County of Brant Council considered a zoning by-law amendment to examine permitting four residential units (as-of-right) in fully serviced areas during the regular Council meeting on Tuesday, February 11, 2025.
Brandon Kortleve, the County’s Manager of Policy Planning, explained that by approving the zoning by-law amendment, it will allow the County to qualify for the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF)- Direct Delivery Stream funding.
The CHIF is a six-billion dollar initiative that supports infrastructure projects such as water, stormwater, wastewater and solid waste systems, all of which enable housing construction.
The Direct Delivery Stream, which provides one-billion dollars over eight years, provides direct funds to municipalities and Indigenous communities for local projects. If a municipality is rewarded the CHIF, it can contribute up to 40 per cent of total eligible project costs (to a max of $100-million)
Kortleve’s report said that if the County receives the funding, it could help support infrastructure upgrades in Paris (Water Pollution Control Plant expansion) and St. George (Water Treatment Plant), both of which would support new housing developments and address capacity issues).
As County staff are considering applying for the grant to help fund one of the projects, it’s important to note that according to Kortleve’s report, in order to be eligible for funding, municipalities with over 30,000 residents have to commit to zoning that permits four residential units as-of-right in fully serviced areas.
Back in 2020, the County of Brant established zoning regulations for additional residential units (ARUs). The ARUs are considered a form of gentle density and are ideal for older neighbourhoods with larger lots and frontages.
In 2022 the provincial government introduced as-of-right permissions for up to three residential units (on fully serviced lots), providing that they meet local zoning standards.
Around a year later, in October 2023, Council discussed a resolution for expanded housing options and the resolution directed staff to implement flexible housing policies and increase housing options in the County of Brant.
The direction has since been incorporated into the County’s official plan and will be integrated into its new Community Planning Permit System. Kortleve’s report noted that moving forward with four units as-of-right in fully serviced settlement areas aligns with the policy direction and could allow for property owners to build on unused lots more efficiently.
“Zoning permissions for a fourth unit would be structured similarly to the current accessory residential unit (ARU) regulations, providing flexibility while maintaining safeguards to mitigate any negative impacts,” read Kortleve’s report. “Notably, this would not require changes to building height, setbacks, lot coverage, or parking requirements. Current ARU zoning has proven effective in managing infill density, and staff do not anticipate significant challenges with expanding to four units in serviced areas.”
After Kortleve presented the information to Council, Councillor Steve Howes took the opportunity to clarify a few points.
“If there’s a vacant lot of sufficient size in some neighbourhood within the county that has appropriate servicing, and someone goes to build a fourplex in there, is that still an ARU? I’m trying to just understand the bridge between four as-of-right units, and an ARUs,” asked Howes.
Kortleve said there will need to be discussions around how they clearly differentiate the two.
“With respect to how ARUs are specifically defined at the provincial level, within the service areas, …you have your principal unit on a property and two optional additional residential units. So, when you look at the additional residential unit framework, the maximum is three units. That fourth unit that we’re talking about here, as-of-right, sits outside of that. At a staff level, there will need to be conversations about how we can kind of clearly differentiate those things.”
“…It’s all a matter of semantics, but there’s some educational work to be done there and some conversations to be had on financial aspects, and anything we can come up with, we’ll try and make as clear as possible to the public,” added Kortleve. “It doesn’t help that it’s coming from different levels of government with the regulations and rules, but at the municipal level, we will try our very best to make sure that whatever the typologies end up being, they’re very clear to the public.”
The vote to receive the information was then carried on a vote 9-1, noting the Councillor John Peirce was not present.
Moving forwards, a detailed analysis will be done to identify local provisions to maintain responsible infill growth. As well, County staff will be engaging the public in Q2 as part of the Housing Needs Assessment project. The project will provide an opportunity to collect input on what four units as-of-right would look like at the local level.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
