Garden Suites

Ugh, I'll bite and take on some of the downvotes. What you're anonymously proposing here would be a regressive and exclusionary change to city planning, and would cement a two-tiered hierarchy of residents. Not everyone is able to afford a house, and until recently a huge amount of the city was zoned only for single deatched houses. I know a lot of people in the broader Willowdale community speak ill of "density", because to them that's condo and apartment towers (and with it probably a degree of classism). The purpose of fourplexes, garden suites, etc. is to provide gentle density to neighbourhoods instead of concentrating it in towers. This is everything from duplexes to walk-up, low-rise apartment buildings. They city's own guidelines require that any new housing of this sort stay consistent with neighbourhood character. Having 2-4 families living on SOME properties instead of 1 doesn't really scream "destroying character" to me. I understand how and why you may be concerned about how any sort of change could influence neighbourhood character, but you don't speak at all to how or why these changes would affect it. How would someone renting a garden suite, or 1/4 of a fourplex, be detrimental to a community? Is there something inherently negative about a family, couple, etc. who are renting their dwelling that you find problematic? Why should they have less right to live in a desirable neighbourhood with good access to services and walkability (not everyone needs a car)? I don't see why someone living on the second story of a detached house isn't a privacy concern, while someone living on the second storey in a garden suite is one. Right now, all that has changed has been the ability for property owners to add secondary suites or build fourplexes. This is NOT a requirement, and I would hardly expect the entire neighbourhood to change over to multi-family dwellings. There will still be tons of single family houses around now and into the future. Your proposal (to only permit garden suites and fourplexes in denser areas) would effectively kill them altogether since density requirements are already much higher around transit stationss. You're essentially asking that we go back to the pre-2020 status quo here. Historical planning and zoning has created the current situation, and the city has done well to remedy that these past few years. Walking back these policies would prevent future growth, which will happen regardless, from being accommodated in a healthy way here. It would force new residents into smaller spaces in a restricted area.