Michael Lewis
Special to Ontario Construction News staff
A sweeping proposal to enhance Toronto’s tree canopy and regulate iceberg homes has been referred back to senior planning staff to study how the new rules would impact infill development, swimming pool construction and the underground footprints of apartment buildings.
Parkdale-High Park councillor and planning and housing committee chair Gord Perks, who brought the referral motion approved at council’s meeting on February 4, said fellow council members told him that the staff report and its proposed official plan amendments require further study.
“Everything in the original report comes back; there is additional work,” Perks told the meeting. He said staff is to report to the committee as soon as possible on issues including how the amendment and proposed zoning changes would “enable” infill including multiplex development.
Staff is to provide more information as well on additional approval processes and costs for swimming pool permit applicants and on the prevalence of permit requests for small apartment buildings with below ground depths greater than their footprints above ground.
The proposal “started out a while back as being about iceberg homes,” Perks said, “but has since grown into trees and pools, and stars and fields and rocks and rainbows, and all kinds of other things.”
And while the proposal is supported by several ratepayers’ groups, builders’ associations said it does not adequately balance the need for home building in Toronto with environmental concerns.
“If the city seeks to encourage the preservation of mature trees, promote high-quality tree planting, and achieve strong built-form outcomes, the policy framework may benefit from the inclusion of additional tools that support practical implementation and economic feasibility,” said one letter to the committee signed by the Building Industry and Land Development Association and the National Real Estate Development Association.
Other letters from builders, pool companies and architects said rules that would limit removal of trees for garden suites and multiplexes discourage housing development as would the proposed reclassification of backyard pools, hot tubs and artificial turf as impermeable surfaces since current city rules say only 50 per cent of backyards can contain hard landscaping.
Builders also objected to a proposal that would lower the threshold for when a permit is required for removal or injury of a healthy tree on private property to 20 from 30 centimetres, which would bring about 373,000 more trees under protection. Proposed rules would strengthen enforcement and increase fines for illegal interference with trees.
City staff noted that 55 per cent of the city’s trees are located on private property, but there are no initiatives that help with the maintenance of mature trees on private land. As such, planning staff propose a dedicated fund to support the care of mature trees on private property identified as distinctive trees, which are more than 61 centimetres in diameter. Qualifying private owners would be eligible for an incentive that would help offset the cost of maintenance.
The proposal would also introduce fees for the removal or damage of trees in ravines to help cover the cost of reviewing and processing permits. Voluntary stewardship projects involving planting native trees, removing invasive species or restoring habitats, would be exempt.
In a bid to expand the city’s green infrastructure and bolster climate resilience, the proposal would also place restrictions on the size of so-called iceberg homes, multi-storey residences that take up more space below ground than above. The housing and planning committee had voted last month to adopt the now-referred motion that would introduce minimum underground building setbacks for low-rise residential buildings, limiting how close they can extend to the property line.
A city report found iceberg-style basements reduce soil health, disrupt plant and tree root systems, and make the ground less permeable to storm water, increasing flood risks in individual and neighbouring properties. The report also said iceberg homes reduce the area to plant new trees and have a high carbon footprint due to the amount of concrete required to build them.
The city says there have been roughly a dozen applications for iceberg homes in Toronto since March 2024.
The staff report and its recommendations: Growing Space for Trees: Protecting and Enhancing the Tree Canopy while Supporting Infill Housing and Addressing Concerns with Iceberg Homes, said infill housing development that is planned and designed to protect and enhance tree canopy and provide soft landscaping for growing space supports resilience to the impacts of climate change, notably urban heat island and stormwater runoff impacts and can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the efficient use of land and resources.
