City of Toronto considers removing permission to build garden suites on portion of Parkmount Road

The City of Toronto made it legal to build laneway suites in 2018 and garden suites followed in 2022, with the goal of increasing gentle density to provide more housing options in the city.

With the appropriate approvals and permits, homeowners across the city can build an independent unit on their property to use as extra living space, a guest house or even a rental home.

However the city is now looking to amend the zoning bylaw on a small portion of road in the Monarch Park neighbourhood and remove permissions to build garden suites on that stretch of approximately 70 homes.

The area in question is the part of Parkmount Road that runs between Danforth Avenue and Hanson Street and runs parallel to Craven Road to its east.

This stretch of Craven Road is a unique anomaly in Toronto, with the front doors and yards of the homes on it facing the backyards, gardens and garages of the homes on Parkmount Road.

The usual configuration of houses in Toronto is with their front doors or yards facing each other or their backyards or garages facing each other. The other common scenario is two houses with back gardens backing onto each other separated by a property line.

The move to amend the bylaw has polarized residents on the two streets, leaving neighbours at odds with each other.

Those who live on the small stretch of Craven Road in question say amending the bylaw makes sense.

“We here on Craven believe that Craven Road is not an appropriate site for garden suites,” says Claudia who has lived on the street since 2002.

“This is our front yard … I believe the garden suite program is for homes and people’s gardens that butt onto another garden. And the laneway suite program is on laneways [which] have garages on both sides. We’re not a laneway, and we’re definitely not garden to garden configuration.”

She adds that the narrowness of the street is a major concern.

“We don’t have the same space as the other streets around us. We’re the only narrow, one way street in Toronto that’s 4.5 metres wide,” she says. “[There would be] so much traffic and congestion. Imagine if there were 15 more homes with people living here coming in and out.”

She says homes on Craven Road would also lose a considerable amount of light if a wall of garden suites were built right in front of their doors.

“I rely on the sunlight coming into my room. I’m a registered nurse … my mental health is very, very important. So the having the light come in, having the sky views [is vital],” she says.

On the other hand, Parkmount Road residents say they feel amending the bylaw encroaches on their rights as property owners.

“This zoning bylaw amendment will take away my ability to stay in my community,” says Laurie Poole, who has lived on Parkmount for 22 years.

While Poole doesn’t currently have a garden suite, she says it is important for her to have the option.

“I love the community. We’re 300 meters away from two subway stops, there’s amazing retail on Danforth Avenue, we have Monarch Park, we have a pool, we have pickleball, we have a rink. I don’t want to leave this neighbourhood,” she says. “I want to be able to age in place and there may come a time where I may need some help, my husband and I. So maybe we live in that garden suite and we have some support in our home.”

Fontane Choi and her husband bought their home on Parkmount four years ago specifically with the intention of building a laneway or garden suite.

“We made the decision of purchasing this home for long-term plans … to build a garden suite so that one day our daughter can take our home, we can move into the garden suite,” she says. “Currently with the state of the Toronto real estate market, we’re in an affordable housing crisis right now, I don’t know, in 10 to 20 years, if my daughter can even afford a house of her own.”

Toronto-Danforth ward councillor Paula Fletcher, who brought the motion to amend the bylaw to city council, says Craven Road should never have been included under the purview of the bylaw.

“I’m concerned that Craven Road was misidentified. Garden suite means you’re stuck in a garden and your garden’s next door to somebody else’s garden. That’s not Craven Road. Laneway suite would mean your backyard faces a laneway. That’s not Craven Road. It’s our city street. Very small, only about nine or 10 feet wide. Totally irregular. The only one in the city. Maybe it shouldn’t have been put in that bylaw,” she says. “Sometimes mistakes get made and if that’s the case, then we’ll fix it and if it should be there, then it will stay.”

Fletcher adds that suites in gardens or those backing onto a laneway can be built right up to the edge of the property. That’s not the case when it comes to city streets — they require structures to be set back several feet from the road. If Craven Road is in fact a city street, it would not be legal to build garden or laneway suites backing onto it.

“I think if you went to any street and said, ‘is it okay if they build their home, three stories up on the exact curb,’ people would say ‘no, that’s wrong,'” says Fletcher. “Show me where this bylaw applies to another city road. I don’t really think it does.”

Both Poole and Choi say they were blindsided with the news of a possible amendment to the bylaw. They say they received a flyer in the mail about two weeks ago around the beginning of September, inviting community members to a public consultation on the issue, which was the first they heard of it.

“This was kind of brought on to us last minute. I think that if we were given more time to speak with our neighbours on Craven, if we’re given more time to kind of look into the validity of the concerns that they are being raised that would’ve been more fair,” says Choi. “Right now we’re feeling like we’re having to defend our rights as property owners … with little time for us to even be able to put in the effort to [do so].”

The virtual community consultation will be held on Sept. 19 and residents can weigh in with their thoughts or concerns.

“Following the meeting, it’s going to [Toronto and East York] community council on October 24, where residents again will have the opportunity to present their concerns … so that’s like within like 30, 35 days that we are being presented with something that’s going to significantly impact the quality of our life,” says Poole. “Why isn’t there more planning around this? I understand that when there is an amendment of this scope, that the city planning department gets involved, does an analysis, meets with neighbours and brings recommendations back to city council. We are very disappointed that we haven’t been consulted previously by Councillor Fletcher and her office.”

“The removal of these rights from us as property owners to build garden suites, it’s just going to set a precedent for other communities in Toronto. If it’s going to happen to us. It can very much happen to anybody else in Toronto. And I think everybody should be aware,” says Choi

Following the community council meeting in October, city council will vote on the matter in their November session.