New homes on smaller lots, backyard housing on the table as Thunder Bay aims to ease urban sprawl

A proposed overhaul to Thunder Bay's housing bylaws stands to make "a significant change" to stemming urban sprawl.

The public will have its say on the second draft of the northwestern Ontario city's Comprehensive Zoning By-Law at a special council meeting on Tuesday.

The plan would level residential zoning across the city, opening the door for homeowners to subdivide any detached house, build new homes on smaller lots, and even allow for residential housing in backyards. 

The regulations aim to increase the number of "new dwelling units" by 20 per cent over the next 20 years to meet an objective in Thunder Bay's Official Plan.

City director of planning services, Leslie McEachern, said public consultation on the policy over the winter has informed administration's changes to the first draft, which it presented to council in October.

"I think people are encouraged that we're taking things in a new direction that we're looking to support intensification, a more walkable community, a greener community, a community that will be more resilient to climate change, a community that values the protection of its natural environment, and is supportive of businesses," she said. 

Richard Togman is the founder of Rent Panda, a rental property listing website. He estimated properties where owners have developed basement apartments and converted homes into multi-unit rental properties make up 70 per cent of the local rental market.

Togman said he expects expanding that market will make life more affordable, particularly for low-income earners, as those who are unofficially renting portions of their homes will be more likely to properly notify the city.

"Once it's legalized, then everything can essentially come out of the shadows and that people can properly finance, be properly insured, the city can properly assess it for tax purposes," he said. "And we may actually see a bump in taxable revenue just from legalizing all of these formerly illegal apartments."

To accommodate increased density, the plan will decrease the number of parking spaces from 1.5 per home to one per unit. The city's survey showed widespread concerns about tighter on-street parking and challenges to snow removal.

Togman said many renters already don't own cars and the changes could lay the groundwork for improving a pedestrian lifestyle, especially near downtown cores.

"From my perspective, parking is one of those relatively overblown concerns," he said. "One of the big pushes that the city is trying to encourage, and which is really good for everybody, is around walkability. So when you have new homes or housing units going into areas around the downtown core and places like that, part of the idea is that these are more walkable neighborhoods."

The prospect of increased foot traffic in neighbourhoods across the city looks like an opportunity to the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce. Chamber president Charla Robinson has been lobbying the city to nurture mixed-income neighbourhoods since the 2018 municipal election campaign. 

Robinson said the plan's loosened restrictions on commercial development will open up markets in traditionally suburban-styled residential neighbourhoods so that new businesses can respond to nearby needs.