Barrie has more affordable housing options as well as tightened, tougher restrictions surrounding them.
Council approved a number of city-wide changes to Barrie’s zoning bylaw Monday night — designed to streamline the process by clarifying definitions, updating development standards for second suites and detached accessory dwellings, and improving implementation of the bylaw to support affordable housing programs.
This includes permitting smaller units, making it easier to create additional dwelling units in existing multi-residential buildings and allowing mixed, institutional-residential developments.
This latter change to the zoning bylaw permits a maximum lot coverage of 50 per cent when residential uses are located in the same building as an institutional use on land zoned institutional, and permitting a maximum lot coverage of 50 per cent when residential uses are located on the same lot as institutional uses on land zoned institutional.
“What’s getting lost in tonight, because we’re so focused on these ADUs (accessory dwelling units), pro and con, is that were making a major change to allow housing as a right in institutional areas and that piece of the amendment is going to have a far greater impact on the housing crisis in Barrie than any change, positive or negative, to second suites or ADUs,” said Mayor Jeff Lehman.
“I don’t want that to get lost,” he added. “Because coming out of this tonight is a substantial change to encourage more affordable housing in a form that we know is affordable, and which has been built already on church properties and on institutional properties elsewhere in the city, particularly for seniors.”
Council heard more than a dozen deputations on both sides of the detached accessory dwellings matter, but Lehman said it was a red herring as far as affordable housing was concerned.
“The point was made earlier about how many of these (detached) accessible dwelling units are really affordable, and whether they can really be constructed affordably. Very few are,” he said. “We’re not creating affordable housing here.”
“The province has tried to support the building of affordable housing, municipalities have tried to regulate that direction,” said Coun. Jim Harris. “It didn’t create affordable housing, which was exactly what this was meant to do. So if we really get to the root of the effort… it did create a lot of unnecessary hardship for people. Hopefully these changes will mitigate the negative impacts.”
City staff have noted a growing interest in the construction of detached accessory dwellings, as well as concerns from residents regarding their size, placement on the property and impacts on neighbouring land.
Planning staff say detached accessory dwellings are an important housing option and that the intention of the proposed changes to development standards is not to make it more difficult to construct this type of dwelling unit — but rather ensure they are built in a way that is sensitive to established neighbourhoods and representative of good land-use planning principles.
“Because of the supply issues we are having, it is tearing communities apart,” said Coun. Sergio Morales. “The root issue is definitely supply.”
“We’ve certainly heard from residents whose lives have been affected, in one way or the other,” said Deputy Mayor Barry Ward. “I don’t think it’s going to be perfect. I think this will take care of a lot of the complaints and I’ve had a lot of them.”
Council hears from both sides
Deputations showed both sides of the issue.
“The City of Barrie has a responsibility to follow the policies of Ontario, to provide affordable housing,” said Allandale resident Kam Naisbitt. “The City of Barrie also has a responsibility to maintain and preserve neighbourhoods. Our land and neighbourhood is not for sale.”
Clint Tyler spoke for the Ward 1 Residents Association, which he said represents 400 people in 200 households there, and supports the changes.
“Thank you for understanding the pressures,” he said to council, “with more and more rental housing appearing in our neighbourhoods.”
Arlene McCann lives on William Street in the Allandale area and has a detached accessory dwelling being built on Burton Avenue property which backs onto her yard, putting her trees at risk.
“The issues that ensued from the original bylaw did not stem from negative intent. I truly believe that our mayor and council had the best of intentions: they wanted to solve the problem of affordable housing,” she said in her deputation Monday night. “The issues began with developers taking advantage of the vague wording to increase their profit margins, rather than increase the number of affordable homes.
“We have previously documented the destruction to both our environment and community – the damage that has been done cannot be undone,” McCann added.
But there was also opposition to the changes.
Brady McDonald is a developer who has built 25 detached accessory dwellings in Barrie and has 15 more in the works.
“These (restrictions) are going to the extreme,” he said. “There needs to be more weight on (city) staff’s professional opinion.”
Colby Marshall agreed.
“We should not allow a few NIMBYs (not in my back yard) to dictate legislation,” he said.
Rachel Holden, who has a real estate investment firm in Barrie, saw other options.
“I see affordability in the institutional land,” she said in her deputation.
Beefing up enforcement
Council did decide Monday night to take a more proactive enforcement approach for the next 18 months on regulations for second suites and detached accessory dwellings, and look at hiring another zoning compliance officer and a bylaw enforcement officer at budget time.
“This is a far better way to control the issue,” said Coun. Gary Harvey.
The city-wide changes to the zoning bylaw clarify that a maximum of one detached accessory dwelling unit, containing one dwelling unit, is permitted per lot as an accessory use to a single-detached dwelling, a duplex dwelling, a semi-detached dwelling unit and a street townhouse.
They also establish a maximum unit size equal to 45 per cent of the total gross floor area of the principal building, up to a maximum of 75 square metres — or 807 square feet — for detached accessory dwellings, which cannot have basements.
The changes also address the impact of detached accessory dwellings on mature trees. Residents have expressed concerns for mature trees and the importance of Barrie’s urban forest canopy, including shade, run-off retention, soil stability, air quality, etc. Trees also play an important role in privacy, sense of place and neighbourhood character.
Staff say tree removal is not unique to the construction of detached accessory dwellings, and that it also allows for the creation of other accessory buildings and structures, including pools and detached garages.
There are also increases to the minimum rear and side yard setback requirement — in part to address setbacks to surrounding vegetation, and to allow more space for landscape buffers to be planted. This means a minimum three-metre wide landscaped buffer area along the interior side lot lines of the property and a minimum rear-yard setback to seven metres.
Detached accessory dwellings will be subject to a scoped site-plan control review process, which will include providing information about existing on-site and surrounding landscape conditions, including trees. A tree removal permit is only required where a tree is part of a continuous woodlot, and ultimately, tree protection would be best addressed through a tree protection bylaw under the Municipal Act, not the zoning bylaw or site-plan control bylaw, according to city staff.
A scoped site-plan control process for all detached accessory dwellings will also help inform neighbours of plans for the property. Detached accessory dwellings are as of right permissions in the zoning bylaw and there is no opportunity for neighbours to object to their construction, as there is no requirement to provide notice to neighbours prior to a building permit being issued.
Through the proposed scoped site-plan control review and approval process, a sign could be required to be posted on the property to notify neighbours of any development plans.
The changes also address height requirements for detached accessory dwelling units, privacy and two-storey buildings. They are a concern based on their potential height, impact on privacy and that the garage below could become illegal living space. The permissions and standards for two-storey units have been removed.
Proposed size restrictions on second suites are also addressed, how the maximum unit size would be calculated for a second suite — an additional residential dwelling unit located within the primary dwelling. The proposed regulations cap the maximum unit size at 45 per cent of the entire principal building, not just the primary dwelling unit, or all of the basement of a single-storey dwelling.
A provision has also been added to ensure that the finished or unfinished habitable living space in any basement will be included in this calculation.
The changes also addresses other concerns by residents.
But what about parking?
Parking standards and the availability of parking on-site, for example, are a requirement and the zoning bylaw requires a minimum of one parking space for a second suite and for a detached accessory dwelling unit. While some streets do not permit on-street parking, many streets do and it is not a zoning violation — although a parking space on the street would not be counted in the required parking.
During winter months, when there is no overnight parking on the streets, residents are expected to make other parking arrangements, in driveways and garages, as front-yard parking is not permitted.
Also addressed is the infrastructure demand of second suites and detached accessory dwelling units, especially in older neighbourhoods. Staff say additional dwelling units within existing homes do not pose significant concerns to water and wastewater infrastructure capacity.
Detached accessory dwelling units are required to be hooked up to full municipal services, and any upgrades required to the service laterals are the responsibility of the property owner.
As for absentee landlords and owner occupation requirements for second suites and detached accessory dwelling units, the city cannot require owners to live on the property, as per Ontario Regulation 299/19 under the Planning Act. A pilot project in Ward 1 requiring licensing for absentee landlords is currently underway.
As part of Bill 108, the More Homes, More Choice Act of 2019, the province amended Ontario’s Planning Act to require that Official Plans permit three housing units on one lot — a main dwelling with a second suite and a detached accessory suite.
In November of the same year, Barrie city council amended its zoning bylaw to make it easier to build a second suite and provide other forms of affordable housing — permitting both a second suite and a detached accessory dwelling unit in nine residential zones.
Providing more as-of-right permissions in the zoning bylaw for affordable units is intended to provide greater project certainty for housing providers, make it easier to secure funding, and reduce approval times – all of which both directly and indirectly impact the cost and feasibility of building affordable housing.
The city’s most recent affordable housing monitoring report notes there has been considerable uptake in the construction of second suites in Barrie, but the affordability of these units is declining, both in the short and long term.
In 2020, for example, only 25 per cent of new second suites were assumed to be rented at an affordable rate, compared to 70 per cent in 2018 and 2019, and 90 per cent in 2017.
The city defines affordable rental housing as a unit for which the rent doesn’t exceed 30 per cent of the gross annual household income for low- to moderate-income households. That income is based upon the most recent Canada Census statistics for Barrie, which is updated every five years.
Affordable housing is a range of housing types allowing families and individuals, of all income levels, to find suitable places to live without spending a disproportionate percentage of their income on housing. Affordable housing can include ownership, rental or subsidized housing.
