General Suburban Updates and Rumours

[ijmorlan]

Well, yes, I can clearly see on Google Maps that these houses have backyards that make the sideyard negligible. The value judgement of a sideyard vs larger home is up to the market to decide (unless zoning is preventing this from happening).

Yes, zoning is most likely preventing this from happening.

There are separate zones for detached, semi-detached, and townhouses. Actually that is an oversimplification but it is enough for my point. I once read of a zone-change application for a townhouse complex. I think it was for the small townhouse development at Weber and East. The site was zoned for townhouses; in order to build the 2-unit block right at the intersection, they had to get a zoning amendment to permit semi-detached. Outrageous. As if the city planners know better than the property owner whether there should be spaces between the units. This was an especially stupid example, but I don’t think it’s anybody’s business whether a property owner builds detached or townhouses (or indeed anything up to a small apartment building, but there might actually be something to discuss on this last point).

Additionally there are front, rear, and side yard setbacks which vary by zone. They are basically arbitrary, don’t accommodate local conditions (you need a zoning amendment for that — very expensive, although to be fair my sense is that small adjustments are relatively easy to get, even if they still drive up the cost of construction), and cannot be waived by the adjacent property owner. What I mean by this is, I think there is something to the idea that my immediate neighbour can’t build right on our common property line; if the area was built as detached, then part of the assumption is that in addition to my backyard, I get to enjoy the light and breeze which comes through the space above my neighbour’s backyard. But if my neighbour and I come to an agreement, how is it the business of anybody else? And in particular, if I own two adjacent properties, I should be able to waive their setbacks against each other and build a semi-detached.

One more comment about common walls: we need better standards for these. There should be a standard to which they can be built which actually does in fact eliminate sound transmission entirely (probably by actually building the two buildings separately so there is an air gap, then closing in the sides and top so airflow doesn’t remove heat from the combined block); then townhouse and apartment developers could advertise this and people could be confident that they don’t have to worry about hearing their neighbours through the walls.