Saying the process wasn't fair to anyone, Windsor's city councillor for Ward 9 hopes his colleagues will reconsider changing a city bylaw that only allows three dwelling units on a single property in low-density areas.
If the city changes the bylaw to allow four units, it meets the criteria to apply to take advantage of up to $70-million in federal funding to build new homes.
Council initially voted to leave the bylaw alone during a special meeting on December 14, fearing it would change the character of many neighbourhoods and overtax infrastructure.
"What's being asked of us here is to allow a four-plex anywhere in the city," said Mayor Drew Dilkens. "So if you live in Riverside, think of your neighbours, think of that house being bought, and two weeks from now, a four-plex going up."
Ward 1 councillor Fred Francis felt the risk of accepting the money from the Housing Accelerator Fund outweighed the benefits.
"The reward just isn't there, especially when we hear from our residents pretty frequently what the concerns are and how fast we are growing," he said.
Kieran McKenzie in Ward 9 and Ward 3's Renaldo Agostino were the only votes in favour of changing the bylaw at the time. McKenzie said councillors received the report just moments before the meeting began. They were told a decision was needed immediately to meet the deadline set out by the federal government.
"Now, it is my understanding we can submit our application sometime in the New Year, preferably right after our first meeting of council, which I believe is on January 15," said McKenzie, who confirmed the new timeline with Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk and Windsor West MP Brian Masse.
He's asked the administration to bring the report back and for council to vote on it again as if it was the first time they were addressing the issue.
A motion to reconsider needs two-thirds of the council's support and must be introduced by a councillor who voted to walk away from the funding.
McKenzie doesn't believe allowing four units would overburden infrastructure.
"I think it was overplayed," he said. "Embedded in that is the assumption that literally thousands of people across the community would make the decision to make a massive change to their residential home -- We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars."
McKenzie expects some on council will hold fast to their previous position to keep the bylaw as is, but said some in the community are concerned about council's decision to walk away from millions of dollars during a housing crisis.
"Let's get this right and give the community [an opportunity to have its say,]" he said. "Just recently, the City of Toronto approved the bylaw change that was required and announced that they're receiving $430-million. The City of Windsor, if this decision remains the same, is going to be one of a very small number of communities across Canada that isn't going to leverage this program."
