Getting a basement or garage apartment in The Blue Mountains is about to get a lot easier.
The Town of The Blue Mountains is proposing a town-wide amendment to its zoning bylaw to allow property owners to add extra residential units to their homes.
The town is making the change to bring town policies into alignment with new provincial requirements in Bill 23. The amendment, if approved by council, would allow up to three total residential units in a single home.
A homeowner would have the option to have three units in the main building on the property, or two units in the main building and one in an accessory structure such as a garage.
“This is an exciting one for me. It’s something fun to work on,” town planner Carter Triana told council. “It’s an opportunity to provide our residents with flexibility.”
On March 12, a public meeting on the concept generated zero public comments or opposition to the plan. The amendment would loosen town planning regulations that currently restrict accessory residential units. Triana told council that interest in accessory units in the community has been growing in recent years. In 2022 the town has six variance requests for accessory units, eight requests in 2023 and four so far in 2024.
However, current town policies limit the growth of accessory units. As an example, Triana said the town’s 4.5 metre height restriction on garages made the concept of a garage apartment difficult to tackle.
“It’s a major issue to build one on top of a garage. As it stands, it’s nearly impossible to do that,” he said.
The proposed zoning changes would increase the height restriction to eight metres, opening up the possibility of apartments above garages.
Some town planning regulations would be maintained including: those dwelling in the home and the additional units would have to share a driveway, minimum distance separations would still be maintained, separate accessory structures must be within 50 metres of the primary residence and the units are not allowed to be used as short term accommodations.
The proposed amendment would also clarify definitions of accessory units, eliminate a limitation on the number of bedrooms in a unit, reduce parking requirements and loosen up setback and lot coverage requirements.
Council made no decision on the matter at the meeting, a follow-up report with a recommendation will come to a future committee of the whole meeting.
