You can’t fight city hall - or a wall

Two backyard disputes in Toronto. Two very different outcomes.

Thestar.com
July 4, 2016
By Royson James

Who doesn’t love a tree house? Who doesn’t hate a wall?

Not nearly everyone, for sure, as backyard disputes in Toronto demonstrate.

We can’t even agree that kids should be allowed to play ball hockey, or some hoops, on their local side street - as natural and community-building exercise as there is. How are we, then, to manage the bylaw-bending instances when one neighbour’s enterprise conflicts with another’s pleasure?

Many have heard about the tree house battle in Swansea, west-end Toronto. A bold father builds a $30,000 elaborate boat tree house for his two sons - complete with hammock, hull, ship’s wheel, captain’s bell and with skill and architecture that anyone would kill for. But it is too tall, covers more of the lot than is allowed by zoning and bylaw restrictions and has raised the ire of the neighbour who says it blocks the sun, impedes the growth of her rose garden and her desire to hang-dry her clothes in the backyard.

“I just was depressed every time I looked at that monster,” the neighbour says, raising eyebrows with all who are romanced by the idea of tree houses everywhere.

The city sides with the neighbour. The kids are heartbroken. The committee of adjustment says the beautiful cedar tree house must go. The homeowner is considering an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board, complete with legal fees and what is bound to be bad feelings, ill will, and anything but neighbourliness.

The other “monstrosity” has gotten far less publicity. And based on the city position with the tree house, one would think city officials would be all over the massive wall that the Greens stare at when they enter their Downsview backyard.

Not so. The wall, which is the back of a garage built by the neighbour that backs onto the Greens’ property, towers massively into the sky. Count at least 24 cinder blocks before you reach the roof. It nearly spans the 40-foot width of the property. It would be a great practice wall for a kid pursuing a tennis career, but as a backdrop to a family home, it is an abomination.

And, apparently, “legal,” despite the Greens’ protestations to the contrary.

Jeff Green is beside himself over this. His parents moved to the home more than 55 years ago. His father has since died. His mom, Dianne, 79, watches his son fight city hall with the vigour and persistence of a bulldog - only to lose every time.

When news of the tree house story broke, Dianne posed in the backyard with a sign, “Save the tree house.” She would gladly switch places with the Swansea neighbours because a tree house beats a cinder block wall anytime.

“If the wall is legal then the tree house must be regal,” the Greens say, channelling Johnnie Cochran of O.J. Simpson trial fame.

“We’ve been treated like dirt. The city makes us to be the bad guys because we don’t give up,” Green says. He’s been to everyone with his case, employed his own engineering study, gone to the city’s ombudsman, city council, three mayors and at the end, left alone, staring the abominable wall.

“If they allow this piece of crap garage to stand, then the city should allow the tree house to stand,” Green says, his mom posing with a “Save the Treehouse” sign in her backyard.

City Councillor Maria Augimeri, whom Green blames for not doing enough, says, unfortunately, the wall is legal, according to Ontario Building Code.

“There are instances when you just want to tear your hair out; this is one of them,” she says. The Greens are “absolutely justified in being angry. It’s the law and it’s very unfair.”

To win, the Greens would have to go to court - an exercise they figure will cost $60,000. So, they suck it up and fume.

In the end, the one thing that endures is the saying, “you can’t fight city hall.”

“I can repeat that saying with a lot of first-hand experience,” Green says. “I thought logic is logic, common sense is common sense. But nothing made a difference to the people in charge because they simply did not want to do anything about it.”