Greater Sudbury property owners will soon be able to develop four units per residential lot as-of-right.
The planning committee of city council unanimously greenlit the proposal following Monday’s public hearing, at which staff members strived to clarify a few key points.
Mainly, they clarified that as-of-right simply means property owners don’t need to go through a rezoning process to create up to four units per residential property legally, and that they still need to comply with other rules, such as building codes, which the city can’t supersede.
“All other zoning standards are proposed to stay the same,” a municipal report by city senior planner Ed Landry clarified.
“The introduction of a fourth unit in a main building or accessory building will be limited by the provisions of the zoning by-law including servicing, parking (one space per unit), building heights (up to eight metres for an accessory building), setbacks and lot coverage, as well as the requirements of the Building Code and Fire Code.”
Building permits would still be required to create additional legal units.
Ultimately, the as-of-right allowance doesn’t mean there will automatically be a bunch of housing units allowed in existing structures, it only means that a rezoning process is no longer required.
“The Building Code has been adopted by the municipality through our building bylaw … and it is an Ontario regulation that we are bound to, and it deals with fire, life safety and structure adequacy,” city Building Services director Guido Mazza told the committee.
“It is a fairly intense construction form changing from a single-family dwelling to a four-unit.”
The proposed amendments were ratified by a unanimous city council as a whole during Tuesday night’s meeting.
After a 20-day appeals process, it’s expected to be in play by the start of the new year.
Once in play, four units will be allowed on fully-serviced parcels of land within the city’s settlement areas, or three units within the primary building when there is a unit in an accessory building.
In a letter to city council members, Coalition for a Livable Sudbury chair Naomi Grant threw her support behind allowing up to four units as-of-right.
In addition to allowing for more affordable housing within walkable communities, she said it would help achieve city’s Community Energy and Emissions Plan goals, namely No. 1: “Achieve energy efficiency and emissions reductions by creating compact, complete communities through infill developments, decreasing dwelling size through an increase in multi-family buildings, and increasing building type mix.”
Her letter also urged city council members to eliminate parking minimums (one parking spot per unit).
“If parking requirements are not eliminated, then the inability to meet those requirements will de
facto remove many lots from the potential to provide more housing units,” she wrote.
“Secondly, as neighbourhoods intensify, current parking requirements would also make those neighbourhoods less climate resilient and more susceptible to flooding and extreme heat. In effect, front and side yards would become parking, replacing planted areas with paved areas.”
Eliminating parking minimums was not addressed by the committee during Monday’s meeting.
The lone member of the public to speak up during Monday’s public hearing was resident Mathieu Labonte, who expressed concerns about the allowance merely propping up property values and that the city won’t ensure building standards are met.
The city already allows up to three units per residential lot, which the planning committee approved in September and city council as a whole later ratified.
The three-unit allowance was mandated in the province’s More Homes Built Faster Act, which city council members not only met but exceeded by allowing accessory buildings to be taller as-of-right, increasing the allowance from 6.5 metres to eight.
“We’re taking that extra step with respect to the maximum height requirement so it makes it a little easier to add that second or third unit into an accessory building, like above a garage,” Ward 10 Coun. and meeting chair Fern Cormier told Sudbury.com at the time.
It is hoped that by approving four units per residential property as-of-right, the city might tap into federal Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund money, Landry’s report notes.
The funding is contingent on municipalities approving fourth units as-of-right, to address “missing middle” housing types, such as duplexes and multiplexes.
Meanwhile, the city has also joined a local BuildingIN initiative aimed at helping review and revise multi-unit infill policies. The city is seeking the public’s insights on these infill policies at three virtual public meetings. The first virtual meeting was held Dec. 12 with the two remaining meetings to be held Jan. 16 and Feb 13.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
