An Innisfil couple’s battle to build a granny flat ended up in front of town council.
Lori and Derek Parker had designs on building an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) for her mother to live on their property in Cookstown. That way, Lori Parker said, her mother could be provided with a safe, secure and affordable private space in her twilight years, receiving proper care close to her family.
After retaining a contractor, getting architectural drawings created and completing surveys, the Parkers discovered their request would be denied: ADUs are not allowed in Cookstown.
“We did everything according to the bylaws, but not knowing ADUs were not allowed in Cookstown,” Lori Parker said in a recent delegation to council. “We still do not understand why we cannot add an additional person to a two-person occupant home, with sewers, water and electricity which will all be added to our existing dwelling unit.”
ADUs are smaller, separate living spaces on the same property as an established dwelling. Under the town’s bylaw, two ADUs can be added to a property, which can include a legal basement apartment, backyard house or tiny home.
A caveat to the bylaw is Cookstown; even as the town looks to follow the province’s Housing Supply Action Plan, new ADUs can’t be constructed in Cookstown.
Development in Cookstown is hindered by the existing sanitary sewer capacity of the Cookstown wastewater treatment plant. Since 2012, the town has had an allocation policy that outlines criteria for development to connect to the sanitary system. In 2016, a strategy was introduced to provide interim allocation until improvement could permit additional capacity.
Further capacity was created last year as council revoked allocation from development proposals that failed to progress to the town’s liking. Staff typically review available capacity each September, director of planning and growth Andria Leigh told councillors.
As of the end of 2023, six allocation units were available for residential development in Cookstown.
Coun. Fred Drodge was concerned about when the Parkers would have discovered their inability to proceed with an ADU. Leigh admitted it might not have been as early in the process as it possibly should have been.
“The Cookstown information is a number of pages into that guide, so it wouldn’t have been as apparently initially for an individual to understand that limitation,” Leigh said. “The website does speak to the fact that they are allowed in certain areas and to check the bylaw.”
The town has since updated the website to make the limitation in Cookstown more prominent on the front page.
Still, when Mayor Lynn Dollin “pretended” to apply for an ADU, she struggled to get to the part that spoke to Cookstown specifically.
“I went on the website and started to look, and I guess I didn’t get to that page because I couldn't find it,” she said. “It certainly, to me, could be more prevalent or some kind of a red flag right up at the very beginning of the process so we don't end up with people investing in a property and then finding out after the fact as opposed to before the fact.”
Council approved a resolution put forward by Drodge, to make an exemption to the Cookstown sanitary sewer allocation policy and allow the Parkers’ request for an ADU.
The resolution also states that no further allocation will be available in Cookstown for these types of units until the Cookstown water pollution control plant's municipal class environmental assessment has been completed and wastewater capacity issues for the village have been resolved.
That study began in December 2023 and a public information centre on the project has yet to be scheduled. Leigh anticipated a date for such a meeting would be announced shortly.
