Markham’s mayor used strong mayor powers to veto his council’s fourplex decision
The policy would have allowed homeowners to build garden suites and laneway homes
Using the strong mayor powers granted to him by Premier Doug Ford in 2022, Markham’s mayor has vetoed a council decision that would have encouraged greater housing density.
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As Global News reports, the policy would have allowed homeowners to build garden suites and laneway homes on their properties, increasing zoning regulations from one up to four units.
Mayor Frank Scarpitti said fourplexes would have been a burden on Markham’s infrastructure.
“As the head of council, it is my opinion that permitting up to four units on certain city properties could potentially interfere with provincial and city priorities, including but not limited to adversely impacting transportation networks, parking capacity, municipal infrastructure and other utilities and the provision of municipal servicing,” Scarpitti wrote in a decision letter.
He added that Markham is already planning to build 222,863 new units in its Future Urban Areas and Intensification Areas and 1,963 as part of the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
