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ARTICLE · 11 JANUARY 2022

City Of Toronto Introduces Garden Suites

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In our previous bulletin we discussed key benefits and challenges of laneway housing in Canada, focusing on their growth in popularity in the City of Toronto (the "City").

CanadaReal Estate and Construction
Kailey Sutton
Kailey Sutton
Alex Bruvels
Alex Bruvels
Madeline Klimek (Student-at-Law)
Madeline Klimek (Student-at-Law)
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In our previous bulletin we discussed key benefits and challenges of laneway housing in Canada, focusing on their growth in popularity in the City of Toronto (the "City"). In addition to laneway housing, the City has now started the process to permit landowners to construct "garden suites" in areas designated as "Neighbourhoods" under the City's Official Plan ("OP"),1 providing further opportunity for increasing the City's limited housing supply.

Recently, the City initiated the process to amend its OP and Zoning By-Law 569-2013 to allow garden suites to be built on Neighbourhood-designated lands. The draft OP Amendment ("OPA 554") is found here, and the draft Zoning By-law Amendment ("ZBA") is found here. A garden suite is generally a smaller detached structure and separate rental housing unit located in the backyard of a residential lot, and is defined in draft OPA 554 as:

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The foregoing provides only an overview and does not constitute legal advice. Readers are cautioned against making any decisions based on this material alone. Rather, specific legal advice should be obtained.

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