Public hearings calling for major changes in how Cochrane addresses day homes and secondary suites are expected to dominate the clock at Monday night’s town council meeting.

Four issues will be addressed during the public hearing that leads into an otherwise short agenda for town council on Jan. 27.

The town proposes to ease the rules on day homes that have been top of mind for young families in the community.

It is proposed day homes be allowed in all residential districts, and that building permits no longer be required. This would, in essence, eliminate the ability to those objecting to day homes from appealing the decision.

"By not requiring a development permit, it basically means they don't have to go through the development permit process, so they could start to operating right away," town planning manager Riley Welden told council in presenting first reading of the land-use bylaw amendment two weeks ago.

"It does not mean that they don't have to adhere to the regulations."

Those regulations include limiting day homes to a maximum of six clients. Employees of the day home would be restricted to those owning or residing in the home. They would be limited to operating only one minor home-business out of the same residents. That basically amounts to an office.

Applicants have complained of facing barriers and red tapes in the application process currently in place, Welden explains.

Also on the table are the first changes in 15 years in rules governing the approval process for accessory and garden suites, commonly referred to as secondary suites.

The amendments propose to remove the current limitation of 10 per cent per neighbourhood and replace it with a specific criteria in considering applications.

"Through the number of applications that we've had over the past years, there was also concern over the location of the suites, some concerns about the potential for clustering in particular areas, as well as the time required to process the development permit applications themselves," Welden explained.

With the changes, the suites would remain a discretionary use in four residential districts.

The town has issued 159 development permits for suites since 2005, 127 of them since 2008. It expects the suites to remain a popular housing option.

Other public hearings will address the proposal to rezone three residential lots on 1st St. West to central business district properties, and change the zoning of some Heartland properties.

The public hearings begin at 6 p.m. in the council chamber of the Cochrane RancheHouse, 101 RancheHouse Rd.