KENILWORTH – Owners of an Arthur property hope to split their lot in two and build a detached home on each half.
At a public meeting about a bylaw amendment to accommodate the plan on July 14, no members of the public spoke for or against the application.
No councillors had comments or questions about it either, but Mayor Andy Lennox said he finds it “very hard to be supportive” of the plan.
It would involve rezoning the lot from low-density residential to medium-density residential and amending the bylaw to permit reduced lot area and reduced lot frontage.
Rob Russell identified himself during the public meeting as an “authorized agent and registered professional planner for the owners of the property” at 341 Smith St. in Arthur.
He said the owners initially submitted a minor variance application for the proposed project, and “we certainly heard comments from council … that maybe we were asking for too much and that perhaps a zoning bylaw (amendment) would be a better venue than the minor variance.”
Since then, Russell said they have revised the application and can now comply with sideyard setbacks, coverage, and front- and rear-yard setbacks.
“The only issue is the lot width, or the lot frontage,” he said, noting that while the minium lot size for a single detached home is currently 12 metres, the owner is proposing a 9.1m frontage.
He said this lot width is “fairly common in more built-up areas closer to the GTA.
“These 9.1-metre lots are something new to the town but they are not something new to … urban centres within the rural landscape of Ontario,” Russell added.
“This is a primary urban area – this is where growth and intensification is supposed to happen.”
Russell said the detached homes on small lots offer something that is not otherwise available: something between a townhouse and a single detached home on a larger lot “that will appeal to a different market segment – people who still want their yards, people who still want their own private lot, don’t want to deal with the condo board but they might not be able to afford those 12- and 15-metre lots.”
Lennox expressed concern that the reduced lot width will not provide enough space for snow storage in the front yard, “especially on a street like Smith Street.”
The mayor said he “would be way more supportive of a semi-detached in this location rather than two single detached.”
Russell noted the landscaped area takes up more than half of the lot frontage, with only a single car driveway of snow to be shoveled.
Lennox also called it “troubling” that earlier applications on the property apparently included “a single detached as opposed to two single detached.”
Russell said, “I’m not sure where the miscommunication or the break happened but certainly everything we provided staff has always suggested we’re looking at two single detached here.”
He added, “we’ll take these comments back, we’ll discuss with staff and the client, and we’ll see what comes forth.”
