Collingwood, ON [23 August 2024] – Calling all Citizen Developers! Do you have room in your backyard for a small home? Could your basement be converted into an apartment? The Town of Collingwood is re-launching the Rapid Additional Residential Unit (ARU) Initiative with important program updates, including a minor program name change, more financial incentives available to homeowners to build ARUs, new pre-approved designs and zoning updates that could allow up to four dwelling units per residential or rural property!
ARUs are smaller residential living units that can be within the main dwelling, such as a basement apartment or detached from a home, such as a dwelling above a garage or a fully separate space like a coach house. Smaller units offer a more affordable housing option for people in the community and are more frequently rented than main dwellings.
“The Rapid ARU Initiative 2.0 is a neighbours-helping-neighbours approach to addressing the affordable housing crisis,” says Mayor Yvonne Hamlin. “We’re calling on empty nesters, seniors, new homeowners – or anyone who is ‘over-housed’– to consider how that extra space might help folks in our community who are struggling to afford a roof over their head and could give you a much-appreciated bump in income in these times of rising costs.”
The Rapid ARU Initiative 2.0 is kicking off with the offering higher financial incentives, increasing from $5,628.62 to $10,000 for Collingwood property owners who build an ARU and rent it out year-round for a minimum of five years. “Adding an ARU can take some investment, but this incentive funding will help address some of the upfront costs and fees related,” says Jack Vanderkooy, Interim Chair of the Affordable Housing Task Force. “By agreeing to rent it out year-round, homeowners will help give our working community or other modest income households struggling to find housing a place to call home.”
The Rapid ARU Initiative includes a design gallery with pre-approved detached ARU designs to offer a faster, easier and more predictable design and permitting process. The gallery showcases designs that have been pre-approved by the Town of Collingwood’s Building Services Department.
Town Council has also approved changes to Zoning rules for ARUs, making it easier to build backyard homes and other forms of ARUs. Every residential and rural property is allowed to have up to 4 dwelling units, including the main dwelling and up to 3 ARUs, but still must conform setbacks and lot coverage restrictions. Updates also include minor increases to height allowance and reducing minimum parking requirements. These changes will not be in place until the Town’s new Official Plan is approved by the County of Simcoe, which is anticipated to be inr September.
Visit https://www.collingwood.ca/building-business/rapid-adu or reach out via email to ADU@collingwood.ca to learn more.
About Collingwood
The Town of Collingwood is a progressive community located in the heart of a four-season recreation area on the southern shore of Georgian Bay. The area is well known for its many natural amenities and its rich heritage. Collingwood is a destination for tourism and many business, sporting, and cultural events Collingwood acts as gateway to the South Georgian Bay region, with stunning landscapes that encourage an active lifestyle, and inspire the local arts and culture community. Downtown Collingwood might just surprise you with 30 plus restaurants, 60 plus boutique shops, spas for relaxing, live music for grooving…all in the only downtown core recognized in Canada’s Registrar of Historic Places! More recently, the harbourfront area is emerging as an extension to the downtown district. Plans for expanding the amenities and events in the harbourfront area promise to make this a much more prominent tourism destination.
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“…anticipated to be inr September.” Inr? Why are “Citizen Developers” and “Zoning” capitalized?
You need a copyeditor, John.
Are there any tax incentives to help the longterm increased property taxes due the higher assessment value after building such a unit? Were our high permit fees and egregious development charges lowered or even dropped for ARUs? I can’t see any evidence of that.
Who enforces the rental requirement and how?
Is the financial inventive dependent on any conditions? Is it a fixed amount or “up to” that figure?
You need a reporter who can ask these sort of questions.
The pre-approved designs aren’t necessarily so for every property. The town web page says ” “Pre-approved designs do not imply compliance with the Town’s Zoning By-Law because full compliance is property-specific. Property owners will be required to go through the regular permitting process for the construction or placement of the ADU.” What is the process to find out for any particular property? You need a reporter who can ask these sort of questions.
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