The Maverick (64 Margaret/217-229 Victoria N | 6 fl | completed

[ijmorlan]

Citation needed about reasons behind any of the details of zoning by-law.

Are you asking why setbacks are required, or why a specific setback is required for a specific zoning? I bet the latter doesn't exist. Edit: so probably it's wrong to say "those" setbacks are required for a reason. Who knows why those and not larger or smaller ones.

Viewfromthe42 said "setbacks are not required," and strictly speaking that's true. But it has to be pretty rare for a 0 setback from a property line to be allowed for a new building. If there's no access to the rear of the property from another street, you need some setback from the lot lines to access that part of the building, or to maintain it.

My issue with all of these variances (generally) is that it's impossible for property owners to do their due diligence in deciding whether an adjacent property is likely to be developed in a way that would aversely effect them. That's a subjective determination, of course. For all we know, these residents when deciding to purchase the properties looked at the zoning of the lot next door, and decided that, if it happened, they could live with a fifty-foot-tall building fifteen feet from their yard. Now variances are being granted and it turns out what they thought the neighbouring property was zoned for was a polite fiction.

I think one revolutionary but obvious change would be to make setbacks an easement held by each property owner over nearby properties. So, roughly speaking, there would be an inverted pyramid extending up and out from each property, and any development that proposed to occupy any other property’s inverted pyramid would have to obtain permission from that property owner. Of course the permission could be purchased, and probably would be in some circumstances.

So, to build a garage at a zero setback from my neighbour, all I need at most is their permission; it isn’t the business of anybody else how close I build to my neighbour’s property line. To build a 100m tall building, I need the permission of every property close enough that its inverted pyramid is less than 100m away from the ground at my property. The zoning code would specify different slopes for the edges at different altitudes and in different zones. For example, in a low-rise residential zone, it might be something like straight up for 2m, then up at a 45-degree angle for 100m, then straight up to the sky. In a downtown area, it might be straight up for 100m, then up at a 45-degree angle for 200m, then straight up to the sky.

Also, I wouldn’t make a distinction between fences and buildings. It’s really none of my business whether the 2m tall structure on my neighbour’s property line is a fence or one wall of a building.