Councillors deny cottage expansion for Rogers family
MURPHY.
‘This is a complete and flagrant abuse of our bylaws’ — Mayor Alice Murphy
MUSKOKA - A drop ceiling used to reduce a full basement to a six-foot height, and therefore not count as habitable space according to the township of Muskoka Lakes zoning bylaws, cannot now be removed, ruled the committee of the whole last week.
Construction of the single-storey 6,575-square-foot cottage on Tobin Island, Lake Rosseau, was approved last year, replacing a smaller pre-existing dwelling. The 41-acre property has multiple owners, including members of the Rogers family, owners of Rogers Communications, a leading provider of wireless, digital cable TV, high-speed Internet and home phone services.
The building permit allowed the large single-storey cottage to have 6,575 square feet of living space on the main floor with a below-grade garage and six-foot high ceilings in most of the rest of the basement to keep the building under the maximum permitted habitable floor area of 7,500 square feet.
However, councillors learned last week that the cottage, which is presently under construction, was built with a nine-foot basement and utilized three-foot drop ceilings to bring the ceiling height down, a construction method permitted under the current zoning bylaw.
Mid-construction, the applicants have now changed their minds and want to finish the basement space by removing the drop ceilings, thereby adding 6,668 sq. ft. to the dwelling. That would bring the total to 13,243 sq. ft., a far cry from the 7,500 habitable floor space permitted under the bylaw.
Planscape’s Greg Corbett represented the applicants and explained they disagreed with what should be considered habitable floor space.
Currently the township’s definition of habitable floor area is “the total area of all storeys contained within the exterior walls of a building, including a basement where floor to ceiling height is greater than six feet, but excluding any attached garage, private garage, open porch verandas, attic and sundeck.”
The applicants asked for the definition to be amended to also exclude mechanical rooms, storage spaces, laundry room, fridge/freezer room and recreational space, which would reduce the countable dwelling size from 13,243 sq. ft. to 7,737 sq. ft., just 237 sq. ft. over the bylaw.
The argument was that these rooms are not designed for living, sleeping, eating or food preparation, as required under the definition. A proposed 1,162-sq.-ft. staff suite would be the only addition to the basement that would be considered habitable space.
Township staff disagreed, saying a laundry room and recreational space are commonly included as living space when determining habitable floor area and a fridge/freezer room is used in food preparation.
Admittedly, some of the recreational area was debatable, said Township of Muskoka Lakes senior planner David Pink, as its primary purpose was proposed as an indoor ball hockey court that could conceivably be placed outdoors where it would not count as habitable space. However, staff was reluctant to exclude it as it could be easily converted to more conventional living space in the future.
Even if mechanical rooms, storage space and the 1,056-sq.-ft. indoor ball hockey court were excluded from the definition, the proposed dwelling size would still come in at 10,019 sq. ft. However, Corbett insisted the extra square footage would not make a noticeable difference on the property.
“As indicated in the staff report, the whole purpose of the restriction on dwelling size is threefold,” said Corbett. “It’s to control the visual impact, the intensity of use on the waterfront, and also to maintain the character. I would suggest … that this would satisfy all three of those tests on this property.”
Finishing the basement will make no impact visually on the exterior of the structure, which is already well buffered from the shoreline area, set back 138 feet and using a green roof to blend in, argued Corbett. At 41 acres and over 1,700 feet of shoreline, the lot coverage is only three per cent, far below the 10 per cent permitted by the township’s waterfront density bylaws.
Finally, with regard to character, Corbett said allowing the basement to be finished would allow more of the remainder of the property to remain in its natural state, as further buildings would not be needed on the property.
Although the township’s bylaws allow only one dwelling and one sleeping cabin per property, the Rogers property already had three pre-existing and therefore legal, non-complying dwellings and four sleeping cabins. Council allowed one of the pre-existing dwellings to be torn down last year, to be replaced with the larger cottage now at issue. However, at 41 acres, Pink conceded the property technically could be subdivided into seven lots with seven dwellings and seven sleeping cabins that could total more than 58,000 sq. ft. within 200 feet of the waterfront, if developed.
“It’s really not going to change the built form of the building,” said Coun. Don Furniss, who felt they should allow the finished basement in exchange for restrictions on the future development of the property.
“I feel like it’s a threat that I’m being told, ‘Well, this property could be subdivided,’” argued Coun. Ruth-Ellen Nishikawa. “We would definitely be sending the wrong message to allow this additional square footage.”
“This is a complete and flagrant abuse of our bylaws,” agreed Mayor Alice Murphy. “The precedent and the road that we will go down will be endless and relentless in terms of micromanaging what is habitable space.”
However, other councillors also felt with no change in the building’s footprint, the extra floor space should be allowed.
“The basement, nobody even knows it’s there,” said Coun. Allen Edwards. “If they wanted to they could put a six-foot ceiling in … and afterwards take it out. At least they have the decency to come and ask for what they want rather than trying to sneak it in afterwards.”
“The reality is that it is grossly out of line with our zoning bylaw and if we feel that we want to have larger, lower, longer buildings, then we need to address that bylaw,” said Murphy. “We’re putting, from my perspective, the cart in front of the horse.”
In a close vote that was essentially split down the middle, the decision to allow the finished basement to proceed was denied.
With the township zoning bylaws currently under review, director of planning Steve Fahner suggested the issue of drop ceilings might be something councillors would want to change for the future.
“That’s been a challenge for staff in the past and whether that should be ceiling height or should be height to the joist, for example, that might be something to consider,” said Fahner. “So that we don’t get these drop ceilings and thinking of what happens after the inspector leaves.”