Second suites bylaw needs 'more work', says Markham councillor

Yorkregion.com
May 26, 2016
By Amanda Persico

A push to create a special task force to deal with second suites and rooming houses in Markham failed at city council.

Recently, councillors voted down a proposal to establish a special sub-committee to establish a citywide second suites and rental unit policy - overturning a decision made at a recent committee meeting.

Instead, issues about rooming houses, second suites, student housing and rental units will continue to come before development services committee.

Deputy mayor and Regional Councillor Jack Heath argued this complex area of bylaws and zoning issues requires more dedicated time to sort out than allotted in regular committee meetings.

Other councillors also expressed concern the issue would be bounced around from one packed agenda to another. Also, work on the issue would not continue through the summer break, losing valuable time.

“This requires a lot more work,” said Heath, who pushed for a separate sub-committee with all 13 members of council similar to the city’s York University campus sub-committee.

“And it’s detail work. There is a huge learning curve,” he said. “This is important to all of us.”

Earlier this year, the province asked municipalities to look at zoning and bylaw policies in an effort to create more affordable housing.

At the same time, the city is going through a comprehensive bylaw and zoning review for all of its bylaws.

The review, which started last year, will look at bylaw redundancies and establish citywide bylaws with exceptions, instead of a collection of patchwork bylaws for one area and another dealing with the same issue.

Shortly after the province made its request, Markham opted to expedite its bylaw review for rental units, rooming houses and second suites.

With York U. on the horizon, the city needs a plan and policy for rooming house and rental units sooner rather than later.

It’s a growing area of concern, especially since there are many rooming houses the city is unaware of.

“Just because we don’t know of them doesn’t mean they don’t exist,” Heath said.

Markham’s university campus is set to open for the 2020-21 school year and about 1,000 students are expected to attend the campus the first year.

Currently, less than 10 per cent of York U. students at the Keele Street campus are housed on site.

In previous committee meetings, York U. has expressed interest in working with the city and with developers to create special student zoning areas to build student housing.

Markham’s rental unit and second suite strategy dates back to an earlier task force that started in 1999 and another task force in 2007 that continued to work on recommendations to 2009 - the last time Markham looked at a citywide second suite policy.