The number of four plexes in Prince Albert could increase if the city moves forward with a zoning change that would automatically allow them. (City of PA website)

By Susan McNeil

Housing and infrastructure

City of P.A. moves to put four-plexes as a right on all residential lots

Oct 10, 2025 | 5:00 PM

In order to gain federal funding for a much-needed upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant, the City of Prince Albert will look at allowing four-plexes ‘as a right’ on all residential lots, except for country residential.

Council will take a first look at the changes on Tuesday during their executive committee meeting.

“In order to receive the funding for a wastewater treatment plant, we need to create a zoning option that allows people to do multi-residential up to four units,” said Mayor Bill Powalinksy.

The concept of four units as a right means that the type of building is automatically included as allowed in the zoning and does not need to go up to council for approval. This is not the case now.

Prince Albert’s wastewater treatment plant is 53 years old and capable of treating over 40 million litres of sewage daily. It was upgraded in 1999 and 2009 to add secondary treatment and UV disinfection.

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Its age has led to many breakdowns and increased costs to operate and maintain, according to city staff. It also has a “well-documented history of being unable to adequately treat wet weather flows”.

The cost to upgrade will be over $40 million for the first phase and between $150 to $250 million for the next upgrades over the next 10 years.

The city plans to apply for $50 million in federal funding.

Getting federal funding to pay for part of that cost means the city’s water utility would save just under $3 million annually in debt repayments, money that would be charged back to users.

A federal push to expand housing and density across the country means that any municipality wanting to access infrastructure funding under the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF) is required to allow four-plexes as a right in their residential zones.

“The other benefit is that we’re responding to our recent housing needs survey that says we’re 1,400 units behind at the moment,” Powalinsky said.

The lack of housing has led to increased rents and pushed the price of home sales up, as the shortage is across the board from rentals to higher-priced homes.

Community Development Manager Craig Guidinger said that doesn’t mean that residents will see a four-plex in every neighbourhood immediately.

The city still controls other things connected to land use, like setbacks, height restrictions and minimum parking.

“There are safeguards in place – or that we’ll be putting in place – to implement the program properly,” he said. “The one tool we’ve got in our toolbox is our zoning bylaw.”

Through the zoning bylaw, the city can require certain distances to property lines, minimum landscaping requirements, height, parking and more.

That means that the average 30-foot lot in newer neighbourhoods would not accommodate four parking spaces plus the required amount of grass or trees while still staying under the height requirements.

“So while we will be changing the zoning bylaw to allow four units as of right, we will also be looking very, very carefully at those regulations to make sure that they’re suitable for the type of development, to try to minimize the impact in existing neighborhoods and to make sure that as construction happens, it happens over the course of time and it’s done kind of tastefully through the community,” Guidinger said.

The fact that legal four-plexes require independent heat, power and water supply plus their own parking stall when added to the cost of buying a newer lot versus an older lot means some developers may not find the concept attractive.

Council will discuss the idea at their Tuesday meeting but votes in executive committee meetings are recommendations and not binding.

First reading of the amendment will happen on October 27 during the regular council meeting, followed by a public hearing and second and third readings, if they go ahead, at the November 17 council meeting.

Prince Albert would be the fourth municipality in Saskatchewan to allow four-plexes as right. Regina, Moose Jaw and Saskatoon have all done so already.

The federal program that lays out the requirement in order to get infrastructure funding is only for cities with a population of 30,000 or higher.

Detailed information can be found on a dedicated page on the city’s website.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Bluesky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social