When three becomes four in housing units on one Barrie property, people notice.
“I own a house in the east end of Barrie and the three units is already causing enough of a disturbance. Please do not allow four,” Wesley Linton said in a message he sent to the city Dec. 7.
A public meeting will be held Wednesday, Dec. 13 on the city’s application to amend its own zoning bylaw to facilitate the permission for as many as four dwelling units on parcels of land zoned residential within Barrie.
Right now, Barrie’s zoning bylaw permits, as-of-right, building a maximum of three residential units on a property.
'As-of-right' basically means a landowner is entitled to use or develop the property if the proposed use aligns with municipal zoning bylaws.
The four additional residential units are designed to align the city with provincial terminology.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall said this move is also in response to direction from the federal government.
“I do have concerns revolving around issues such as noise, parking challenges and the conversion of single-family residences into multi-family homes,” he said, “which is not what they were originally designed for.
“I will await the public’s feedback on Dec. 13 to better understand the effects of this change," the mayor added.
This change would mean additional residential units would no longer be strictly considered as subordinate and accessory to a primary dwelling unit. It would also create opportunities for landowners to provide additional residential units through the conversion of a primary residential building or their creation within accessory buildings or structures.
The standard of a minimum of one parking space, per dwelling unit, and the permission for tandem parking would be unchanged.
Last October by direct motion, city council voted unanimously to hold a public meeting, before year’s end, on changing the zoning bylaw to permit four residential units on property wherever the zoning permits single, semi-detached or street townhouses.
This would also rezone some or all of the municipal land identified in Barrie council’s Ontario municipal housing pledge, which includes a target of 23,000 new residential units built by 2031.
Barrie’s housing pledge comes from Bill 23, the province’s More Homes Built Faster Act of 2022. It calls for 1.5 million new homes built in Ontario, again by 2031. Bill 23 changed Ontario’s Planning Act to create a new provincial threshold for what is permitted in as-of-right zoning, to meet planned minimum density targets.
Council’s direct motion also concerns the Federal Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), a grant program launched last April as Nuttall explained.
It’s meant to provide incentives for the building of additional housing. Funding is to go straight to municipalities, which will have to apply for it, and there are conditions such as removing barriers to building, committing to more density, affordable, rental and mixed housing. The goal is to double the number of new homes built in the next decade.
Council’s direct motion preamble says Ottawa has required London, Calgary and Halifax to allow four residential units on a property as-of-right in order to receive federal funding.
In late October, the city received an update on Ontario’s Building Faster Fund (BFF) from the Municipal Affairs and Housing Ministry.
The three-year, $1.2-billion program is to provide a maximum of $400 million a year to Ontario municipalities to meet or exceed their annual housing targets.
Barrie’s BFF housing target this year is 1,687 units, the city’s share of the provincial target of 110,000. Ontario’s target is 125,000 units in 2024, of which Barrie’s share is 1,917 units, and with a 2025 target of 150,000 the city’s share is 2,300 units.
Nuttall has said that in order for Barrie to get its share of that $400 million, it needs to hit 80 per cent of its target. Barrie has a 2023 target of 1,350 housing units and Nuttall said in October the city had reached 1,400 units, so it qualifies for the provincial funding.
Wednesday's public meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., while affordability committee meets, in the Council Chambers and virtually.
Once held, city staff will review all comments received through public consultation and prepare a staff report, which councillors will get in the first quarter of 2024.
City council must still approve any change made to the zoning bylaw.
