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From left Paul Murray, John Taylor, Alex Muzanovic, Paul Wirch and Kyle Bentley. Steve Brockstein moderated.
The Central Ontario Housing Summit, hosted by the Durham Region Homebuilders Association, got some useful education on Accessory Dwelling Units from an expert panel composed of Steve Brockstein (Tribute Communities), Kyle Bentley (city of Pickering), Paul Wirch (city of Pickering), John Taylor (town of Whitby), Alex Muzanovic (Muzanovic Design) and Paul Murray (LCM Project Management and General Contracting). ADUs have been top-of-mind as part of the solution to the housing crisis, with provincial and federal government encouraging municipalities to loosen rules around basement apartments and additional outbuildings on urban residential properties. ADUs are viewed positively by urban planners as a way to achieve “gentle densification” – increasing the living space of a given area without dramatically increasing congestion and infrastructure costs.
Key issues that municipalities confront with detached ADUs include offsets from neighbouring property, height restrictions, providing sufficient parking space and ensuring both egress to the street and access for emergency vehicles to the ADU entrance.
Ontario has told municipalities they have to allow up to three dwelling spaces per lot, but Ottawa’s Housing Accelerator Fund offers municipalities funding if they allow up to four. So Whitby said, “Let’s go for the money,” according to Taylor.
Whitby mandates two parking spaces for the principal dwelling unit and an additional space for each ADU. To make this possible for as many as four dwellings on one property, the town reduced the required size of the parking spaces from 5.8 meters wide to 5.25. The overall square footage of a detached ADU is capped at 806. To encourage ADU construction, Whitby returns the building permit and registration fees for projects started within a year of approval, as well as the fees for a curb cutout, should that be necessary. Taylor reported that while almost half of Whitby’s permits last year were for ADUs, very few were for detached units as they are quite expensive to build and owners do not see the return on investment in the value of the home.
Muzanovic addressed design considerations. He pointed out that not every home is a good candidate for an ADU. For basement ADUs, a side door leading straight down to the basement is highly preferable. Parking is a big factor, though Muzanovic noted that Toronto has essentially quit worrying about it, assuming people can take transit. Many of the plans allowable in Toronto are quite different other Ontario jurisdictions.
Muzanovic noted some designs he’s seeing where one floor of a house is one dwelling space and the entire second floor is another. He noted this works best when the arrangement is not owner-tenant but rather more of an equal partnership with shared ownership of the property – for instance, two siblings that want to share the property but have lots of separation.
There can be a lot of challenges to detached ADUs, Muzanovic noted. While there are fairly easy-to-build prefabricated models available, getting utilities back to the unit can be a challenge as they need everything the main house needs.
When adding an ADU to an existing home it’s important to note that it needs continuous fire separation from the other living space. So if the ADU is on the same level and the walls between the spaces only to up to the joists, it’s not enough. Ducting and plumbing may have to be moved. Also, how will both parties have 24/7 access to the electrical and mechanical systems if they are located inside just one of the units? Muzanovic recommends creating a common area for these, if possible. Controlling heating and cooling is another challenge. Muzanovic discussed a solution he saw where the HVAC designer put in a common heated slab along with small split units to provide heat, cooling and fresh air with no fire penetrations upward through the walls. Adding an ADU to an older homes may actually have some advantages, Muzanovic said, because older homes have some grandfathered allowances for fire separation, stair dimensions and ceiling heights.
Murray echoed the sentiment that detached ADUs are frequently too difficult to service and too expensive to be feasible. Making sure there is a walkway to the basement entrance is often overlooked. Using subtrades can be tough, Murray felt, because ADUs are not cookie-cutter projects and each one presents challenges that requires some expertise and creativity. Building walls around furnance rooms with proper fire separation, for instance. Also, it can be hard to get subtrades to show up for smaller, one-off projects. Murray stressed that the ADU is not just another finished basement – it’s a home and needs to be finished as such.
Good ADU design contemplates the fact that they will probably be used by elderly people at some point and should be ready for disabled access with wide enough doors and stairs. Murray thinks it’s a good idea for any new build basement to be “ADU-ready” with direct access to the basement and appropriate ceiling and window heights. Keeping the structural beams flush with the ductwork makes adding and ADU later much easier, too.