New rules that allow “coach houses” in Ottawa were approved by Planning Committee this morning. Though not necessarily the most contentious issue with which Council has dealt this term, there was nonetheless some significant discomfort in some quarters about the implications of the new rules in urban communities, and I wanted to take this opportunity to address why I voted in favour of the proposal.
In short, “coach houses” are small homes that would be permitted to be built in the rear yards of existing houses. Cities in Ontario are under order from Queen’s Park to develop a planning framework that permits these, part of the toolkit the Province is using to address affordable housing.
Staff proposed, and Committee accepted, modifications to the zoning by-law that would allow coach houses under certain conditions, the most important of these being that they cannot exceed 40% of the yard, have a footprint greater than 80 square metres, and can’t be more than one storey in the urban area. The land on which they sit can’t be severed from the rest of the lot, and the units must be serviced from the primary dwelling.
