Mayor Rob Burton has offered Ottawa’s housing minister a vague promise that could lead to the right to build four housing units on every residential property in Oakville.
It’s the latest move in ongoing negotiations over Oakville’s application for cash from the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), a $4 billion federal program aiming to speed up the building of new homes across the country.
The town has applied for about $36 million in funding, which would support about 1,200 new residential housing units identified as part of a new housing strategy and action plan.
The feds have been rapidly doling out cash, handing nearly $600 million in housing grants to Toronto and Mississauga in the week before Christmas alone.
But in exchange for federal funds, Sean Fraser, the Trudeau government’s housing minister, has been demanding municipalities eliminate zoning rules that limit certain neighbourhoods to single family homes.
Earlier this fall, he urged Oakville to consider allowing four housing units per lot "as-of-right." That would let homeowners add units like basement or laneway suites, or build triplexes or fourplexes on all lots, without requiring any special rezoning permissions.
In a Dec. 21 letter to Fraser, Burton promised Oakville town staff will "undertake a review to evaluate permissions for four units as-of-right across the town, and determine appropriate regulations for their implementation."
The vague promise comes without a timeline or any guarantee of changes to what is allowed, but it does open the door to adding density to the 'stable established neighbourhoods' that the Livable Oakville plan has always sought to protect.
Read more: Should your neighbour be able to build a fourplex on his property?
Some town councillors are frustrated that they weren’t consulted on Burton’s letter.
Ward 1 councillor Sean O’Meara said it is becoming the disheartening norm for councillors to be seen as obstacles.
"Councillors have ideas and knowledge and should be asked," O’Meara said, in an angry weekend email to the mayor, councillors and senior staff.
"I inquired about this file over a month ago and here we are end of December with the mayor writing a letter that council has had no input on. This is not how a municipality should work."
But the mayor says local politicians will have the final say on any deal to change the town’s planning rules.
"My job, as CEO, is to negotiate as good a deal as I can for the town and council,” he said. "If, as, and when I get an offer from the minister, I’ll put it in front of council."
"I cannot, under anybody’s interpretation of the strong mayor powers, approve it unilaterally, nor would I want to."
Burton also said he wouldn’t use his super mayor powers to force planning changes, as former Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie did.
What difference could four units make?
Thanks to recent provincial legislation, homeowners across Ontario are already allowed up to three units – including basement apartments or backyard suites – on any residential property.
With "barely any uptake" in that provision to add new units, Ward 1 councillor Jonathan McNeice says he doesn’t think four units will provide a silver bullet solution to housing needs.
But, he says, under the right parameters it could be one of many helpful solutions.
"I think the question is, how do we add gentle density to mature and existing neighbourhoods that already have the infrastructure in place for this?"
McNeice suggests the town should first create a gentle density strategy to engage with residents and explore how infill can add a diversity of housing options, more affordability and more support for neighbourhood businesses.
Other councillors say they are opposed to allowing four units per lot, citing concerns about infrastructure capacity and lack of public input.
Ward 3 councillor Janet Haslett-Theall says she doesn’t personally support four units as-of-right but wants a transparent discussion of the issue.
She and fellow Ward 3 councillor Dave Gittings publicly shared Burton’s letter in their recent email newsletter.
"A change of this tremendous significance requires public consultation, thoughtful consideration of infrastructure capacity, mass, scale, and location and council input," wrote Haslett-Theall in an email to Oakville News.
"Now that the mayor has committed us to a staff evaluation of permissions, we as councillors must ensure the public have facts and input."
Growing fast enough
In his letter to Fraser, Burton notes that Oakville was Ontario’s fourth fastest growing municipality last year.
He says that should earn Oakville the right for "a more nuanced agreement," as has been granted in other municipalities across the country.
"Why do we have to agree to four (units as of right) when we’re already doing so much more than anybody else is?"