A Toronto family has won a seven-year battle with the city to keep an illegal addition to its Harbord Village home.
The city first issued a notice to the Tsengs on Aug. 29, 2006, informing them their two-storey addition to the rear of 38 Brunswick Ave. had been built without a permit and the city was taking action.
The city had said the addition blocked a neighbouring home’s sun and view and the specialized structure might not be practical for future residents of the house. No one from the neighbouring home complained about the addition.
Pauline Tseng — the daughter of residents Shih and Yang Tseng and now the owner of 38 Brunswick — argued violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and equated demolishing the addition with a “forced eviction.”
She appealed the case through the divisional courts, a committee-of-adjustment panel and an earlier Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing, according to the Toronto Star, and brought in a psychologist to testify to her parents’ dementia, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Every step of the way, the family has been told that they should not have built an addition first and tried to legalize it second,” Coun. Adam Vaughan said.
Though it discounted the family’s arguments, in its July 18 decision, the OMB said it would allow the addition to stand with minor adjustments to its depth and how far it was set back in the yard.
“The height, massing and scale of the addition generally fit the pattern of rear additions in the neighbourhood,” the board said.
“The fact that there is some loss of sunlight and some increase in shadow is insufficient for the board to find that the proposed rear addition offends policy.”