With the Changing Lanes by-law now adopted and in full affect, the Lanescape team is continuing to work closely with homeowners and industry professionals to navigate its nuances, bringing this exciting new housing typology to a reality.
On October 30th, we held our inaugural Laneway Suite workshop, hosting a wide array of attendees including homeowners, realtors, design professionals, and builders. The workshop proved to be a perfect platform to share our experience in the by-law’s development, educate homeowners and professionals on how to assess properties for compliance with the bylaws, and answer questions about specific projects that are under way. We as a team were also delighted to see first hand how the new policy has resonated with and excited such a diverse group of passionate laneway housing enthusiasts.
The hour-long session kicked-off with a history of laneway housing in Toronto and an overview of the new by-law, its reasonings and key planning goals. As leading advocates throughout its development, we were also able to shed light on other unknown factors including property taxes, municipal servicing, fire fighting access, associated development charges and parking requirements (or lack thereof). Our team is proactively wading through the unknowns and facing uncertainties head-on to inform our workshop, design and construction services through perseverance and precedent.
From the outset, our Workshop’s mission has been to transcend the idea of a typical information session by offering an interactive discussion and education session – providing the tools and knowledge base to assess properties to determine conformance with the by-laws – reminiscent of the age-old “teach a man to fish” proverb. The beauty of our profession is that no two clients, sites or designs are ever the same, and ironically, that’s where the value in the workshop truly seems to reside. We were pleased to hear the different situations and challenges presented by our attendees and to offer solutions and advice to each of their queries. We thrive on getting to the bottom of each inquiry and constantly evolving our repertoire of information. We also take any unresolved or unreasonable issues directly to the Planning Department to get resolution, and make sure the policy will be appropriately improved.
We are excited to organize more sessions and spread the good word! We are hosting a second workshop on November 28th, 2018 from 7:00-8:00pm at 140 Yonge Street for a cost of $250/person. For attendees who would like to proceed with one of our Preliminary Assessments, the $250 workshop fee will be discounted from the assessment cost.
For those whom are registered with the Ontario Association of Architects, we are also offering certificates toward structured hours for the OAA Continuing Education Program.
For additional information or to register, please send us an email at info@lanescape.ca including the name, phone number and email address of those interested in attending.
We look forward to seeing you on the 28th!