Laneway Suites in the City of Toronto - 2018

A Laneway Suite is a self-contained residential unit located on the same lot as a detached house, semi-detached house, townhouse, or other low-rise house. A Laneway Suite is typically located in the back yard next to a public laneway and is generally smaller in size, and completely detached from the main house on the lot.

Laneway Suites provide new rental housing opportunities within established neighbourhoods, contributing to a wider range of housing options.

Only properties next to a public lane allowed an additional residential unit within an ancillary building, known as a laneway suite.

Garden Suites in the City of Toronto - February 2, 2022

A garden suite is a housing unit, usually located in the backyard of an existing house, but separate and detached from the main house. Garden suites, like laneway suites, are generally smaller than the main house on the lot. Garden Suites are often a way to create homes for family members – parents, grandparents or adult children – or can be used as rental housing units.

The Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendments for garden suites allow for the construction of an additional residential unit on residential properties that are not located on a public lane.

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Supportive housing is a combination of deeply affordable housing and on-site supports that enable people to live as independently as possible. Supportive housing can help people stabilize their lives, help them stay housed and positively contribute to communities. Learn more about supportive housing here.
 

Floor area ratio (FAR) is the ratio of a building's total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built. It is often used as one of the regulations in city planning along with the building-to-land ratio.[1] The terms can also refer to limits imposed on such a ratio through zoning.

Written as a formula, FAR = gross floor area / area of the plot .

Lower maximum-allowed floor area ratios are linked to lower land values and lower housing density

Floor Area ratio is sometimes called floor space ratio (FSR), floor space index (FSI), site ratio or plot ratio.

The difference between FAR and FSI is that the first is a ratio, while the latter is an index. Index numbers are values expressed as a percentage of a single base figure. Thus an FAR of 1.5 is translated as an FSI of 150%.

Willowdale consisted initially of the part of the Borough of North York bounded on the north by the borough limit (Steeles Avenue), on the West by the West Branch of the Don River and Bathurst Street, on the south by Highway 401, and on the east by Bayview Avenue.