Zoning bylaw regulates summit property ratio

The stated object of a draft bylaw, adopted at council's March 2 meeting, is to amend existing regulations in the R1 zone, by introducing a maximal floor area ratio (FAR) for above-ground construction.

The minimal lateral setback requirement would also be modified to be equal to 35 per cent of the width of the lot, for lots with a frontage larger than 75 feet. Below-grade construction would be forbidden in minimum required open space in side and rear yards, with the exception of basement accesses and window wells. "This is now being done in cities not only all over the island of Montreal, but all over North America and in Europe," said Mayor Karin Marks. "We found that in some cases where we advanced the building line to allow some land to be built on, by the time it was built on — especially if it was on a slope — we ended up with homes that were much larger than their neighbours, and not fitting into the streetscape," said Councillor Cynthia Lulham, who chairs council's Urban Planning Committee.

Lulham emphasized that the goal of the amendments is "not to force people to have small houses, but to make houses that match the size of their land."

A second related issue involves the topography of the mountain. "Everybody wants to flatten their slope, and so we were finding that the mountain was being dug out," she said. "Because we only counted what was above ground, if you were building a house, half of it was buried and the other half was out. What you were able to do before was to build to your property lines underground, and in many cases this is what was being done, particularly on the slope. We were having large garages and exercise rooms built underground, but they weren't counted in the volume of the house. So the FAR introduces that. It still allows you to build underground — but the more you build underground, the less you can build overground."

The proposed amendments will be the subject of a public meeting on Monday, March 23 at 7 p.m. at city hall.