Accessory Dwelling Units in North York - Design, Permits, Construction

North York's 1950s-60s bungalow belt around Willowdale and Don Mills gives us the deepest rear yards inside Toronto's boundary - 120 ft lots where a 700 sq ft garden suite still leaves usable green space. Almost none of these lots have a laneway, which is why nearly every North York project we build is a garden suite rather than a laneway house. Falls under the City of Toronto garden suite by-law; North York's post-war lots rarely have laneways, so garden suites (not laneway suites) are the usual permitted form.

Deep post-war bungalow lots, commonly 50 ft × 120 ft, with rear yards large enough for a detached garden suite plus the required 1.5 m separation. North York sees 133 cm of snow and -4.2°C winter averages.

Four physical forms are available on a North York lot - detached garden suite or laneway house, an internal basement or upper-floor suite, a garage conversion, and a factory-built module - and the lot itself, not preference, usually decides which two are realistic. We run a feasibility overlay on the parcel first - zoning envelope, servicing capacity, rear-yard access - and only then price the two forms that survive it. Bill 23 permits up to three residential units as-of-right on most serviced North York lots, which removes the rezoning application from the default path.