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“I don’t know if this is an area for a lot of rentals generally. Usually, they’re kind of like these bigger homes,” BerezovskiyÌýsaid, waving a gloved hand towards the sweep of grand, historicÌýhouses within eyeshot.

This propertyÌýwon’t be rental housing either, but a home for the owners to downsize into.

For Rosedale, this kind of density is newÌý— not by coincidence, but by design. The area, like many º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøneighbourhoods, has been bound byÌýlong-standing planning lawsÌýthat dictated that only single houses belonged here. But in recent years, city hall has been picking those rules apart. Council approved the building ofÌýlaneway homesÌýin 2018, thenÌýgarden suitesÌýin 2022. TheÌýnext yearÌýcouncil allowed multiplexes on any neighbourhood lot.

But all the while, observers have questioned how much of a difference these policies would make in Toronto’s most gilded areas. Would areasÌýlike Rosedale, seemingly prime for such housing densityÌýwith its larger lots, lush park space, proximity to downtown amenities and access to transit, really welcome moreÌýneighbours?Ìý

In practice, change here has arrived sparingly. Just four backyard suites have been approved in Rosedale-Moore Park out of 1,223Ìýlaneway and garden suitesÌýapproved citywideÌýas of late November, city hall says. These units aren’t always stand-alone homes; some backyard builds across the Rosedale area have been proposed as a way of expanding living space for one household.

Although the impact of the city’s density campaign has been modest here, Berezovskiy believes the winds are changing. The rules are being refined, he said, and neighbours are seeing new opportunities,Ìýfrom expanded work-from-home spaces to guest rooms orÌý— in cases like this RosedaleÌýlaneway suiteÌý— a creative option for downsizers.

“As people grow older, and their kids go and have their own homes, they realize that they don’t need 8,000 square feet.”

Before the project began, this home near Mount Pleasant and Crescent roadsÌýwas already an example of the quieter density that exists in Rosedale. What appears from the street as an expansive single-family home is, in fact, carved up into multiple units. Those units were used as short-term rentals by a previous owner, saysÌýGordonÌýMcIlquham, who bought the property in 2021.Ìý

He and his wife planned to rentÌýit on the long-term market as an investment,ÌýMcIlquham said. The couple stay in º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøa few months of each year, dividing their time otherwise between homes in Georgian Bay and Florida. Looking to the future, they started talking about what kind of home they would needÌý— something manageably sized, but that still offered enough space to host their grown children and potentially grandkids one day.

For a while, they talked about renovating part of the existing house and living there. But slowly, the couple shifted their focus to an aging coach house out back. They soon discovered the cost of major renos wasÌýcomparable to tearing it down and building a laneway unit from scratch.Ìý

Their living costs could be offset by rent from the main home, they figured. Currently, the couple stays in one of the main home units when they’re in Toronto. The rest of the units have long-term tenants,ÌýMcIlquham said.

“A lot of people live in Rosedale and want big, grand homes, and that’s not what we have,” McIlquham said. He sees the two-bedroom laneway suiteÌýas an alternative to condo living that keeps themÌýin a comfortable neighbourhoodÌý— and it’s something they hope can serve as an example to neighbours of what could be possible on Rosedale’s larger lots.

Proposals to build new backyard structures in Rosedale-Moore Park, at various stages of development, show some residents see them as a way to expand their homes. In one case, homeowners proposing to build a new unit above their backyard garage assured neighbours that, although they might use the unit in future for a live-in caregiver, for now they intend it as a personal studio. In another case, a local homeowner asked the city for permission to convert part of their existing rear garage into a sunroom.Ìý

When any new development is proposed, it can face pushback from neighbours, who raise concern from construction clogging up roads to shadows onÌýtheir yards. When McIlquham’s team sought city hallÌýpermission to build half a metre taller than normally allowed in a laneway, among other special requests,Ìýa neighbour attending the public committeeÌýmeeting complained that the proposed building would have a window through which residents could see into that neighbour’s showers.

The unit would “obstruct northwestward light” into their yard, the neighbour added, lamenting the lack of privacy “our backyard will endure” during construction. As a multiplex, they suggested the propertyÌýwas already denser than intendedÌýin the area.

The committee greenlit McIlquham’s pitch as long as they used opaque glass on the shower-facingÌýwindow, with one member calling the plan reasonable on such a “huge lot.”

Still, it’s the kind of pushback these projects faceÌýnot only in Rosedale, but citywide, says John Gladki, the project planner hired byÌýMcIlquham.

“Change is always difficult for people. They’re used to the way things are,” Gladki said.

Rosedale is among º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøneighbourhoods where increased density has long rankled residents. Among its stately mansions and manicured, tree-lined streets, you’ll find a few older apartments and denser housing types. Many are owing to a period around the 1950s and ‘60s when º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍødecision-makers tried to encourage more density, butÌýit was a short-lived window of opportunity in Rosedale, as the new apartments triggered resident outcry.Ìý

“Well-organized groups in the Annex, Rosedale, North º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøand elsewhere can be counted on to speak out if apartments threaten to invade their areas,” the º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøDaily Star chronicled in 1964. In response,Ìýcity planners began drawing lines around where you couldÌý— and couldn’tÌý— add greater density.

These new zoning laws designated certainÌýareas for denser housing, such as Yonge and Eglinton, while many other areas would only allow single-family homes to be built without special permission. It’s a rule system that lasted for decades and shaped modern Toronto, and one that’s only recently started to be loosened —Ìýwith staff now .

Another hurdle is speed. Gladki,ÌýBerezovskiy and architect Kevin Martin each told the Star that building this laneway unit took longer than anticipated, with Gladki saying it took about two years to secure a building permit. Martin cited factors such as being assigned a new examiner in the midst of their building permit review, who he said required further “clarifications and calculations.”

Berezovskiy said they’d hoped to start building the suite by April or May, but were ultimately stalled to September. As of mid-December, there were still kinks to work out, including issues around the site’s hydro infrastructure.Ìý

But the process is becomingÌýeasier, BerezovskiyÌýargued, as city hall continues to refineÌýthe rules, with more wiggle room around building sizes and setbacks.Ìý

City hall, in a statement, said its neighbourhood density efforts were always “anticipated to be incremental in nature, as people adapt to the new permissions.” It pointed to steady growth in garden suite applications citywide, which have now surpassed laneway suite interest, and said it was monitoring progress including the types and locations of new suites.

Martin has worked on one other laneway suite in Rosedale, where his clients also planned to move into the laneway themselves, with the idea of then “subdividing the larger main house” to house their grown kids. He believes they’ll see more cases like it.Ìý“Rosedale residents are also affected by the housing affordability crisis,” Martin said.

Gladki is blunt about what backyard housing offers. At minimum, he noted a laneway home would cost around $400,000 to $500,000 to build, blunting the chances of it being rented out at lower prices. “I have to be clear, this is not going to produce affordable housing,” Gladki said.

Still, he sees gradual density efforts inÌýplaces like Rosedale as a good step, allowing more households to picture a future in comfortable lowrise areas without needing to pay for a single-family home.

“There is potential in neighbourhoods like this one, like Rosedale and like Forest Hill and Swansea,” he said. “It will allow more people to live in really desirable neighbourhoods.”