Opposition builds to mayor’s push for more stacked townhouses

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Community pushback is building as London city councillors prepare to debate proposed sweeping changes to London’s growth blueprint that would allow higher buildings and denser forms of housing across the city.

A bundle of proposed changes to the London Plan, the city’s master planning document that dictates what can be built where in the city, will go to city council for approval at its meeting Tuesday.

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The changes include creating a new “major shopping centre” land designation, creating a transit village in the area of 100 Kellogg Lane that would allow taller buildings, boosting building height limits, and allowing four-storey stacked townhouses on neighbourhood “connector streets,” a designation the city has given to dozens of streets that connect residents to schools and shopping areas.

All of the measures are intended to get more housing built, as the city works toward its provincial goal of building 47,000 new homes by 2031, and to update the seven-year-old London Plan to bring heights and densities more in line with what is feasible for developers and largely approved by council.

Flyers, Facebook warnings, and letters to councillors are circulating as the proposed changes to the London Plan, some added as late as Sept. 6, make their way to city council after being endorsed by the planning and environment committee on Sept. 10. The province also must sign off.

Residents from different London neighbourhoods are speaking out against a proposal, championed by Mayor Josh Morgan, to allow stacked townhouses up to four storeys high on neighbourhood connector streets such as Cheapside Street, Base Line Road and Talbot Street. The current limit is three storeys, and they are already allowed along major roads and at connector street corners.

Regarded by some as the new starter home, the one- or two-storey units are stacked atop each other in multi-unit developments.

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“The stacked townhouse model is a step too far,” Tom and Deborah Albrecht write in a letter to city councillors included in the meeting agenda. “This type of housing is too dense for existing single-family neighbourhoods and will negatively impact their current character and ambience.”

The letter is one of 54 city council has received about the proposed changes.

The common critique is the widespread changes did not have enough public notice or explanation of what they entail. Though city staff had recommended a boost to height limits on connectors from three storeys to four, stacked townhouses were an addition by Morgan at the planning and environment committee meeting on Sept. 10.

Pitched by Morgan and development groups as an easier and more affordable build, stacked townhouses could help boost the supply of homes within reach of more buyers, supporters say.

Though members of the planning and environment committee voted unanimously to endorse the changes, some speakers at the meeting, including Coun. Sam Trosow who is not a member of the committee, were critical of the speed with which the proposed changes are progressing through the approval mill and the way they are being explained to residents.

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Trosow said during the meeting he believes the city had a “disconnect” communicating the proposed new rules to the public.

“With all due respect, I’m going to call it planner-ese … but there is a certain shorthand that when these notices come out, people don’t understand them.”

In a Facebook post Saturday advising residents of the changes, Ward 7 Coun. Corrine Rahman said the city needs to do more consultation about the proposed height and stacked townhouse changes on neighbourhood connectors. She is promising a motion to remove both proposed changes.

Rahman points to the Foxfield neighbourhood in her ward, where she said the addition of four-storey stacked townhouses would increase density in a neighbourhood that does not have any transit service.

“Most people don’t know their street classification and probably haven’t thought about what these changes could mean,” she wrote. “Allowing time for engagement will not impact our housing accelerator funding, so we have time to make this decision.”

The federal government announced a $4 billion housing accelerator fund in 2023. London was the first municipality in Canada to receive funding when it landed $74 million to build more than 2,000 housing units and support its new homelessness system in exchange for loosening zoning restrictions.

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Trosow and Rahman did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Updated proposed changes to official plan, zoning bylaws

• Downtown: 45-storey limit, up from current 35 storeys
• Transit villages: 35 storeys, up from 22 and 30 storeys recommended by staff
• Rapid transit corridors: 25 storeys everywhere, from 16 within 150 metres of transit stations and 12 elsewhere on corridors
• Urban corridors: 15 storeys, up from 10
• Shopping areas:
  • Major (new): 15 storeys
  • Community: Eight storeys, up from six
• Main Streets: Eight storeys, up from six
• Neighbourhoods:
  • Major streets: Eight storeys, up from six
  • Connectors: Four storeys, up from three

jmoulton@postmedia.com

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