City of Ottawa set to permit smaller, second units (coach houses) in yards – Oct. 1, 2016 CBC article

An Oct. 1, 2016 CBC article is entitled: “The coach house rules: city set to permit small homes in yards: City has long had zoning for apartments within existing homes, but not for smaller, second units.”

The opening paragraphs read:

Ottawa home owners will soon be allowed to build coach houses in their yards, if new rules presented by city staff are adopted by council later this month.

“The idea of the coach houses is to allow for a gradual and discreet kind of intensification, particularly in lower-density neighbourhoods that might have originally been built as nothing but single, detached houses,” said Tim Moerman, the city planner leading the file.

The City of Ottawa has long had zoning to allow for apartments within existing homes, but not for smaller, second units in people’s yards.

Now, it’s had to come up with such rules, because the provincial government sees coach houses as a way to boost the stock of affordable housing.

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