A Weston homeowner wants to split his large lot and build two houses. Many of his neighbours want to stop him
A development proposal to knock down an old house and put up two new ones is part of a larger conflict between heritage and intensification.

 

Thestar.com
Alex McKeen
Nov. 17, 2017

Alino Lopes thought the lot he bought in Weston could be a place for him and his daughter to live side by side.

Instead, they're finding the aging house they're hoping to tear down and replace with two new ones is becoming the centre of a conflict between those who want to preserve the neighbourhood's eclectic character, and provincial plans that favour intensification.

“I’m not doing anything modern, square. I’m doing the old fashioned style,” Lopes told the Star. “I’ve talked to my neighbours, I’ve explained what I’m doing and the architect says it seems very good.” The lot he wants to sever is 16.15 metres wide, or 53 feet.

The application hasn’t yet been considered by the committee of adjustment — the group of residents appointed by city council to assess applications for building projects that diverge from what is allowed in city bylaws.

Even so, the proposal has garnered the attention of the Weston Historical Society, the group of residents who have spent more than a decade fighting to make the area a heritage conservation district.

“The concern is the city really seems to be bent on intensification,” said Cherri Hurst, president of the Weston Historical Society & Conservation District. “I’m trying to find out if that’s going to trump conservation districts.”

“The whole idea (of a conservation district) is not to stifle people or anything,” she said, but to make sure that the development happening in the neighbourhood is consistent with Weston’s character.

Hurst was one of the original proponents of a Weston conservation district in 2004, an idea that neighbours formed in response to a development proposal on Fern Ave. that Hurst called “destructive.”

A small section on the west side of the neighbourhood was declared a heritage conservation district by the city two years later, placing additional restrictions on what can be built or demolished within the district boundaries.

Now the group is trying to broaden the boundaries to include what they call “phase two,” an area that includes Lopes’s property on John St.

“We’re asking for developers and people not just to look at the surface of things, to realize that just because a house has a bad roof or looks bad doesn't mean it’s not savable,” Hurst said.

There are 24 heritage conservation districts in the city of Toronto, and 37 nominated areas. Of the 37, 11 have been authorized for planning by city council, and 13 are under study.

Weston’s “phase two” is one of the 17 nominated areas that has been nominated but isn’t under study.

The purpose of a district is to “ensure that the significance and character of areas with cultural heritage value are protected and conserved in the long term,” the city’s website says. To do this the districts come up with plans that must be taken into account by the city when development proposals come in.

“Heritage conservation districts are often a really good mechanism for addressing development in residential neighbourhoods,” said Michael McClelland, the founding principal of ERA Architects, who specializes in heritage planning.

“If they’re done poorly or if the objectives aren’t clear it’s very possible they can be used by the (not-in-my-backyard) community or by the city’s own policy people to discourage development,” McClelland said.

The key, he said, is to make sure that a district implements restrictions on development only in furtherance of heritage aims, and leaves room for intensification strategies and community renewal.

Hurst believes heritage designation can also be a way to increase property values and improve community safety.

Amber Stewart, the lawyer who submitted Lopes’s application to the committee of adjustment, said she wasn’t surprised to learn that some residents had reservations about the proposal.

Based on her preliminary examination of surrounding properties, Stewart estimated that the two severed lots at 135 John St., if approved, wouldn’t be the smallest lots in the area. The proposal is in the early stages, she said, and they’re open to feedback on heritage and design issues that may arise.

The first thing we have to keep in mind is there's an important provincial direction to encourage intensification even at a smaller scale like this, Stewart said.

Even though discussions about intensification usually centre on highrise developments, Stewart said, small scale proposals like Lopes’s could help accommodate more people without drastically changing the fabric of a neighbourhood.

“In my view we need to become more open to accepting these opportunities when they come into neighbourhoods,” she said.

Some Weston residents agree. Jacob Berkenblit, a real estate sales representative who’s lived in the neighbourhood since 2014, said development can breed positive growth.

“From a real estate perspective, when building is going on in your neighbourhood that’s called renewal,” he said.

Councillor Frances Nunziata, who represents Ward 11 where Weston is located, said she plans to hold a community meeting about Lopes’s application.

She predicts residents will show up to oppose the application at the committee of adjustment, like they did for a similar application in 2016, also on John St.

That application was rejected by the committee, and went to the Ontario Municipal Board, which hasn’t yet released a decision on the application.

Nunziata’s own view is that intensification should steer clear of the single family dwelling neighbourhood.

“I agree (we need) more development in the area on the main street and that’s what I’m focusing on,” she said. “But not in the Weston village.”

Dave Bennett was one of the residents who showed up to the committee of adjustment in 2016. He’s also the past president of the Weston Heritage Conservation District, and a current board member.

He is worried that if the city allows one such severance, that’ll open the floodgates for more development to come into the area.

“We don’t want that,” he said. “Once you start to bend the law well now you’ve got this wet noodle.”

A hearing date for severance application has not yet been set. A city spokesperson said the application is currently under review by staff, and that they will comment on it next week.