This week (July 25th) saw the last session of City Council before the summer break. Yesterday Councillor Jamaal Myers with the backing of Councillor Josh Matlow and Mayor Olivia Chow to waive development fees for six-plex's across the city.
Last year, council voted to allow Duplex, Tri-Plex, and Four-plex development on every Single Family Lot in Toronto.
Ward 23 also became a test ward for six-plex development and no permits have been issued. They figure it is because development fees on four-plex's are waived but for six-plex's they were not until now.
The meeting in June, Toronto Council had a vote to allow six-plex's AS A RIGHT across the City, and only 9 Ward's voted in favour, leaving the remaining Ward's to OPT IN.
That vote potentially puts the City at risk of losing $30 million in Federal funding. Why? Because they signed an agreement last year with the Federal Government as part of the Federal Government Housing Plan to expand zoning that allows all different types of "housing" that weren't approved before. ie: backyard homes, laneway homes, six-plex's within residential sub-divisions, etc.
They call this "the missing middle". In reality it is a pathway for young people to become life-long renters.
What happens when the City creates new uses for a single-family lot? Typically it will make those lots more expensive. That has an effect of removing bungalows on decent size lots to be replaced with something else (we have seen this with the McMansion craze of the last decade) and once that is done, it makes everything more expensive.
Now that the McMansion craze is dwindling down, the City wants new ways to upsize single family lots by allowing mini-apartments on those lots. There are area's where that type of housing is justified. Many other area's where the lot for families should be preserved.
I hope we could get the wording "AS A RIGHT" removed and then zone specific area's where they would be allowed.
Since the last Federal Election, Ward 25 has had no say in this, or anything else at City Hall.
So here is the debate;
1. Allow this and don't get hit with a $30 million penalty.
2. Don't opt in and potentially get a $30 million penalty across the property tax base.
3. Fight for a compromise that may allow this type of development in area's where it would make sense.
4. The rest of the City votes to allow or the Mayor uses the "Strong Mayor Veto" to overrule.
If enough votes come to council for the first option, whomever you vote for in this election won't have a choice.
As a Realtor (first licensed in 2002), I know it doesn't make sense for a developer to buy a million dollar lot, knock down a home, build a new one at the cost of properly building one and then have a rental property on their hands. BUT, once zoned a developer could buy the lot, get everything approved and then FLIP the plans to a "builder". This could lead to vacant lots within sub-divisions and derelict properties.
I think this is the most consequential issue facing property owners today and will determine how development occurs within sub-divisions for the next 30-40 years.
I am pro-development but it has to be managed, the city has not managed it very well outside of huge developments where they had a blank slate and could manage it from the beginning.
Then the success of that made that area too enticing for developers and it was over-done making such areas not enjoyable and congested.
Regardless of the so-called "housing crisis" we are now in, the talk of building our way out of it while allowing continued population growth out pace the building rate, is nonsense.
Do I think it's viable to have an apartment building on the top of the Scarborough Bluffs, on Rouge Hills Drive as examples? NO!
("As a right" may let that happen, if a developer has no sense)
Do I think it is viable on Avenue's with transit within walking distance? Yes.
The "As A Right" wording is really what I have a problem with because it takes decisions away from the local representative and could impose the wrong type of development within a sub-division.
It could also make single family homes more expensive for future families, and in some area's could lower values because it is the wrong development for that area or street.
Generally speaking, I am in favour of Legal Housing Types ie: Legal Basement Apartments, Legal Duplex. Triplex, Four-Plex, Six-Plex, and Legal Rooming Houses, providing they make sense for the immediate area.
I am not in favour of taking a bungalow and illegally renting out mattresses on floors to 20 different people.
I am not in favour of people who create death traps for unsuspecting or vulnerable renters.
I am not in favour of someone renting out their 500 sqft one bedroom condo unit to eight people at one time. (Yes I have seen this with my own eyes in Scarborough).
So, to surmise...the six-plex idea may work well in some area's of Ward 25, but not all. I'd like to work with the City's Planning Department to highlight specific area's for growth and development. I think that developers who hold and flip permits/developments with no intention of actually building should be disincentivized. I think that a developer that proposes a development should make sure "it pencils" before submitting it. I think that certain area's in the Ward should be highlighted for growth and work with certain developers to build things the area could use like; retirement residences, properly developed rental accommodation along future sites for rapid transit, larger condos (1000 sqft plus), condo bungalow townhomes, work-live developments, and even business-condo developments. I also do not like over-gentrification. I like having retail spaces for local businesses. If a plaza with a day-care in it becomes a condo, do we lose the day-care space or make sure there are suitable spaces built into the new condo? We should make sure there is suitable space built into the new development so existing businesses can return.
If we lose spaces for local businesses then over-time it becomes an area that will decline, if we develop so only a major chains can afford to rent the new spaces our area will decline.
I could talk about development all day, and I will again in future posts. If you have thoughts you would like me to address, please send me a email to info@electbrianmatthews.com and I will.
I am interested in what WARD 25 has to say about this and what area of the Ward the concern/thought comes from.
Brian Matthews
Add comment
Comments