OMB hearing postponed for revisions to Glengrove plan
The owner of a proposed three-storey, flat-roofed house at 271 Glengrove Ave. W. has postponed a hearing at the Ontario Municipal Board to revise his application to better reflect his future neighbourhood’s concerns.
The hearing had been scheduled for Nov. 23 but city council voted on Nov. 3 to oppose the application.
“When we realized the city was getting involved to the extent they are, we felt that we had to modify our proposal,” owner Steve Starkman told the Town Crier. “It’s unfortunate that we have to do so, but if it’s going to make our road to completion a little more palatable and easy for us, we decided we should do it.”
Starkman’s proposal was first brought to city council by neighbour Rocco Maragna, an architect who has lived in the neighbourhood for more than 27 years. Maragna said the variances requested would set an excessive new precedent for height in the area.
“Every property in this area has gone to the committee of adjustment for minor variances … but they were all in keeping with the character of the street — sloping roofs and domestic architecture,” Maragna said.
“If a three-storey building with a slab roof is allowed, that basically means that in the future somebody else is going to put up a three-storey building with a sloping roof and end up with a three and a half storey building, instead of the current maximum two and a half,” he said. “The issue here is one of scale, height, and impact on the neighbours. It’s basically too big and too tall.”
A June report from the Committee of Adjustment noted the maximum height for a flat-roofed building under Toronto’s residential detached zone guidelines is 7.2 metres, while Starkman’s proposal was for 9.68 metres. The same report, which rejected Starkman’s variance request, also mentioned that the maximum number of storeys permitted under the guidelines is two.
However, the guidelines also state that if a building lot is “in an area with no numerical value following the letters ‘HT’ on the Height Overlay Map” (a 2010 height overlay map places Glengrove Avenue in zone “50L-22”), the maximum permitted height of a detached residential home is 10 metres. Starkman appealed the rejection to the OMB.
He also noted the bylaw limiting the height of flat-roofed houses has only been in place since May 2013, and is itself being appealed to the OMB.
“If I were a betting man, and I’m not, I would think that they will be successful, because throughout the city there are countless examples of houses such as the one I wish to build,” he said.
A builder by trade, Starkman has several practical reasons for requesting a flat-roofed house: He doesn’t want a basement because of the area’s excessive groundwater; his parents are handicapped and require a ground-floor entrance; and he’d like room for a two-car garage.
“Most people in the neighbourhood who are building new homes have integrated two-car garages in three-storey liveable houses,” he said. “The fact that mine is not going to have a pitched roof is, in my opinion, not a significant factor.”
Moreover, Starkman said, there are plenty of examples of pitched-roof houses that tower over their neighbours, such as 269 Glengrove Ave. W., which he notes is 32 centimetres higher than his own proposal.
Independently, Maragna mentioned 269 Glengrove Ave. W. as well, saying the neighbourhood would have no problem if Starkman’s proposal were similar.
“Basically two floors, plus the attic,” he said. “That would stay more or less within the confines of the latest development proposals and I would have no difficulty with that.”