An old London neighborhood, a new type of housing: ‘We need infill’

One of London’s oldest neighborhoods could soon make space for the starter home of the future as part of a project that would turn two boarded-up properties into 18 new units.

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City council last month moved to rezone large parts of the city to allow for greater housing density and this proposal is the type they’re trying to promote as a way to address London’s housing affordability crisis – and one Londoners can expect to see more often.

The project, heading Tuesday to council’s planning committee, would see the construction of two, three-story stacked townhouses in the backyard of the properties at 572 and 578 Colborne St., south of Central Avenue.

It would create 12 three-bedroom and four two-bedroom units where two century-old houses, used in the past as rooming homes, now sit vacant, their backyard space used for parking.

“These are streets that are already paid for, with bike lanes that are already paid for, with drainage systems that are already paid for, said Victor Anastasiadis, who owns both properties. “I mean, you can’t really find a better fit.

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“The city is going around saying, ‘Hey, we need these kinds of projects; we need infill; we need density; we need housing.’ Well, let’s get this party started.”

Coun. Steve Lehman, chair of council’s planning committee, said the project “checks a lot of boxes,” including increasing the supply of homes in the city at a time of high demand.

“We’ve got to address this problem on many fronts,” he said. “So, there’s a whole bunch of different densities, high rises, stacked townhomes, single family lots, etc. No one solution is going to solve the problem, but this is a piece of the pie, so to speak.”

Experts say stacked townhouses, already common in communities closer to the Greater Toronto Area, are cheaper and faster to build than traditional homes, making them more appealing to developers.

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Council’s move to amend the London Plan – the city’s development master plan – to allow the construction of stacked townhouses of up to four stores in residential neighborhoods as a matter of right could lead to more of these projects being built across the city.

In this case, Anastasiadis estimated the project could take between 12 to 16 months to finish at a cost of about $4 million.

The proposal also includes retrofitting the homes while preserving their heritage components.

“This particular project is interesting because they’re going to be building behind these beautiful homes. They’re not taking these stately homes down, so from the street, that look is going to be maintained,” Lehman said.

“I’ll be interested in hearing how the neighborhood feels, but for all intentions and purposes, it looks like a good project.”

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Coun. David Ferreira, in whose ward the project is planned, is supportive of the proposal, adding he hasn’t received any pushback from area residents.

“This is exactly the type of building that sympathizes with the way the city is trying to increase our residential intensification,” he said. “This area is well serviced. It fits in with the neighborhood, and it will give us our extra unis. So, all in all, I’m very happy with it (and) I’m hoping the committee does approve it.”

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