The Zoroastrian Temple in Toronto: A Case Study in Land Use Regulation, Canadian-Style

• Author: Eran Kaplinsky
• Pages: 223-257

ﾆﾆﾇ

The Zoroastrian Temple in Toronto:

A Case Study in Land Use Regulation,

CanadianStyle

EranKaplinsky*

Introduction

Oin Toronto at the southwest corner of Bayview Avenue

and Steeles Avenuestands a stately twostorey residence overlooking the

ravine that separates it from the busy intersection. The mansion stands out

amongtheupscalesuburbanhomesoftheneighbourhoodforitslargesize

andsTudorRevivalarchitectureAgateandwroughtironfenceguard

themainentrancetothesouthAwellwornpavedroadoBayviewAvenue

leads to a second entrance. At various times the house was known as “Tudor

HillWindrushHilltheRuddhouseandtheMazodelaRocheman

sion” after the famous Canadian author who, as a small plaque notes, once

livedthereThesignnowreadssimplyZoroastrianTempleBayview

The controversy that engulfed the house over thirty years ago, highlighted

in HGWintonLtdvNorthYork,isthequintessentialstoryofzoningregula

tion in Ca nada.

The Zoning Power

Zbest known and arg uably the most important mean s

ofregulatingtheuseoflandinCanadaMunicipalzoningpowersarederived

* I would like to tha nk Brandon Mewhart and Tim Groves for their research

assistance.

ﾆﾆﾈEranKaplinsky

from enabling provincial legislat iona nd while the specic arrangements

varyfromjurisdictiontojurisdictionzoningbylawstypicallyconsistofa

map dividing the municipal territory into dist ricts or zonesand a text

documentseingoutforeachdistricttheusesthatmaybemadeoflandand

the development standards, such as height and bulk limitations, that apply

tobuildingsTheeectofzoningistoestablishorstabilizethepredominant

character of the various areas in the municipality, be it residential, commer

cial, or otherw ise.

ZoningemergedinNorthAmericaintheearlydecadesofthethcentury

Local governments had previously exercised limited public control over the

builtenvironmentthroughvarioushealthandbuildingcodesaimedchiey

atcontainingreandcontagionbutthepaernsoflandusewithineach

community were determined largely by topography, the location of ports

and railways, and common business sense, and were unreg ulated except by

the common law of nuisance and the use of private restrictive covenants.

Howeverwithrapidurbanizationindustrializationandincreasedimmi

gration came a demand for new municipal powers over land use and de

velopment, which was met by the enactment of suitable enabling legislation

bythevariousprovincesForexampleinmunicipalitiesinBritishCol

ViewoftheMazodelaRochehousefromCreeksideRoadPhotoERAArchitects

TheZoroastrianTempleinTorontoﾆﾆﾉ

umbiawerepermiedtodenethestreetsorareaswithinwhichlaundries

or washhouses may be established maintained or operated Similarly,

Ontario municipalities were authorized in  to preventreg ulate and

control the location, erection and use of buildings for laundries, butcher’s

shops, stores and manufactories.”

InKitchenerOntariobecamethe

rstCanadianmunicipalitytoadoptazoningbylawthatdividedthewhole

municipal territory into use districts in accordance with a comprehensive

town pla n.ThepracticeofzoningspreadacrossCanadasoonafterandthen

intheUnitedStatesoncetheconstitutionalityofzoningwasseledbythe

USSupremeCourtin

Comprehensivezoningwaschampionedbyanemergingplanningpro

fession captivated by ideals such as the “City Beautiful,” and later the “City

EcientZoning also appealed to professional s urveyorsarc hitects and

engineers, as well as reformers and housing advocates, who shared the

planners’ belief that it would promote orderly growth and a more salubrious

urban environment. In the US, the federal administration actively encour

agedtheproliferationofzoningasameanstoexpandinghomeownership

PlanningandzoningwereconsonantwiththetenetsoftheProgressiveEra

intheirpromisetoamelioratesocietythroughscienticexpertiseandgood

governance, and were endorsed in Canada largely on similar premise s.

Despiteitspromisetopromotethepublicgoodhoweverzoningwould

not have gained popularity if it had not appealed to the private interest of

homeowners and developers. New modes of transportation introduced in

theearlypartsofthethcenturyrsttheelectricstreetcarandthenthe

private automobile — created new opportunities for development and fun

damentally altered land use paerns across Nort h America A suburban

century” began, as manufacturers no longer needed to build their factories

next to ports or railways, and workers no longer needed to live near their

place of employment. The suburbs beckoned to the middle class in particu

laroeringbeerneighbourhoodamenitiesandanewsocialstatusButthe

sameeaseofaccessthatmadeexclusiveresidentialenclavessoaractivealso

made them vulnerable to intrusion by uses a nd users deemed “undesirable,”

including multifamily housing. Zoning was to the middle class a defender

oftheirnewlyfoundsuburbanidealByentrustingzoningtolocallyelected

councillorscarefullyaunedtotheirwishesprivilegedhomeownerscould

obtainthenextbestthingtoadirectvoteonwhomaybeadmiedtotheir

neighbourhoods. This de facto right to exclude was also a boon to real es

tate interests, because it protected land values and promoted investment in