be expanded to include all rental units, including those that are under construction. Rental properties will be exempted from property taxes during the year of construction, and up to four subsequent years.

The community plan is a comprehensive document, St. Onge said. This was the first thorough examination of the document in more than a decade. Council spent a committee meeting in the spring looking at the plan, and land development services manager Rob Denys spent a lot of time preparing the document.