Rural housing zoning changes requested for property owners outside of Port Hope

Home renovations. By Roselyn Tirado. Free Use Domain. Upsplash

By: Dan Jones, Northumberland 89.7 FM News, Local Journalism Initiative.

A rural resident near Port Hope is asking the municipal council to consider expanding zoning requirements to allow for more additional housing units outside of urban town boundaries.

Andrew McMartin and his wife bought a house with an outbuilding. They want to renovate the outbuilding to lease for either short or long term rentals. However the outbuilding is currently zoned as agricultural, negating rental opportunities.

As well, The McMartin’s claims the property has a shared driveway, which also poses zoning challenges.

He addressed the Municipality of Port Hope Council Tuesday evening stating the outdated zoning policies do not encourage new housing options or increased revenue for rural residents.

“ARU’s offer a low impact solution and are already prioritized by Ontario’s government. Yet, many rural residents remain excluded due to limiting blanket style zoning restrictions that can’t consider specific problems for specific solutions. At the same time, tax rates continue to rise and the municipality has an opportunity to help residents meet these financial pressures by enabling modest income generating uses of their property,” stated McMartin.

Councillor Claire Holloway Wadhwani said McMartin’s presentation highlighted areas of consideration for rural property development. However, two years ago, council hastily passed a motion on a similar request, which only caused further confusion regarding additional housing provisions.

She suggested that the Council fully examine ARU’s before making a decision.

“It ended up taking two years to come to a resolution. I think there was some confusion about what the Council resolution was saying. I am interested in looking at this and having staff take a closer look and provide some more advice to council on whether the provision could be removed, or whether instead of a blanket prohibition, something more specific,” explained Halloway Wadhwani.

Municipal staff will need to examine rural housing zoning, but how shared roads or driveways are impacting development. A report could come before council as soon as September.