The City of Pickering has initiated a proposal to amend the City's Official Plan and Zoning By-Laws for areas of Pickering that they call "established neighbourhood precincts". These neighbourhoods include specific sections of Rosebank, West Shore, Bay Ridges, Rougemount, Dunbarton, Woodlands, Highbush and Liverpool.

The full information about the proposed amendments can be found here: https://www.pickering.ca/en/city-hall/city-initiated-opa-20-006p.aspx 

There will be significant negative financial consequences to individual property owners like you if this proposal is implemented. It will impose inequitable and subjective restrictions on what is able to be build on your own property including reductions in lot coverage and setbacks. Property values of smaller homes in these areas will be severely reduced if what can be rebuilt as a replacement house is arbitrarily restricted in size. Whether you live in these areas or not, you should be concerned. The overall outcome of this proposal will be to restrict an owners property rights and decrease the property values in some of Pickering most desirable neighbourhoods. 

Outside of a loss in property value, some of the biggest concerns with the proposal include:

• It is not equitable - it does not apply to all Pickering residents equally only the specific areas that seem to have been arbitrarily selected
• It recommends subjective criteria related to building size, design features and style that is relative to what already exists on your neighbours' properties. This gives power to individual city planners rather than an objective standard that applies equally to all.
• It will create parking and safety issues - on lots with a width less than 50 feet, you will be restricted to a single car garage and a single lane driveway. Inability to park cars on your own property will mean more cars on the street and will create more serious issues like safety for pedestrians
• It is misleading - one of the few quantifiable criteria included is a reduction in lot coverage from the current 33% to between 25%-30% depending on the area. However, because the other requirements are subjective and relative you may not be able to reach even the reduced lot coverage - reducing the value of your property even more 
• It is based on an outdated report - the negative tone that the report takes to larger homes does not recognize the impacts of the pandemic we are living through and the fact that many of us are now working from home, caring for elderly family members in our homes and providing in home daycare or school for our children, all of which will likely continue and require more space
• It discriminates against individual property owners - larger developers have access to a different planning process that allows them to work around these restrictions. For example, recent development proposals have approved lot coverages of as much as 50% for a large developer 
• It is undemocratic - by including the recommendations in the Official Plan, Council and City Staff will indirectly REMOVE your right to appeal these regulations through the Committee of Adjustment process

It is not possible, or good for individual property owners like you to have city planners control the character of your neighbourhood through this proposal. What are they trying to preserve? The neighbourhoods have already transitioned with the approval of City Council beyond the very few remaining original cottages and bungalows.

The current zoning By-Laws are working. They have adequately, impartially, equally and in a quantifiable way, allowed for building footprint size in relation to lot size for all Pickering residential single family home property owners since the enactment of the current By-Laws. This proposal should be rejected by Pickering City Council and these neighbourhoods should be allowed to complete their transition under the existing By-Laws.

If you are concerned about the impact this proposal will have on your rights as a property owner in Pickering please sign this petition. The petition will be submitted to City Council on January 11.

If you are able, please also send an email stating your objections with the subject line "Opposition to Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment Infill and Replacement Housing in Established Neighbourhoods" to the following individuals. The City's deadline to receive comments is January 11:

Dave Ryan, Mayor: mayor@pickering.ca
Kevin Ashe, Councillor: kashe@pickering.ca
Bill McLean, Councillor: bmclean@pickering.ca
Ian Cumming, Councillor: icumming@pickering.ca
David Pickles, Councillor: dpickles@pickering.ca
Shaheen Butt, Councillor: sbutt@pickering.ca
Maurice Brenner, Councillor: mbrenner@pickering.ca 
Margaret Kish, Principal Planner: mkish@pickering.ca