City of Toronto legalizes four-plexes

With no floor space limit

Yellowbelt outside the old city of Toronto: zones where only single-detached houses were allowed, until today. Presentation by Sean Galbraith and Cheryll Case.

Good news: Toronto city council voted 18-7 today to legalize four-plexes (basically a small townhouse complex on a single lot) in all residential areas of the city.

• Live tweets by More Neighbours Toronto

• Live tweets by Sean Galbraith

• Some live commentary by John Michael McGrath. He notes that the opposition was mostly from suburban conservatives rather than skeptical progressives.

• Globe and Mail. Toronto Star. CBC.

From the Globe and Mail story:

Last fall, the province passed legislation to allow for three units on single residential lots, overriding municipal zoning rules. Toronto’s zoning changes expand on the provincial rule by permitting an additional unit to create fourplexes and also make amendments to regulations, including height and depth restrictions.

For the 38 per cent of neighbourhoods that have a height limit less than 10 metres, that will now be increased to a maximum height of 10 metres to make room for a third storey. A fourth storey is permitted for those areas that have a greater height limit.

Multiplexes will also be exempt from floor space index maximums, a regulation currently in place for only 37 per cent of the city that limits the allowable density of buildings. Critics of the plan took issue with this requirement being removed, arguing there is now one less tool to regulate the developments.

Toronto chief planner Gregg Lintern said the elimination of floor space index maximums is a result of community feedback that it could prevent multiplexes from being built because it would restrict space for additional units.

“We didn’t want to propose zoning that wasn’t going to result in housing,” he told councillors.

History:

• February 9 proposal - commentary by Colleen Bailey and Sean Galbraith

• April 6 proposal - commentary by Sean Galbraith. There’s no floor space limit.

• April 27 Planning and Housing committee meeting - live tweets by More Neighbours Toronto

• Toronto Star: Multiplex housing belongs in every Toronto neighbourhood, final city hall report says

• Globe and Mail: Toronto City Council to vote on proposal allowing up to four-unit multiplexes across city

• Agenda for May 10 council meeting, including the proposed zoning bylaw amendment

More:

• Re-Housing the Yellowbelt. A catalogue of ideas for converting single-detached houses to multiple homes.

• Multiplex designs by Bryn Davidson. Some illustrations of what multiplexes could look like.

• Multiplex update - latest proposal from the city of Vancouver

• A video on the missing middle from About That (Andrew Chang):