Real Estate Development Insights

(42) All about Multiplex Housing: Data from 452 Multiplex Building Permits - Daniel Kolominsky - Senior Planner at City of Toronto

• Payam Noursalehi • Episode 42

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In this episode of the Real Estate Development Insights podcast, host Payam speaks with Daniel Kolominsky, Senior Planner with the City of Toronto. Together, they explore the City’s Multiplex Monitoring Report, unpack the development review process, and examine how new regulations are shaping multiplex housing across Toronto. The conversation sheds light on the drivers behind permit activity, approval timelines, construction costs, and emerging trends that will influence the next phase of urban planning. Tune in for a data-driven discussion on how Toronto is working to expand housing options and support more accessible, diverse communities.


  • The Role and Impact of City Planning
  • Challenges and Improvements in Development Review
  • Insights from the Multiplex Monitoring Report
  • Approval Timelines and Construction Insights
  • Geographical Distribution of Permits
  • Factors Influencing Multiplex Locations
  • Challenges and Considerations for Multiplex Construction
  • Tracking and Potential of Multiplex Developments
  • Building Structures and Permit Trends
  • Cost Estimations and Lot Sizes
  • Lessons Learned and Future Steps
  • Final Thoughts and Advice for Applicants


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payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Real Estate Development Insights podcast, where we bring you ideas, experiences, and best practices from the real estate development industry. My name is Payam nhi. the president of Dental Project Management, a construction and project management firm that helps real estate developers. Define design and deliver successful projects. We have a very interesting episode lined up here for you. My guest for this episode is Daniel Kaminski. he's a senior planner in the city of Toronto and he's involved in multiple interesting initiatives and programs, including the development review. He's been, involved in the multiplex monitoring report, which we're gonna. Deep, dude dive, a deep dive in it on this episode. he comes, he's pretty local. He was here in University of formerly known Ryerson, now known as TMU. He has, Degree in urban and regional planning. so far in the 40 something episodes that we've had in this podcast, we've had a lot of people from the private side, developers, engineers, architects, builders. Financiers. We've had many people who come in and vent and complain and have grievances when it comes to approvals, when it comes to the city side. And we've been trying in the background to get. The city on the podcast and tell their side of the story. And this, hopefully one of many to come one of the, one of the episodes that we are trying to explain what is happening in the state of Toronto and tell the other side of the story. If you may. As always, you can find. All the relevant information and links in our website, real estate development insights.com. That's all one phrase, and by all means, please remember to subscribe to our show. Even better, tell others about it. Let's get the word out and let's a bigger impact together. Thank you and enjoy listening. Hey Daniel, welcome to our podcast.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Hey, Payam, thanks for having me on. I've listened to a few, a few episodes. so it's really, it's cool to be a part of, the podcast. So it's, great to be here and hopefully I could dispel some of those, things you're talking about, people venting about, people at the city. I know that it could be a tough process at times, but, I'm happy to be here and, We're always looking to try and work collaboratively and hear from people, in the private sector. And then, yeah, I'm looking forward to the discussion today.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Happy to have you on. so Daniel, why don't we start by you giving, our audience a little bit of introduction, maybe behind the scenes of who's Daniel? How did you get into city planning and multiple roles that you're playing at a time? Give us a detailed introduction and we go from there.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yeah, for sure. I think it's a, overall, it's a great question. I think, city planning is a niche industry that a lot of people don't really know about, when they're in school. I know going back all the way to when I was in high school, I had no idea what city planning was. and I didn't know that there would actually be a full on, university degree and program to, to get education in that field. And, I think for myself, I. I stumbled my way into it. I originally went to the University of Guelph for four years and I got an undergraduate, bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Guelph. And I always thought of myself working, in the public sector, in the public service, and I was looking at how relatable that. A university degree would be from Guelph and how it could translate into public sector work. And I found the urban planning degree. at, TMU and I thought that when I looked at the city planning program, a lot of the things that were being taught and learned there resonated with me. I remember when I went to the first sort of init, learning initiation, meaning to get a sense of what the program was, I asked a question about, What does a city planner do and what kind of role would they have? And the answer I got, resonated with me because I was really looking for something where I feel like I can make a tangible difference and see a lot of the work that I'm doing play out in reality. and after doing that undergraduate. Degree. I was successful in eventually getting into the city planning department, at the city of Toronto. And I truly do feel like it is a job where you do make a difference, and you can see a lot of the work that you do each and every day play out, in real life. So I've been, it's been a great, Five years I've been at the city of Toronto, within the city planning department now development review. I worked on a variety of different projects, which I'm sure we'll talk about, but, really that education, that educational background led me into getting into this, into city planning.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Thank you for that. So

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

I.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

said something about what you do make it makes a difference, and I want to dive into that a little bit, before we go full force into the monitor. Report and the multiplexes. I had the privilege of sitting in on a meeting not too long ago with, with your whole team and Jason Thorn and, a whole bunch of your colleagues and a former chief planner, Greg Lintern, which was a very educative process for me. I learned a lot in that meeting and, What you do does make a difference. What the planning in the city of Toronto or any major municipality does a difference. Huge difference. It's part of a bigger puzzle. That has been one of the conversations that we've had, in the past few months. That planning has a huge role. Plays a huge role. And as we're gonna dig into it with the numbers that you have in your report, we're gonna clarify that even further. But it's also. Not the entire puzzle. It's the part of it's a very important part of the puzzle. And just to end my digression there, the good thing that came from our meeting at the state of Toronto was that it seems like the planning team. Knows exactly where the pain points are. It's just a process of dealing with those pain points and making adjustments. It is, by definition, a slow process and probably for good reason. I dunno if you want to comment on that before I move on to multiplex discussion.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yeah. so I think it's great that you've been able to have those meetings and discuss with, different levels of leadership in city planning and development review. we've got some really good leaders there. Jason Thorn is really picking up on a lot of, key initiatives that will, hopefully help, add more housing to the city in a way that, we, everyone would like to see the city grow. I think there's all these, I think, identifying sort of city planning as a puzzle is a good, analogy. there's all these different streams to, to city planning, and development review. The city of Toronto is a very large organization, and there's all these different departments that each have a role to play in the review of one single development application or a citywide policy or zoning change or study that's being done and. The fact that there's so many, people at play can sometimes add to the length of time that, a study takes because there's a lot of key interests that each different department has, and. city planners have to understand how to work amongst all the different departments and really focus in on key priorities and figure out a way to get a collaborative discussion, but still try and lead us to our end. Goal to eventually provide recommendations to our council, members of potentially making changes on a citywide basis or individually on a development application. And, we could see changes from a policy level with our official plan, document that guides and informs how development is to occur across the city and how things change. Or from a zoning perspective, which are more performance standards, within, a set of detailed requirements for. How, buildings, how built, how large buildings should be, how much soft landscaping should be on sites. that's a lot more detailed process. And when you make changes to those things, sometimes they do take time. there are a lot of people again, who come into, the development review process. But I do know that there, there have been a lot of changes within the organizational structure to try and, move towards a faster review process to make things more, Standardized and at least more predictable for anyone who wants to submit an application to the city. and it, again, it's a big organization, but, I do think there's a lot of people at the senior leadership level who are making, moves to help, facilitate things quicker while still getting good results. and yeah, the multiplex study was a big one, so I'm sure we'll talk a lot about that.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

and it's not that often, like I said, that we get someone from planning or from Cityside on a podcast. So I have a lot of questions that I'm barely trying to con contain myself. Not to digress too much, in terms of development review and speeding things up, and I know your part of your role is to deal with new development review process and, I

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yep.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

an event. Not too long ago where Mayor Chao was promising that some of these, development review timings are gonna be significantly reduced. Is there any good news or clarification that you can share with us about that?

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

I would say that, since the Development Review Division was initiated, just a couple years ago, we have, We have worked on our application review processes and timelines, and there is data that's been released out there. I believe it's on a quarterly basis of what our average review times are for official plan amendment applications, rezoning applications, site plan control, and those average timelines have gone down. I think that. Depending on who you talk to, you could get a different perspective from whoever was making the application. From the private side, there's definitely great examples of applications that have gone through the system for a rezoning application and in 90 days or less. And then there's times where the application still has a lot of. Complex issues to it. And there's a lot of competing interests from different departments and different players and stakeholders where, it takes a little bit more time to get to an end result. But, I do think that the, again, going back to some of the senior leadership, in the development review department is definitely fostering, a vision for the department to ensure that we're, we are meeting our, Our obligations of reviewing things in a timely manner. I personally have seen that change start to happen. I do see that, our other departments are meeting their commenting, timelines and, there is a considerable effort to make sure that we can try and report out to council with decisions in that faster timeline. There has been a bit of a slowdown, in the development industry across the board, and I know it's a challenging, market out there. And, nonetheless, we still, when we get applications in, we're reviewing them with that new vision. And,

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

I was

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

I think that myself as a planner

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

much of

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yeah, go ahead.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

track effect do you think is a. Is because of that fewer applications. And how much of it is, do you think is because of, refinement in the process? I don't, I'm not even sure if that's a to answer you.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

No, I think it's, it's a fair question. I think that it definitely helps to be fully, to be, quite staffed up. when I first started in city planning, there were a lot of vacancies and it was challenging when you had. Individual planners carrying more than 15 files at a time when the industry was really. Booming with submissions. there was submissions coming in left and right. we made a considerable effort to fill those vacancies and, it's great to have more staff on board and, with the development, submissions maybe coming down over the years, I think that does help us focus on, clearing out the backlog of submissions that might have still been there and ensure that we give, Still all the attention to those new submissions to try and report out in a timely manner. But I do think some of the key tools that were implemented through this new division helps us see our deadlines, ensure that our comments are getting out on time and, we make sure that we get our reports out to council in timely manner. So I think it could be a mix of both, to be honest.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

a balance of both. Okay, let's dive in. I can't wait. Let's dive in. had, for those of our listeners who lack context in terms of what we are gonna discuss, which is the multiplex discussion, I do suggest to go back and we had, we've had multiple episodes, different angles that. Great people have, shared their experiences and at different times, obviously there were different levels of clarity about this program. I would say most recently that the episode we had with Blair Gogi from GOGI Planning, we did a, he did a very great job of outlining. Different programs that are happening in City of Toronto. Prior to that, we had dis discussions with, the Big Leary group, the guys from there, Michael and Robbie. And, prior to that even we had another call with, we had another episode with Andrew Fran, which I'm pretty sure he talked about the whole, planning process. So by all means, feel free to go back to those episodes for more detail. In this one, I'm really interested to pick. brain on the report that they published, revolves around the multiplex, the effect of changes that happen in regulations regarding multiplexes, and it's called the Multiplex Monitoring Report. And they

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yeah. Multim Multiplex Monitoring Program, final report.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Why don't you tell us, first of all, why don't you tell our audience, where can they find a copy? Because I found it amazing all the information you guys have in into it. And then after you told us when you we're gonna find it and be able to download it, us what, who, what caused it, and how did this report came about.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

so if anyone's interested in trying to find the report, the City of Toronto, like our, we have a, we just have a general website that, that sort of has a basket of all of the different planning initiatives that are ongoing. if you just do a Google search of multiplex monitoring report, it should come up as one of the first, links, with the actual link. To, the city council, agenda item when that a, when that final report was heard by City Council in June. but within that, website, if you go to. the expanding housing options in neighborhoods link. If you were to just type that in Google, it'll bring you to the umbrella page that has all the different, city initiatives for adding housing options in our neighborhoods in that, like you mentioned, some of your other guests have spoken about them, but there's a whole list of different housing permissions that have been changed within neighborhoods from garden suites, laneway Suites, multiplexes. Major streets, which are six story, apartments, up to 60 units, townhouses on major streets. And then a subset of that also six plexes, which is also in addition to the multiplex changes. the monitoring report, was came about from the 2023 final report, which implemented the. multiplex permissions citywide. And of that, that adoption by City Council, one of the things that city Council directed staff to do was a monitoring program to look at the uptake of multiplexes, see what was happening, and then eventually report back with a very detailed analysis of what we saw.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Perfect. Okay. So for, we will put a link in our show notes to download the report for people who are interested, which I definitely suggest anyone who wants to start a multiplex should look at this report. And like you mentioned, I believe the period that this report is covering is from mid, of 2023 all the way up to April of 2025. Is that correct?

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Generally for the most part, yes. The multiplexes, were permitted citywide in May of 2023 in neighborhoods. the detailed review, of multiplexes really was an 18 month period up until November of 2024, but. Going into the city council, actual meeting in June of 2025, we did get, gather a little bit more data up to April of 2025, but a bulk of the data that's in there is an 18 month period to November of 2024.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Okay. I guess the first question on that note, is there a plan for Citi to update this report every so often, or is this a one off?

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Usually it would be just the one report. depends on how things are going. through that monitoring exercise we. We know we, we saw that there's still some things that we could continue to look at. and we actually came forward with a recommendation to have council, consider the monitoring program continue. for multiplexes, that monitoring exercise is gonna continue. And we've also lumped in the sixplex, permissions into the monitoring exercise as well. But for example, the garden suite. Or Laneway suite monitoring reports that were done. Those just had that one report and then they were completed.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

I would personally advocate for having this as a re a recurring report and mainly because when I was going through it, you were kind enough to send me, the file a few weeks in advance, and when I was going through it. It very much reminds me of all the data that we get on

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

I.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

much larger projects in terms of the market mix is, what the going rates are, what the cost and construction costs could be, what are the perfect dimensions, layouts, and whole bunch of different information which we would commission on larger projects for research firms to come up with. And it's expensive exercise and I would think. And I would probably be right in thinking that average homeowner or small investor who wants to do a Sixplex or a Fourplex plus one or something like that, one will find it very expensive to have those reports done individually. And two, frankly, it might even be just entirely off the radar and they might not even be thinking about that. So I think what you guys have done then is. Of great value to the citizen developer type to the people who are just starting out. And I find it very beneficial understanding that each report has its own limitations. People need to still do their own diligence before making decisions, but let's dive in. So you guys reviewed 452 applications, right? my understanding is that, some of it had to do with minor alterations and interior work renovation to the existing buildings, and probably around half of those had, the other half had to do with new buildings. Is that correct?

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

So we, we did a detailed review, on about. 220 permits, and then a high level review on an additional 220 permits. Those permits were issued for multiplexes, within that 18 month period. So that doesn't take into consideration any permits that were submitted and had not yet been issued. you're correct that there, there's a difference between, permits that were for interior renovations. Or small building additions and entirely new builds. the skew was actually. 75% of those 450 permits were for interior renovations or building additions. and then only 25% were for entirely new construction. So from the first 18 months of multiplex implementation, we saw a lot more activity just towards the, small building additions or interior renovations as opposed to brand new construction.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Sorry, I'm just gonna keep interrupting you here because, so what do you think, why do you think that is? Was that just because people already had properties that they were somehow using it, as a multiplex? They didn't really have the required permit for us. Now, they were using this as an opportunity to make it legal multiplex, or was it just easy enough addition in the back that they figured now we have an opportunity to do it? Let's do it.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yeah, it's a fair question and To a certain extent, we can think for ourself in planning why that might be. But we did have, consultations throughout the monitoring program where we spoke to people in the community who might be doing some of these projects, but also some industry representatives as well who are either planners or architects. And I think, something that we heard from our consultation was that a lot of the, benefit of. doing a renovation permit as opposed to a brand new build is that, from a zoning perspective, if you're maintaining some of the main, like the main walls of the building and the foundation, if that existing building is sitting on a particular spot on a lot, that would not be considered to be meeting the zoning bylaw. if you're maintaining that. that foundation or wall, then, you're actually permitted to then have the building continue to sit there. if you're just doing a renovation and you're maintaining more than, 50% of the main walls, so sometimes. if you'd like to have a smaller sort of side yard setback, if you're maintaining that aspect of the side main wall, then you don't have to go to the Committee of Adjustment to get a variance for that smaller side yard setback. So I do think that could have, been a, an aspect to it. you're able to work within certain permissions of the zoning bylaw, perhaps a little bit easier, but, I think that the, taking on the challenge of doing a full knockdown and building something entirely new for sort of a citizen developer, someone who's looking at just adding one unit. Two units to the home for maybe, an aging parent, a grandparent, or for children who are unable to afford, renting or purchasing a property in the city. just gradually adding. Something to the existing home by way of an addition or an interior renovation is something that a citizen builder or the homeowner might feel as though is easier for them to do than an entirely new build. so that could factor into it as well.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

making because if I want to go out on a limb and I wanna simplify that for my simple brain, the way I would look at it, I would say is if. If you're coming in as a investor, developer, you're probably gonna go take it down and build a new one. you already have the land, if you're living there and you are taking advantage to make, to meet a need that is a real need, is a personal need, then you might use this, new avenue to satisfy that need, like you said, for multiple reasons. And that's a great thing the report you. so I'm just going to read some numbers here that the

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Sure.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

units currently rent at an average of 2.93 per square foot. So that $2.93, $2 and 93 cents per square foot. the average resale value of these multiplex buildings is approximately $562 per square foot, It's a very interesting number, frankly, because when you put that, and you have it in the report as well, that on the same

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yeah.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

you were measuring, you had, the average price per square foot of a resale condo might have been around 969. Now, these days, those numbers might have softened a little bit you probably did this report, but I highly doubt that, They softened that much, just they haven't gone down 400 bucks. The gap between the resale value on a, multiplex unit versus a condo unit seems to be very significant. Were you guys expecting that?

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

I think that, that was a, I wouldn't say that we were expecting that. and we've all been asked a lot about whether or not, expanding housing options in neighborhoods is specifically just an affordability tool. and the, I think that, And it's been said by many other staff in city planning that really, expending expanding housing options in neighborhoods and multiplexes is to allow for more options for people. and if that happens to be at a more affordable, rate, that's amazing. I do think that, the data that we saw there is great to see. and it includes a mix of. New multiplex building, but then also existing multiplexes, that maybe aren't as, renovated and UpToDate and brand new and you're finding a middle between a high end and perhaps a lower end sort of product. but it's good to see that those options in neighborhoods, Are being rented out on a price per square footage basis that happens to be a bit more affordable than, the condominium market where, perhaps the users of that unit who want to be closer to a neighborhood, closer to a school, closer to a park, could actually find something at a rate that's more affordable.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

So can you confirm if these, as a general rule, is it fair to assume that these multiplex units that you guys reviewed were all, exempt from disease?

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

yeah. Every, all these multiplexes should have been exempt from dcs, from development charges. I do know that. If you had a fourplex and a garden suite, there were some nuances that were resulting in, an applicant who wanted to construct both of those buildings on a lot, where they needed to break up the sequencing of the timing of the permit. And there were some occasions where, a development charge was going to be issued and staff needed to look at that and say, hold on. you've got. DC exemptions for four units in a multiplex, and then a, development charge deferral program for the garden suite. but, yes, for all intensives purposes, all of these multiplexes were, exempt from dcs.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

And not to oversimplify things. when I look at it and I'm like, at the first glance when I first saw it, I'm like, there's 400 bucks almost. cost difference in the resale, in the sale price. Obviously, a section of that has to do with having a more premium product. Potentially. If you're buying a condo unit and you have a higher performing building, you have amenities, you have concierge potentially, whole bunch of other things versus something that, and you, but you don't need to have all of those in multiplex. That being said. Part of me still wonders how much of that $400 or 300 and change dollar gap comes from the dcs. And this kind of goes back to our original conversation at the beginning of the, interview where the planning is only part of the mix, part of the puzzle. there's, there's a good option that we, there's. Situation that we have these options to have multiplexes, but why would there be so much difference? And I hope there's not, let's put it this way, I hope in a few years we have this similar conversation. There's not as much gap between the two. And I, by that I mean that the condo has gone cheaper. Not that the multiplexes have gone, gone higher. on the next side of things, you have the approval timing, which I found really interesting because you have

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yep.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

that the approval timings and the multiplex timelines as

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

I.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

it, on the report. And, these are very interesting overall because they're much faster hypothetically than what we typically deal with on a mid-rise or high-rise building.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yep.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Walk us through that, how that happened, and maybe I poke you with a couple questions on the actual numbers.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Sure. I think it's a great observation you're making that was one of the pieces of the monitoring program that I thought was, wow, this is a really interesting piece of data. so it was in there, but, all the city, city council didn't really ask any questions about it. If you go back and watch that item when it was heard. but we did notice within that, full 450 building permits that we looked at, we happened to have, when did the permit get submitted to the city at intake, and when did it eventually get issued? And for the first 200 permits or so, we saw a specific, timeline. I don't have. In right in front of me, so I think it might have been 210, 210 days,

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

I can

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

something like that. From,

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

right now. On the first,

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

yeah.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

that you guys did detailed review of 222 applications. On average, it was 105 days for permit review and 221 days

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

That's what it's,

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

between the issuance and the closing of the construction. So that's in all 325 days or days.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

So that, from the issuance to closure would be when the building is fully constructed and inspections have completed, and that can, that's like how long does it take for someone to build the product. But, we did notice that the review period between submission at intake to when the permit was issued, there was a decrease in time for that. high level building permit set that we reviewed, which really was the second half of the 18 months, I think. What go, what can go into that is. City staff become more familiar with the zoning bylaw. we did have this organizational change in structure that worked on at a building per, at a Toronto buildings perspective, having focused people, looking at small residential buildings, and then having other people looking at highrise or Midrise buildings and really focusing in on that particular building type. We did happen to see the review timelines go down, which is positive. And, I'm sure that number's, continuing, to improve. but when you're in a, when you're in, when you're in Ontario or in, in Toronto, like there's always provincial changes to legislation that can affect policy zoning. perhaps later at some point building code. And then there's a retraining that goes on. And sometimes I think that's why you. Could potentially see higher, review timelines that we saw in the first two, in the first 220 permits. This is a new zoning bylaw. Staff are getting familiar with it. As they become more familiar, things tend to get faster.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

and to clarify what you're just, saying. I have. Numbers in front of me. So the first call batch of permits on that new regulations were about 320 days. All in all from the date someone submitted a permit until the day they closed the permit. And on the second batch, it seems like it went through the 230 mark, which is a hundred days savings, which is very significant.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yep.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

first of all, do you remember these are working days or calendar days for context.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

calendar days.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Okay. Calendar day. So hypothetically speaking, so this is another part that also was, interesting for me is that the construction time, it seems that it went down, like it seems like on the second batch also, you got,

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yeah.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

the people were building the buildings also faster, like between the issuance of a permit a closure of the permit toward the end, is, this is. Pretty fascinating from my perspective. You have four plexes, which they closed the permit within 84 days. that's less than three months. So

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

I think, on that one though, I will, I do, I remember, there were a couple permits that were completely just internal renovations. There was not even an addition to the building, to the back, and they, those permits closed very quick. yeah. But it does again, the, we saw 75% of all these permits being interior renovations and additions. And, maybe from a construction perspective, those projects are faster to complete than knocking something down and building brand new. Perhaps that's, that's a thing.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

For and

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

yeah, it's good to see the numbers decreasing.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

And I wish there was another chart on your report there that kind of showed the difference between the renovations and the, and full constructions. And maybe it's a suggestion for a future report if you guys, Updating that report. Maybe we should just distinguish between the two. But, all in all, thinking that you're gonna go in, you're gonna get in a permit within, on average on the second half. You have 72 days, 72 calendar days to, for someone to submit a permit and

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yep.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

their permit. that's pretty decent, I would say. And, let's move forward. You have another chart on your, in the report that talks about where these, Permits were happening. A lot of the

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yeah.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

would happen. And just to clarify, at the point that you're looking at this, the six plexes are still not in play, correct?

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yeah. They're not in, they were not in play during this monitoring program.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Gotcha. So it's, again, it's, to me, it's very interesting and also telling the way these, numbers are working. So the most, active word in city of Toronto was Ward nine with about 15% of all the work you had.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yep.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

of these, permits happened in that Ward nine, which Ward nine covers. Davenport, I believe, correct.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Correct. That's the one. Yep.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

and then second after that was Parkdale Hyde Park with 42 I think it was Rose Rosedale University with the third place, What do you make of that? Why was that the hotspot for

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

not to fact check you, but, I think it was York Southwest in Ward five. That was number three, but it could just be like

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

be,

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

or two permits. But yeah, we did, we saw essentially about. 50% of all of the 450 permits fell within five wards, ward 9, 4, 5, 11, and 14. and then the remaining dispersed across the rest of the city. And, we were looking into what could be possible reasons for that. I think access to transit is a big thing. I generally, from hearing people in the industry who were looking to build multiplexes, being close to transit is, is a good thing. especially. It's challenging to provide one parking space per unit on a lot. You'd want to, ideally be located to good, forms of transit. some of those wards happen to be close to either a subway line, streetcar, streetcar line, within an 800 meter radius of those higher order transit stations. And, some of those, some of the wards happen to have permissions for on street parking permits or off street parking permits. So that's another aspect of what could be desirable for, a multiplex. If you're unable to provide, parking on site, if you happen to be in a part of the city that allows for those on street permits, that could also be another factor. But some of these wards, They happen to already have, these sort of housing types in them already, multiplexes, walk-up apartments, townhouses, semi-detached, single detached. And I think, generally you wouldn't even notice a difference that there's, that there happens to be a few more multiplexes in these areas, as the permissions for, more types of housing in these wards were already there for a long period of time.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

I

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

And if someone is looking to make,

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

if you

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

yeah.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

a guess there, like how much of this, this, Distribution would you say had to do with the fact that those, those areas already had that typology introduced to them, either from the beginning or from I dunno, a few decades ago, or and or other words that may or may not actually have those type, that t that typology of housing in them at all. Does that play a role you think?

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

I do think it could play, some element of a role. I think if you're looking at sort of a multiplex in the sort of the suburban parts of the city, maybe, further out in North York or Toboco might not see many as many multiplexes there. And if someone is looking to construct a multiplex brand new, from what we've heard in the industry, some people try to maybe avoid a committee of adjustment application in those parts of the city. And if you are looking at a multiplex in, a different part of the city where they already exist in, in, in numbers, adding another multiplex in that area may lead to a. A more, predictable sort of application process. If you have to go to the Committee of Adjustment,

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

It's

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

you could read into what I'm saying a little bit. Yeah.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

yeah.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

could factor into some of it.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

you could get potentially more local support if you may, from there. And, I guess on that note, do you like, I don't know if you guys, instead of Toronto, have any information how many, like how many more parcels on how many more in those areas? Still have the potential of doing these multiplexes? Are you tracking it in that way?

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

I, there is another sort of stream within city planning. I think it's called the Neighborhood Intensification Bulletin. It's another report, a ton of data. and it does do a good job at identifying all the sort of potential parcels for multiplexes garden suites, major street type development. I wouldn't say at this point like. We've saturated and there's no parcels left for multiplexes. There's obviously plenty of parcels, and lots in these different wards for multiplexes or garden suites or laneway suites, but we didn't go to that level to say, to find, whether or not it crossed a threshold of there being no more potential opportunities for plexes in those wards. I, I don't think we're need at that point.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Yeah. Interesting. the other part of the report, you guys talk about the building structure that became a multiplex or was a multiplex. So between a fully detached building, a semi-detached building or a townhouse structure, interestingly enough, the townhouses are the lowest one. You had the three, 3% of all the projects or the permits had the townhouse. Layout or structure. I'm more interested about the semi-detached because it seems, it had 22% of all the permits. Do you remember or recall that, are these properties that were newly built, semi-detached? In other words, did someone buy a property, severed a piece of land and make it, two detached houses and make multiplexes? Or was it different?

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

yeah, that's a good question. I do know that a, again, the majority of these permits were. Interior renovations and conversions. So we had existing semis that were being renovated, to add additional units to the lot. There was a subset of these permits that were. one lot that was, coming in for an application to sever the land into two and then construct two side by side attached buildings as semis. a very small set of the 452 permits, or of the two, the 22% that were semis were that, so it wasn't a significant amount. I do know that we, as we continue to monitor multiplexes, we are looking at that to see if there's a trend or an increase. One of the things from the monitoring program that, did come about through, staff's recommendation to council was a zoning change that was necessary to. Correct an interpretation issue that was happening at the building permit stage or at the zoning review stage where if someone was looking to construct two semi-detached multiplexes, For a, with a total of five units or more between the two buildings, they were getting reviewed as apartment buildings and not multiplexes. and that was resulting in applications needing to go to the committee of adjustments. So we did come forward with a zoning bylaw amendment change to correct that, to ensure that the interpretation of two semis that were attached were in fact two multiplexes, and not an apartment building. we'll see if that. potentially unlocks more of those types of developments at the, building permit stage.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

I were to go and pick up a decent sized lot, let's say 55, 60 lot, and try and sever it and make it a two, two lots, each of them having a

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

I.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

on at essentially one big building, I could get between four on each side, which would be eight in total or some places, six on each side, which would be 12 in total units, and I would still fall under these multiplexes, correct.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

Yeah, that, that's, there's potential for that. There's a review process that goes into the dividing of the lot. It would get reviewed by planning staff at the Committee of Adjustment. And sometimes planning don't, won't agree with the size of the new lots that are created, but it'll be up to the Committee of Adjustment to make a decision. but just one quick. Correction. I think that's important for maybe the audience is

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

Sure.

daniel-kolominsky_1_11-04-2025_110539

that, the sixplex permissions, those are, only permitted within detached building structures. So if someone were thinking that, they wanted to submit an application to build two semis attached, that would not be permitted. You would have to do a planning application, like a committee of adjustment application or maybe a, a zoning bylaw amendment or further than that, potentially, because staff did not come forward with recommendation for six plexes in attached buildings. Just detach. But you could do fourplexes for in each, in attached forms like a.

payam_1_11-04-2025_110537

if I wanna push that a little bit further

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

So if I were to buy, a decent enough, site and size, on the front edge, let's say for example, a 60 or 65, and then hypothetically I could sever it into two semis and each of them could give me four units, and potentially I can also add one Garden Street or Laneway Street in the back if the site allows for it. So from one. Potential parcel of land, which is currently houses a bungalow, let's say for argument's sake,

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

Sure.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

I could create and add nine more units. Is that a fair way of describing it?

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

Yeah, that, that's definitely a possibility. You'd have to go through the application process. but we have seen that done and there's certain parts of the city where. That kind of an application might be an easier sort of application to submit because what the lot fabric is like in the area. You might have smaller lots already and then you're looking at a property that happens to be a wider lot amongst a lot of smaller, narrower lots. And the application to divide the lot makes a lot of sense there and you wouldn't have an issue from the departments reviewing that application. So it's a possibility.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

Okay. That's great. And, just before we go too far down that road, and I going back again to the comment at the beginning about planning only being part of the puzzle, one of the challenges that we have on these, Multiplexes and a little bit larger, maybe 10 units, 15 units. Apartments in the city of Toronto is, Toronto Hydro.

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

I.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

Is finding place to put a pat bound transformer putting, basically bringing in all the services. I don't assume, or let me ask you, do you know if there are any initiatives in the background happening to try and align a, what you're doing in planning with other parts in terms of Toronto Water, Toronto Hydro, and even potentially garbage collection?

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

there's, yeah, there's a whole host of different initiatives going on, like the monitoring programs are one thing. Multiplexes or the major streets, policy changes. There's a monitoring program associated with major streets. I do think it would make a lot of sense to, continue to have Toronto Hydro at the table discussing with them how can we make things easier for these new developments to, get the electrification and the demand that's necessary to those lots in a way that. Works for both, the city, the residents of the community, and the person building the building. So you don't necessarily just see all of these pad mount transformers just popping up on every single front yard. so there's the monitoring exercise, but then there's other, city led initiatives that, the solid waste department at the city is leading, like they are looking at the type G loading requirements. and looking at potential ways to maybe make some changes to, to better work, for mid-rise development. so that's an ongoing work program. but again, there's all these different departments. there's multiple different priorities within those departments and it's all about trying to get. Everyone together to look at what, to find the right balance to make sure that every, all the needs are still being met and we're still able to service these buildings in a way that, that, that works. And we're not, cutting corners on things and

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

Yeah.

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

our recommendations are sound.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

it's a complicated and large puzzle.

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

that are ongoing.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

There's, it's a lump complicated and large puzzle with,

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

it's one of those, it's one of those 2000, puzzle piece.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

yeah.

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

Ones that you try and work on, over the holidays, you

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

Yeah. Oh, it's a very long holiday because it's gonna take a while for us to put it together. Going back to the report, you have some cost estimation, construction cost estimation in the report, which, I understand was basically self-proclaimed. Basically, you asked the applicants as part of the permit process, how much they estimate the cost is so we'll. Take these numbers with a grain of salt just to, based on what was, informed. you have the average, which is interesting. On all these applications, you had $1 million, basically 1 million, $12,000 for these new construction sites. Forget about the renovation portion because you've. Broken that out as a small residential work, which those were averaging around 200 K, but the new buildings, the construction costs were, around a million bucks. And the duplexes on, so let's put this way from there. If you were to go through the range, they range from seven 50 to 1 4, 1 0.4 million in cost, but it average out around a million. What was your feeling when you were looking at this? Does these, did they really materialize in those numbers? Did you guys have any follow ups and see if there were major deviations after the fact, or have you heard anything about that?

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

yeah, it's a good, it's a good question. again, yeah, I would say you take those numbers with a grain of salt. We. With the building permit application, there is a category within the application process that says what is the cost of the project of the work. And I do think a lot of the time that the numbers that are in there are quite accurate. But I don't know for sure across the board on every application. So it really was just averaging out what we were seeing. The applicant, declaring or disclosing for their cost of construction. We didn't have a follow up with, folks in the industry to see how close those numbers were or the actual builders of those multiplexes to see whether or not those numbers were accurate. But, it could be a good, follow up as the monitoring program continues. I don't know from your perspective how

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

May, maybe a suggestion. Yeah, maybe a suggestion for the permit. Closeout, maybe out the box there and ask them how much deviation they had, based on their original estimate. But, so if I read the report, you have that per square foot and you're estimating that the heart cost, meaning the construction cost, where these projects were ranging between $179 a square foot. To $315 a square foot, which I would say is the 1 79. Seems a little bit low to me these days, at least in state of Toronto, but somewhere between two 50 and 300 is probably reasonable, and three 15 is probably very decent type of housing. Assuming that you don't have, Too many problems on site. So yeah, I wouldn't necessarily disagree. One of the other things that you had, which I found very interesting, and I'm happy that you had, 'cause I was gonna ask you and I was going and as I was going through the report, you already had it. There was a lot sizes. 'cause for, going back to our potentially investor developer profile of audience who are listening, the lot sizes are pretty important as part of the discussion. So it seems and by all means, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm looking at the numbers and I've converted some of these from, meters to feet, which is more. common in state of Toronto these days, but it seems like the fourplexes were basically a 37 foot wide lot or 11.29 meters. And, let's talk about that. Do you see. Any special efficiency being gained in that size lot, like 37? 37, unchanged, call it half. If we were to go to 30, would you think we're gonna run into many issues with layout, side setbacks and stuff?

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

I, yeah, generally I would say the larger the lot you have, I think the easier it may be to work within. The As of right or the zoning bylaw that would allow for you to maximize the envelope. Of the multiplex and still deliver your family sized units and good floor plans and again, meet the requirements of the zoning bylaw and maybe be able to provide a couple parking spaces, with the application too, as the site gets a little bit narrower. In order to provide those family oriented, family sized units, you might be looking at widening the building into the side yard setbacks. and that requires you to go to the Committee of Adjustments. So you may have to factor that in as a consideration. Another thing though, is that the multiplex bylaw did have a, an increased permission to building length or building depth of a building length of up to 19 meters. If you were on, what would be called a deep lot. So something that's deeper than 40 meters in total length. and then the width of the lot. Goes into that as well in 10 meters is the threshold to look at. And the actual zoning bylaw online give you these, the details on it. But if you have a specific lot that might be considered a deeper lot, then you could actually expand the multiplex deeper to 19 meters and that could unlock a little bit more gross floor area as well. So that could be a consideration why we saw some more activity on larger lots.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

Yeah, it definitely makes sense, but as a result. As is in the re in your results. These, lots that were more popular, it seems like they were around 32 on average, 32 and a half, so 9.8 meters, and then they were around 120 feet deep, 123 feet deep to be exact. And that sounds very reasonable to me and that's what I've also heard in the industry. That, that's where the whole severance conversation comes in because hypothetically you could get a 60 lot in state of Toronto in some places and break it up and make it at a 30, which will somehow, hopefully you make it work. You probably have to go through the community of adjustment to make it work, but it is not impossible. you touched on a topic that was gonna go next and that has to do with unit sizes. That's the other thing that I found interesting. And, A good, happy surprise, frankly. And that had to do with the scale of these units. Many of the condo units that we've had the opportunity of working on over the past 10 years, and we've built in buildings, especially the higher ones, are pretty small, like 500 square feet for one bedroom. 300 square feet for, or 350 square feet for a bachelor and 700 and change for two bedroom. Whereas in these, projects that you guys studied, it seems like the average was around a thousand, which is a very good size for starter home, potentially even for to have a family. What are your thoughts on that?

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

that was one of the greatest sort of takeaways I think from looking at those 400 permits. we. We really, thought as though multiplexes could be, one of the tools in the housing toolkit to add more opportunities for families potentially to, to find homes that have two or three bedroom units within them. And, the envelope of the multiplex building, really, unlocks that opportunity if you're looking at building. Four units within this envelope of the multiplex, maximizing it really can lead to these unit sizes. And we thought it was a great outcome from the initial review of multiplexes over the first 18 months. I do think that trend has continued on and we continued to still see these, multiplexes with a thousand square feet, sometimes less. Sometimes more, which is a positive outcome, and it is filling a gap from what we have seen in the high rise market, which is a bit more of a skew towards one bedrooms or those 500 square feet units. So it's very positive to see.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

And I attest I had the opportunity, to walk through some of these multiplexes, especially in your area, in the Toko area. And I probably walked, I dunno, three or four of them over the past three months. And, the ones that are closer to being finished, they actually look very decent. Like the units that we were. Visiting, two, three stories. Obviously, like one of these buildings was, it was larger than the typical, multiplex. I think they're gonna have six units, if I'm not wrong. And, When you walk in these units on the second floor, you're, you definitely feel the definition of ground oriented. the ground, you see the street, you see the trees out there. You hear the movement on the street, which I personally think is a sign of livelihood of that neighborhood. And, but you also get. 1100 square feet worth of space, which is very good. like it has good lighting, good feel to it. So definitely on the right track. we touched on community of adjustments and as part of your report, you have outlined how many of these applications had to go with, go to the community adjustment and we've also flagged what was the biggest issues they had to go to. To committee of adjustments and it was the side yard setbacks. Can you walk us through that a little bit?

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

Yeah, I think the Committee of Adjustment activity piece, one was important. We wanted to see, whether or not these multiplexes were commonly as of right or needing to go to the Committee of Adjustment time after time. 'cause at the end of the day, we were looking to try and facilitate, multiplexes, Quicker and, do it in a way that a multiplex can follow our zoning bylaw envelope and fit into the neighborhood, and not have someone needing to go to the Committee of Adjustment. And for the first 200 applications that we saw building permits, we only saw, I think the number was about like 10% of those multiplexes went to the Committee of Adjustment. Now, again, a lot of those permits are renovations and small additions, and you're. More likely to meet the zoning bylaw requirements when you're doing that kind of a building type, just a, an a renovation permit. but then this, the next, set of multiplex building permits. And then this is where we did the additional review that goes to April of 2025. We wanted to see how much committee of adjustment activity there were for multiplexes, and we did see that there was more activity occurring. At the Committee of Adjustments, side yard setbacks, like you mentioned, being a more common one. I Gen. but also important to note is that the vast majority of these multiplexes are getting approved at the Committee of Adjustment, these c of a applications. I think it's easy for people to dwell on the ones that get refused, and sometimes those are the ones that make it to the media and the news articles. But again, I think it was about 80% so far of the ones that were submitted to the Committee of Adjustment, are approved and only 7%. refused, but the side yard setback could help unlock maybe that, better floor plate to provide the kind of unit that will be to a potential tenant and to A tenant who, might be a family, and that's what someone is looking for, to fill the units in the multiplexes. but they weren't drastic side yard setbacks. There's in our perspective, a lot of these are minor in nature and makes sense for them to get approved at the Committee of adjustment.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

So if we were to zoom out and look at this whole report and, the exercise that you guys. Have done. What do you think were some of the biggest lessons learned for you guys at the city saying, you know what, we did this term, we did this changes the regulations, we did the monitoring report, and, we obviously were trying to learn something. What were the some of the bigger takeaways for next iteration of changes to regulation? If there's one in 2, 3, 5 years, does anything come to mind?

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

Yeah, I think it's a good question. Lessons learned are always important. for sure. We generally feel as though. Things are being implemented in a way that it, one, it's a sustainable introduction of multiplexes into the city. a lot of times there's fear out there that you're going to see an avalanche of new housing forms just up everywhere and. We hear it from, people at times in the communities that it's just gonna erode the neighborhood and it's not a good thing. And, we're seeing a gradual introduction of these multiplexes, which is good. I think that we anticipated that it would be a sort of a gradual, implementation and, addition of these more housing forms. I a takeaway or a lesson learned is it. it's always ideal to try and see something be as of right and see your zoning bylaw get implemented The way that we were thinking it, it would, and, when you see things going to the Committee of Adjustment, you think maybe there were things that were, we missed and, there were mistakes that we could have been fixing. But I, at the end of the day, I think there will always be people who go to the Committee of Adjustment. That committee of Adjustment is there for a reason and, it. it's tough to get to a point where everything's just as of right. But, looking back and seeing what are the most common variances that are being requested gives us an opportunity to maybe pay a little bit more attention the next time we're looking at making a recommendation and a change ensure that, there won't be, for example, an interpretation issue. At the Toronto Buildings department, where you're getting semi-detached multiplexes being reviewed as apartment buildings. So I think it's important to have, a key, a key and eye and attention to those changes that you're making because they will become zoning there could be unintended, issues that you didn't really expect to pop up. and I would say that, in my sort of. as a planner and, I like to try and have as many discussions as I can with community members, with people in the industry, and working that into the review of these studies is important. the perspective from architects and planners from the industry who are oftentimes ones who are trying to construct and build these things is important because, There could be things that we might, not think about that another person would. So I do think as these monitoring programs continue, that collaboration happens with people outside of the city is important, as well. 'cause there's always different viewpoints that we might miss out on, without having those conversations. but

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

So keep the communication line open.

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

a lot, but, I'll

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

Yeah,

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

tight.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

I appreciate that. Let's talk next steps. Let's talk next phase. We had the fourplex. Now we have currently we have, the sixplex being essentially tested in how many wards? I think it's two words right now.

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

no. it's all of Toronto and East York District. I forget the total number of wards in there. plus Ward 23 of Scarborough. so

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

Gotcha.

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

than, it's more than just two. It might be around, nine or 10.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

Nine or 10.

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

as we're, yeah.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

So I guess the next step, would be potentially for that six plex to become as of right in all city of Toronto in the next, do you have a timeline on that? do you guys know what that timeline potentially looks like?

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

I think I, I was asked that, before just, during my, regular, day job. Someone was asking about that and really, so city planning staff came forward with the recommendation of six plexes across the city. But council said, we don't agree with that. the monitoring report of multiplexes is continuing to queue to. 2027. there could be a report that comes back earlier than that, but I think really it's with council to bring something back that's, that asks staff to bring forward a recommendation for six plexes perhaps again. So I think it's hard to say, but, I do think it's with counsel to make a sort of decision of what they would to do.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

Gotcha. So it's,

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

I don't really have a. A

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

I then

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

someone

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

appre. I appreciate that.

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

to Scarborough or Toko.

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

Yeah, we have a lot of, when it goes to council, we have a lot of things at play, but as a planner, and I don't know if you feel comfortable responding to this question or not, but is six to number is six to number the magical num number for City of Toronto eventually from a technical perspective, or is it five or is it eight? What is the number?

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

I do think, it's a good question. I don't, I, I wouldn't say that there's a sort of a magic number. I do know that. Within, the city of Toronto, we're continuing to look at our zoning bylaw and the residential zones. It's something that's on the work program, and I do think we've already acknowledged this in multiple iterations of eon is moving towards more form-based zoning, which is setting the envelope of the building and then perhaps not, attributing too much of a numerical number to the number of units within that envelope. or maybe changing the definitions of, what a multiplex truly is defined as. Like right now you have to have a portion of each unit stacked upon one another. is that necessarily, the way that a multiplex has to be designed? Could you have them vertically, side by side, within that envelope? So I do think there's more work that's being done on this form-based zoning approach. But, in terms of number of units, I don't know what the magical number is, but right now we know that city planning stuff, felt comfortable with six units across the city. council had other opinions on that, but I do think there's other bigger sort of housing initiatives underway. Major street's one of them. But then, looking at our avenues as a way to unlock more mid-rise development potential, on the avenue is another thing that could really

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

definitely. that's one of the things that we've been hoping for and we've been advocating for a long time. We need those mid rises on main avenues. Thank you, Daniel. This has been very informative. I still encourage everyone to go and check the actual report with the data. There's ton more data that I, we didn't touch base here, touch on here. So I definitely suggest you go there. We'll put a link. To the document on our website and on the show notes, they can down download. Is there anything that I should have asked you and I didn't? Daniel? Any final parting thoughts?

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

I would say, if I could give, people some advice, maybe on, on together a good application, whether it's an as of right

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

Sure.

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

a building or a just a, or an application that requires a planning application, I do think it's, It's important to understand, the fact that if you're going to the Committee of Adjustment, there's multiple departments that come into play. If you're making a minor variance application for a multiplex, there's transportation review, there's urban forestry, there's community planning, sometimes housing policy, environmental planning, like there's all these different pieces that then get factored into a minor variance application. And I think one of the things that. It's really helpful for someone putting in an application is to be proactive, reach out to those departments. I know sometimes it's tough to get ahold of someone, but, There, like the staff directory is there, there's different people at the city who can help connect you to the right, folks who could review the application and try and get a sort of a headstart on what kind of comments you might get for a Committee of adjustment application so that you can maybe make that application, tighter and you could revise it before you actually get to the Committee of Adjustment to avoid maybe a deferral. A, a deferral decision or a refusal report from a specific department. being proactive, reaching out to different staff ahead of time is a really good thing to do. And, Yeah, I, something like that I think is always good for people to consider. but like outside of that, I think, I'm always my, my, information's out there. I'm always happy to take questions. I know now that it's out there to everyone in the audience, I might get a lot of phone calls or emails, but, that's

payam_2_11-04-2025_115624

and that would be a good thing that. Would be a good thing. That means that what you guys are doing is in the right direction. And I know from conversations, that I've had with people who are doing multiplexes, that you've had a very open, door to them and you've helped the process educating people. So that, that's definitely good. Thank you very much, Daniel. It was a pleasure to have you here. Hopefully that you guys keep pushing, making more impact and in a year or two we have a similar conversation to see what you've been up to next. Thank you very much. I.

daniel-kolominsky_2_11-04-2025_115625

Yeah. Thanks again. I.

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