Builders face red tape on projects meant to ease housing woes

by John Lorinc

The shed and pergola added to the back of Blair Scorgie's home in Toronto's Danforth area. The rear of the 15-foot lot backs onto a laneway. When he applied for a building permit, however, he learned that while garages are allowed to abut the property line, sheds need to be set back by a foot, which proved to be an issue on a narrow lot where the building code also regulates the width of the parking pad.

On paper, the project looks like precisely the kind of housing Toronto city officials and councillors say they want more of. Eight fairly spacious two- and three-bedroom rental apartments on three floors, plus two more laneway suites, shoehorned onto an infill site within easy walking distance of a pair of subway stops, schools, shops, health care facilities, et cetera.

In short, a veritable hub in the wheel that is the 15-minute city.

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