Suites Options – Federation of North Toronto Residents' Associations

Garden Suites

The Garden Suites project is part of the Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON) initiative. The Ontario Planning Act requires the City to have policies and regulations in place that allow for an additional housing unit, separate from the main building, on low-rise residential properties across the City. The Act states that a lot with a detached house, semi-detached house or townhouse may have up to three units on it: the main house, a secondary suite in the main house, and a third unit in a detached accessory structure (like a Laneway Suite or a Garden Suite).

The City’s definition of a Garden Suite is “a detached housing unit, usually located in the rear yard, and is separate, or detached from the main house. Garden Suites, like Laneway Suites, are generally smaller than the main house on the lot and are intended to function as a rental housing unit. Unlike a Laneway Suite, a Garden Suite is not next to a public lane and could instead be next to other yards, a flanking street, a private lane, a park or open space or other uses.”

Garden Suites are intended to be “non-severable.” They are to remain under the same ownership as the main house and are serviced with water, sewer and other utilities through a connection to the main house or the street.

The City has proposed developing as-of-right zoning regulations for Garden Suite units within neighbourhoods city-wide. “As-of-right” means it complies with the zoning by-law and generally only needs a building permit to begin construct, without the need for any other approvals.

Planning provided an update to the Planning and Housing Committee on Dec 8, 2020.

A ‘Garden Suites Review’ report dated Nov 20, 2020 was presented. The PHC decisions were that (1) a report with necessary recommendations to permit Garden Suites should be prepared by Planning by the second quarter of 2021 and (2) provide specific consideration to existing garden suite and coach house dwellings, and consider incorporating any concurrent policies necessary to grandfather in these units, including a pathway to compliance, as part of the report in the second quarter of 2021.

FoNTRA submitted a Letter and spoke to concerns for “garden suites” being treated the same as “laneway suites”; how these units address the affordable housing issue; the importance of neighbourhoods being involved in consultations on what can happen in their areas with concerns for the proposed time frame. FoNTRA asked the PHC not to endorse the contents of the Garden Suites report as a basis for public consultation, and defer the report pending further considerations, and the results of the report back on the Laneway Suites Review.

A Garden Suite survey was made available to the Public in March through to April 30 to submit their opinions. The written responses were provided as an Attachment to the Proposals Report presented at the Planning and Housing Committee on June 28, 2021.

City Planning hosted three virtual community consultation meetings on May 11,12 and 13 for residents to learn more, ask questions, and share comments. The Garden Suite Community Meeting Presentation was presented at the consultation meetings. The presentation can also be downloaded as a PDF.

City Planning then prepared to present to the Planning & Housing Committee on June 28, 2021 under Item PH25.15. The Proposals Report was made available to the public on June 21.

The Proposals Report presents draft Garden Suite regulations on Pages 25 to 35 and these are also summarized in table format.

Summary of Proposed Draft Garden Suite Regulations

Regulation	Garden Suites (Proposed)
Permitted Uses	May be used for living accomodations and home occupations. Short-term rentals are permitted only in accordance with the Short Term Rentals By-law.
Number of Dwelling Units	One Dwelling Unit. Garden Suite means a self-contained living accommodation for a person or persons living together as a separate single housekeeping unit, in which both food preparation and sanitary facilities are provided for the exclusive use of the occupants of the suite and is in an ancillary building not abutting a lane.
Density	Excluded from the permitted floor space index or other density provisions
Location on the Lot	Rear yard
Lot Coverage	Maximum 25% of the lot for all ancillary buildings on the lot.
	Maximum 40% of the rear yard for the Garden Suite, up to a maximum of 60 square metres.
Building Footprint	Maximum 60 square metres and lot coverage maximums above.
Basements	Permitted
Height and Separation Distances	4 metres height where the Garden Suite is at least 5 metres from the principal residential building.
	Up to 6 metres height, where the Garden Suite is at least 7.5 metres from the principal residential building.
Rear Yard Setback	A minimum of 1.5 metres.
	On lots with a depth greater than 45 metres the minimum setback is the greater of half the height of the Garden Suite and 1.5 metres.
	On through lots, where a rear property line abuts a street, the minimum rear yard setback is the average setback of adjacent houses that face the street, or if there are no adjacent houses then 6.0 metres.
Side Yard Setbacks	The minimum required side yard setback is the greater if either 0.6 metres or 10% of the lot frontage, up to a maximum of 3.0 metres.
	Where openings such as windows or doors are proposed, the minimum side yard setback is 1.5 metres.
	On a side lot line that abuts a street, the minimum setback is the same as the minimum required side yard setback for the principal residential building.
Angular Planes	Front: 45 degrees starting at a height of 4.0m, 7.5 from the rear main wall of the principal residential building.
	Rear: 45 degrees starting at a height of 2.0m, from the rear lot line.
	Side: 45 degrees starting at a height of 4.0m from the required side setback.
	Where a lot line abuts a street: None
Rear Yard Landscaping	A minimum of 50% of a rear yard area, including the area covered by a Garden Suite, must be soft landscaping. Lots with a frontage of less than 6.0 metres will require a minimum of 25% soft landscaping.
	The above soft landscaping requirement may be reduced by 0.5 square metres for every 1.0 square metres of green roof provided on a Garden Suite.
Parking	Two bicycle parking spaces required
	No vehicle parking space required for a Garden Suite
	Maintain required parking rates for the principal residential building on the lot
Horizontal and Vertical Projections	Under review
Lawfully Existing Ancillary Buildings and Structure	Subject to Onario Building Code requirements, conversion of a lawfully existing building to a Garden Suite may be permitted if it complies with maximum footprint (60 square metres), setbacks where openings are proposed, and meets minimum required soft landscaped area

The Garden Suites team is to continue to review and consult on the matters discussed in this report, including protecting space for existing and new trees and green spaces, privacy and shadowing, and parking, among others. Staff are to continue with technical reviews and consult with residents and other stakeholders to make further refinements.

A report with recommending Official Plan policies and Zoning By-law regulations to permit Garden Suites, as-of-right, across the city will be presented to the Planning and Housing Committee in the fourth quarter of 2021 (Oct to Dec).

FoNTRA submitted a Letter to the PHC June 28 meeting and spoke to neighbourhood character, disincentives for creating more affordable housing, lack of reporting on the laneway housing initiative, and impacts of Committee of Adjustment and TLAB approvals.

Residents associations were encouraged to review the Proposals Report, discuss the proposed regulations with their Members, and review questions with the Garden Suites team in order to develop their opinions on the proposal for review with their Councillor.

A Garden Suites Working Group (GSWG) consisting of FoNTRA, FoNTRA Member RAs and CORRA representatives was formed to study the proposed regulations in more detail.

The group conducted jurisdictional reviews (the City was asked to provide their jurisdictional review information, but this was not provided); collected information on Ontario Building Code (OBC) requirements; obtained information to estimate the number of potential garden suite lots across the City; defined questions to review with the Planning Team; and collected/ reviewed Issues from the representative groups.

A meeting was requested with the Planning Team and was set for September 8, 2021. An agenda was distributed on September 6, 2021 of issues we wanted to review with the Planning Team. Unfortunately, the meeting was postponed on September 7, 2021 – Planning stated that they were delayed in the preparation of the graphics/visualizations and at this time, staff did not have further information to share; they would reschedule the meeting shortly.

On September 30, GSWG asked Planning about rescheduling the meeting. Planning’s reply indicated that the graphics should be available for review in October; an on-line consultation package was being prepared; draft OPA and Zoning By-law amendments would be available around November 1, 2021; that due to the delays they would now be reporting to Planning and Housing Committee at the start of 2022 (rather than in 2021); and that the next phase of the consultation process should start in November.

The review meeting was rescheduled for October 26, 2021. The Planning Team presented one graphic set from the on-line consultation video. GSWG provided urgent comments on the Illustrations on October 29, 2021 stating our concerns on the illustration provided with an exceptionally short building length, which made it appear feasible to create a much larger garden suite with a greater amount of soft landscaping than likely really would be possible for that size lot using a common building length. The GSWG felt that the illustrations were misleading.

On November 8, 2021, an email was distributed by Planning advising that a narrated visual walk-through video of the draft zoning by-law permissions was now available on YouTube as the on-line community consultation, with comments to be submitted by November 30, 2021. The Notice also advised that the proposed Official Plan Amendments and the proposed Zoning By-law Amendments were available for review on the website.

FoNTRA, CORRA and Residents’ Association sent emails to their members to make them aware of the on-line community consultation that was underway, encouraging the residents’ associations and their members to submit Comments by November 30, 2021.

ARRIS consulting submitted their expert opinion document to the City on December 5, 2021.

Residents, residents’ associations and FoNTRA submitted their comments based on the reviews completed by the Garden Suites Working Group supported by ARRIS’s Planning Report. FoNTRA’s extensive comments detailed issues and recommendations on:

Official Plan changes and application to multiplex building types
Tree protection
Minimum lot area and dimensions
Primary Building Depth/Length
Separation Distance
Conversion of existing ancillary buildings
Soft landscaping
Information/Assistance
Inspection, monitoring and enforcement
Committee of Adjustment applications
Program Reporting and Evaluation

On December 16, 2021, the Garden Suites Working Group was advised that the Final Report would be reviewed at the January 12, 2022, Planning and Housing Committee meeting. This meant that the Final Report would be available to the public on or around January 5, 2022.

It was stated that the proposed Official Plan Amendments and Zoning By-law Amendments would be available on the City website on December 20, 2021. Notice of a Public Meeting to be held on January 12, 2022, at the Planning and Housing Committee meeting for these amendments was received from the City Clerk on December 21, 2021. A revision to the Official Plan Amendments was received on January 5, 2022.

FoNTRA and the residents’ associations were very disappointed that none of our requested changes were included in the Final Report, the proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments, although they did make some changes to strengthen the tree protection statements.

FoNTRA, FoSTRA, CORRA and many residents’ associations across the City submitted letters and spoke at the Planning and Housing Committee meeting of January 12, 2022, asking once again for consideration of the following issues, with Recommendations:

Zoning (Building Types)
Primary Building Length and Separation Distance from ancillary dwelling
Conversion of Existing Ancillary Buildings
Tree Preservation Policies
Implementation – Communications
Monitoring Programs
Supporting Information and Processes

Planning staff were asked to prepare a supplementary report for City Council review on February 2, 2022, on the some of the topics but the Planning and Housing Committee approved the Recommendations as-is without any discussion of the points presented by the letters or speakers.

The Long Branch Neighbourhood Association organized a meeting where representatives from Barrie spoke on their experience with the implementation of Garden Suites back in 2019 and the need to revise the by-laws in 2021.

In letters to City Council for the February 2, 2022 meeting, residents’ associations asked the City to consider the lessons learned by the Barrie experience. FoNTRA’s letter once again reviewed the major concerns, asking that City Council defer the Garden Suites OPA and Zoning By-law Amendments for further consideration of residents’ concerns and asking for a report on the real estate implications of the Garden Suites initiative.

The discussion at the City Council meeting on February 2, 2022 dealt with whether Garden Suites should exist or not, rather than whether some of the regulations needed to be modified. The ten Recommendations passed by the Planning and Housing Committee were approved along with nine additional motions by a vote of 19 to 5 with 2 absent. Review the Garden Suites Motions Summary Feb. 2, 2022 for a summary of the nineteen Recommendations.

Official notices were issued by the City Clerk that Official Plan Amendment 554 and Zoning By-law 101-2022 were adopted/passed on February 3, 2022, by the City of Toronto. The Notice states that in accordance with subsection 16(3) of the Planning Act, only the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing may file an appeal. The appeal period is open until March 7, 2022. We now await applications to be submitted for Building Permits and Committee of Adjustment variances!

Contact Information

Please see the City of Toronto – Garden Suites

Laneway Suites

The Laneway Suites project is also part of the Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON) initiative. The Ontario Planning Act requires the City to have policies and regulations in place that allow for an additional housing unit, separate from the main building, on low-rise residential properties across the City. The Act states that a lot with a detached house, semi-detached house or townhouse may have up to three units on it: the main house, a secondary suite in the main house, and a third unit in a detached accessory structure (like a Laneway Suite or a Garden Suite).

A Laneway Suite is a self-contained residential unit located on the same lot as a detached house, semi-detached house, townhouse, or other low-rise house. Laneway Suites are generally smaller than the main house on the lot and are intended to function as a rental housing unit. Laneway Suites are intended to be “non-severable”. They are to remain under the same ownership as the main house and are serviced with water, sewer and other utilities through a connection to the main house or the street.

Laneway Suite Zoning By-law Amendments were originally initiated within the Toronto and East York districts on June 26, 2018. At that time, City Council also directed City staff to monitor the implementation of laneway suites and begin drafting a report on the monitoring period within the earlier of 2 years or the issuance of the 100th laneway suite building permit.

On Feb. 12, 2019, the Planning and Housing Committee requested that City Planning undertake a review and consultation on expanding laneway suites city-wide.

A Report for Action on Changing Lanes was adopted by the Planning and Housing Committee on July 3, 2019 and was considered by City Council on July 16, 2019. Permissions were expanded City-wide under Item PH7.1 at City Council. Amendment 460 was approved to update the Official Plan. Section 150.8 Laneway Suites of By-law 569-2013 defines the regulations for laneway suites.

Motions were also approved to:

As part of the monitoring report, review all minor variance applications for laneway suites and include an analysis and discussion of these applications in the laneway suites report originally directed by City Council as part of the ongoing review of Site and Area Specific Policy 211.
Consult with the Federation of North Toronto Residents’ Associations as part of the consultation undertaken for the monitoring report noted above.
In consultation with appropriate City officials, initiate a training program within all City Districts to ensure consistent City-wide understanding and application of the Laneway Suites Policies and By-law provisions.

In June, 2021, FoNTRA followed up with Gregg Lintern, Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division, on the Laneway Suite Monitoring Report. The Garden Suites staff report has been scheduled to be presented at the Planning and Housing Committee on Nov. 25. In FoNTRA’s opinion, the Laneway Suites Monitoring Report needs to be available to inform the consideration of Garden Suites and other initiatives. FoNTRA has requested this throughout the public consultations.

FoNTRA stated: “at this time there is no data and information analysis about the Laneway Suite experience made available to the public. Furthermore, it is our understanding that Planning and Housing Committee has not had the opportunity to review any City monitoring information, to ask questions and to provide comments regarding the effectiveness of the Laneway Suites initiative. This information should be made available to the councillors who will be making decisions about Garden Suites and to the public who are being asked to comment about how the Garden Suite bylaw should be changed. We believe that a greater level of transparency around the Laneway Suites experience and learnings overall is not only needed, but is essential in order to properly proceed with Garden Suites”. The request was made that Laneway suites monitoring information be tabled at the June Planning and Housing Committee, with the Interim Garden Suites report. This was not done.

In the Summer of 2021, the City retained Gladki Planning Associates to assist in certain areas of the Laneway Suite monitoring work.

Information sessions were scheduled for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, 2021 to present preliminary findings from the Laneway Suite Monitoring Program including a review of laneway suite applications to date, and summarizing comments received from the building industry and residents since the Laneway Suites By-Law was enacted. Gladki Planning Associates also presented preliminary findings on Committee of Adjustment applications and a number of potential by-law adjustments. Review the Presentation to study the results of the Monitoring to date.

FoNTRA submitted a letter to Gregg Lintern on Oct. 14, 2021 outlining concerns based on attending the Aug 31 and Sep 1 Information sessions. Items were specified that were to have been reviewed that were not completed and points were made on the review of the Committee of Adjustment applications. Requests were made for:

All requirements and topics as per City Council direction to be completed and incorporated in the report.
All minor variance applications for laneway suites to include an analysis and discussion in the report.
Consultation with the North Toronto Residents’ Association.
Interviews to be completed with adjacent neighbours and consultations conducted with the local Residents’ Associations associated with the Laneway Suites application and added to the Report.
Community Consultation meetings be arranged for the public to hear and comment on the completed review and evaluation, and any proposed by-law amendments.

The final report from Gladki Planning Associates was made available by the City on October 15, 2021. Planning stated that the City Planning Division’s recommendations may align with the recommendations of this report in some instances and not others. Planning stated that other details and observations of the monitoring and review that fall outside the scope of the Gladki Planning Report will be covered in a virtual community meeting on October 27. The City stated that the Final Report on the Laneway Suites Monitoring Initiative will be published online in advance the November 25, 2021 Planning and Housing Committee meeting.

A meeting was arranged by City Planning with FoNTRA representatives on October 22, 2021. Planning presented a number of revisions and updates on reviews currently underway.

A Community Consultation was arranged on October 27, 2021. Revisions and additions to proposed by-law amendments were presented along with additional details and observations of the monitoring and review that fell outside the scope of the Gladki Planning Report. An updated Changing Lanes: Review and Monitoring Zoning By-law Amendments presentation was reviewed.

On Nov. 3, 2021 a Notice of Public Meeting was published in the Toronto Star by the City listing 14 proposed amendments to Section 150.8 of By-law 569-2013 – Specific Use Regulations for Laneway Suites. The list included changes to what had been proposed in earlier discussions, as well as some new items.

FoNTRA submitted a letter to Greg Lintern and Graig Uens on Nov. 4, 2021 detailing concerns and stating opposition to two of the proposed by-law amendments as they will negatively impact the environment and neighbours, requesting that the current bylaw standards be retained for these two by-law provisions.

Height of 2-storey Laneway Suites
Rear Year Soft Landscaping percentage at 85%

FoNTRA also asked that further discussions take place on the best approach to dealing with abutting rear yards and side yards. As well, it was requested that the amendment for upper decks proposed by FoNTRA be included.

The Final Report, the Gladki Planning Associates Report and the proposed by-law amendments were made available within the Agenda of the Planning and Housing Committee on Nov. 18 for review at the Nov. 25 PHC meeting.

A Report for Action on Changing Lanes: The City of Toronto’s Review of Laneway Suites – Monitoring Program and Zoning By-law Amendments – Final was adopted by the Planning and Housing Committee on November 25, 2021 with amendments. The Gladki Report proposed zoning changes marked up on 569-2013 text, a draft Zoning By-law Amendment, and the Notice of the Public Meeting being held at the time were presented.

The City Planning Division recommended 13 amendments to Zoning By-law 569-2013:

Allowing a combination of side and rear yard lot lines to count towards the required 3.5 metre length of a property line abutting a lane;
Exempting a walkway from the minimum required percentage of soft landscaping space between a suite and house;
Exempting pedestrian access from the required soft landscaped area between the lane and the suite to a maximum width of 1.5 metres;
Requiring a 1.5 metre side yard setback for the portion of a laneway suite above a height of 4.0 metres when the side yard of the property with the laneway suite abuts the rear yard of another property, or properties, zoned RD, RS, RT, RM, or R;
Deleting text requiring that the laneway suite width be measured perpendicular to the centreline of a lot;
Increasing the maximum permitted height of a suite from 6.0 metres to 6.3 metres;
Reducing the required minimum side and rear yard setback from 1.5 to 1.0 metres from the lane.
Reducing the distance of a green roof parapet from the side wall of a suite from 1.0 metres to 0.5 metres;
Increasing the permitted height of certain rooftop equipment, such as HVAC units, from 1.0 metres to 1.5 metres;
Increasing the minimum distance of certain rooftop equipment, such as HVAC units, from the side wall of a suite from 1.0 metres to 1.5 metres;
Adding “skylights” to the list of permitted projections into the maximum building height;
Exempting minimum required width and length dimensions from a suite constructed within a lawfully existing ancillary structure;
Permitting a laneway suite to be constructed prior to the main house; and,
Technical amendments including amended numbering of sections where required and bolding of defined terms.

Many letters were submitted by Residents’ Associations across the City to the Planning and Housing Committee meeting on Nov 25 and 13 Speakers made sound, balanced requests that 2 of the 13 proposed by-law amendments controlling Laneway Suites be removed. It was asked that:

Increasing the maximum permitted height of a suite from 6.0 metres (20 feet) to 6.3 metres be removed.
An exemption for a 1.5 metre (5 foot walkway) against the 85% soft landscaping allocation be removed.

Construction expert opinion was submitted to clarify that additional height is not necessary with today’s techniques and materials to improve the heat envelope.

A one-metre (3.3 feet) walkway should be provided within the 15% hardscape allocation for the rear yard. There is no reason to take the full size of a 1.5 metre wide (5 feet) walkway from the previous 85% soft landscaping area.

Councillor K. Wong-Tam submitted four additional motions which were approved:

City departments and other civic officials be requested to meet the City of Toronto’s Transform TO Net Zero Strategy and to increase onsite green space, landscaping and the three canopy while striving to promote ecologically responsive construction techniques and materials.
City departments investigate the feasibility of inspecting all completed laneway and garden suites and their compliance to By-laws as it pertains to the percentage of growing space and the tree canopy remaining in these lots.
City departments require, as a condition of approval of a laneway and garden suite, that, if applicable, a canopy tree be retained or planted elsewhere on the lot.
City departments communicate with the Committee of Adjustment’s members that the City of Toronto declared a climate emergency in 2019 and that the TransformTO Net Zero Strategy should be considered in all their decisions as it is affected by the impact of reduced growing space and lost tree canopies.

In their November 22, 2021 Letter, FoNTRA requested that the proposed amendment regarding increasing the maximum permitted height of a suite from 6.0m to 6.3m not be approved. Technical advice was submitted that a building can be successfully built with a height of 6m. Also, given the importance of building up the permeable surface in residential neighbourhoods, the proposed significant exemption for a 1.5m wide walkway is not needed. FoNTRA therefore requested that the proposed amendment for a walkway against the 85% soft landscaping allocation not be approved.

The Planning and Housing Committee ignored all the requests and without any discussion, adopted the recommendation to approve all 13 of the proposed by-law amendments. Very disappointing, as the Residents’ Associations, FoNTRA and CORRA were asking them to consider the need for green grow space, the preservation of our tree canopy and climate change mitigation measures!

This Planning and Housing meeting also served as the Public Meeting for the proposed by-law amendments.

The Residents’ Associations approached their Councillors to submit Motions to amend the recommendations to remove the Height and Soft Landscaping provisions and to support those motions between Nov 25 and the City Council meeting on Dec 15.

City Council reviewed 13 proposed by-law amendments for Laneway Suites on Dec 15. Councillor Jaye Robinson raised questions regarding the proposed exemption for a 1.5m wide walkway within the 85% soft landscaping allocation. There was no discussion regarding the requests submitted at the PHC meeting for the removal of the Heights and Walkway Exemption. Only 3 Councillors voted No to passing the 13 by-law amendments (Councillors Holyday, Mantas and Robinson).

On December 23, 2021, the City of Toronto amended Zoning By-law 569-2013 via By-law 1107-2021 with respect to laneway suites. A City Clerk’s Notice was received by interested parties via Canada Post on or about December 30, 2021.

The Notice states “Only the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing may file an appeal. In accordance with Subsection 34(19.1) of the Planning Act, there is no appeal in respect to parts of a by-law that give effect to policies described in subsection 16(3), including, for greater certainty, no appeal in respect of any requirement or standard relating to such policies, except an appeal by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.”

Sub-section 16(3) of the Planning Act states:
3) An official plan shall contain policies that authorize the use of additional residential units by authorizing,

(a) the use of two residential units in a detached house, semi-detached house or rowhouse; and

(b) the use of a residential unit in a building or structure ancillary to a detached house, semi-detached house or rowhouse. 2019, c. 9, Sched. 12, s. 2 (1).

So we believe this legislation which does not allow appeal by a “person or a public body” is applicable to both laneway suites and garden suites.

It is interesting that City officials and staff did not point out during the community meetings, meetings with FoNTRA or other discussions between Planning and the public, that the proposed by-law amendments in fact could not be appealed by “a person or the public.” The interpretation we have been given of this legislation is that the City is able to pass whatever specific by-laws they see fit for laneway suites and garden suites, with no right of appeal by the public. So, the City can decide what by-laws they want implemented, despite the opinions/recommendations of the public.

Contact Information

Please see City of Toronto: Changing Lanes

Secondary Suites

The Province of Ontario updated and introduced new policy and legislative changes related to second units. Secondary suites (a type of second unit) have been permitted since 2000, however, previous zoning regulations only permitted the creation of a secondary suite five years after the primary dwelling is constructed, and did not permit secondary suites in all townhouses.

Public Consultations were held in four areas of the City during November, 2018 on a draft zoning framework to simplify the creation of secondary suites.

The new zoning rules respond to provincial changes in the Planning Act that support secondary suites across the province and seek to simplify the creation of secondary suites. In the City-wide Zoning By-law 569-2013 a secondary suite is defined as a:

“self-contained living accommodation for an additional person or persons living together as a separate single housekeeping unit, in which both food preparation and sanitary facilities are provided for the exclusive use of the occupants of the suite, located in and subordinate to a dwelling unit.”

The Planning and Growth Management Committee directed staff to hold public consultations on the draft framework for as-of-right zoning for Secondary Suites. More details are found in the staff report, which was considered by Planning and Growth Management Committee in July 2018.

Staff prepared a report which was considered by the Planning and Housing Committee at its meeting on March 20, 2019. The report included a summary of the consultation, and recommended zoning by-law amendments. The recommendations in the staff report were adopted with amendments.

FoNTRA submitted a letter on April 4, 2018 stating that such housing, regardless of specific typology needs to “fit in” with the neighbourhood in the same manner and subject to the same Official Plan directions as other housing.

City Council adopted zoning by-law amendments for secondary suites on March 28, 2019. The purpose and effect of Zoning By-law 549-2019 is to permit secondary suites in townhouses city-wide, remove the requirement for the original house to be at least five years old, remove unit size restrictions and reduce parking requirements. The amendments respond to provincial policy changes to the Planning Act which support secondary suites across the province and seeks to simplify the creation of secondary suites.

Contact Information

Please see the City of Toronto – Secondary Suites

Garden suites image used by permission of the City of Toronto.