The words a zoning answer is built out of.
27 terms that appear in the product, in a report it generates, or in the room where someone asks you to defend a number.
Under reviewThese definitions are written for a reader, not for a hearing. They are pending review by a planner before launch, and none of them is a substitute for the by-law text itself.
The dimensions a zoning by-law works in. Every scenario is built out of these.
- GFAGross Floor Area
The total floor area of a building, measured the way the by-law defines it. Exactly what counts and what is excluded varies, which is why two people can measure the same building and get different numbers.
Always check which definition a figure was produced under before comparing it to another one.
Covered inMultiplexes in Toronto: four units everywhere, six in nine wardsWhat you can build on a Toronto lot
- FSIFloor Space Index
The ratio of a building's gross floor area to the area of the lot it sits on. An FSI of 2.0 on a 5,000 square foot lot permits roughly 10,000 square feet of floor area.
FSI caps density, not shape. A lot can hit its FSI limit in several different massings.
Covered inMultiplexes in Toronto: four units everywhere, six in nine wardsWhat you can build on a Toronto lot
- Setback
The distance a building has to be held back from a lot line. Front, side and rear setbacks are usually different, and a corner lot has two fronts.
Covered inGarden suites in Toronto: what fits in a rear yardLaneway suites in Toronto: does your lane qualify
- Angular plane
A sloping ceiling measured up and inward from a lot line, usually at 45 degrees. Anything above it is not permitted, which is what stops a tall flat wall from being built along a boundary.
Covered inGarden suites in Toronto: what fits in a rear yard
- Lot coverage
The share of the lot a building is allowed to sit on, measured as a footprint rather than a floor area.
- Parcel ring
The actual polygon boundary of a property, as the City's parcel layer holds it. Reading a constraint against the ring rather than against a single point is the difference between knowing a regulated area touches the rear of the lot and not knowing it at all.
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- Established building line
A front setback taken from what the neighbours have already built, rather than from a fixed number in the by-law. It is how a street keeps a consistent frontage.
The built forms Toronto's by-law names, and the ones people ask about by name.
- Garden suite
A self-contained detached dwelling in the rear yard of a lot that already has a house on it, with no frontage on a public lane.
Separation from the main house, side and rear setbacks, and an angular plane all bind at once, which is why irregular lots so often come back smaller than a rule of thumb suggests.
Covered inGarden suites in Toronto: what fits in a rear yardLaneway suites in Toronto: does your lane qualify
- Laneway suite
A detached dwelling at the rear of a lot that fronts onto a public lane. The lane has to qualify, which is a condition of the lane and not of the lot.
- Multiplex
A single building divided into several dwelling units. Toronto permits multiplexes city-wide, subject to the same envelope rules any other building faces.
Covered inMultiplexes in Toronto: four units everywhere, six in nine wards
- Podium and tower
The two-part shape most mid-rise and tall buildings take. The podium meets the street at a lower height, and the tower is set back above it so the street does not feel walled in.
- Land assembly
Combining neighbouring parcels so they can be developed as one site. An assembly can support a building that none of the parcels could carry alone.
Modelling an assembly says nothing about whether the neighbouring owners will sell.
Named states, not a score: four on the commercial ladder, three on the residential confidence read. They mean the same thing in the sidebar, the report and the assistant.
- As-of-right
Permitted by the zoning by-law as it stands today, without a variance, an amendment or any discretionary approval.
As-of-right describes the zoning, not the permit. Building permits, servicing and site conditions are separate questions.
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- Precedent-supported
Beyond what the by-law permits today, but comparable to applications that have been approved nearby. It is evidence that the City has said yes to something similar, not a commitment that it will again.
A commercial-ladder state. Residential paths are graded on confidence instead. See Likely and Review below.
- Policy-supported
Beyond what the by-law permits today, and consistent with the policy direction for the area, but without a nearby approval to point at.
A commercial-ladder state.
- Speculative
Modelled because the geometry allows it, with no approval and no policy behind it. Useful for understanding a site's ceiling, and not an argument you can take into a room.
A commercial-ladder state. In the 3D it is the one volume drawn as a dashed amber ghost rather than a solid.
- Likely
A residential build path the by-law permits in principle on this lot, with a detail left to settle before the number is firm. It is the middle of the three states a residential scenario can carry.
“As-of-right” means something narrower on the residential side than on the commercial ladder: no variance needed, rather than no rezoning needed.
- Review
A residential build path where something on the lot needs a person to look at it before anyone relies on the figure. The weakest of the three residential states, and the one that says stop rather than proceed.
The bodies, registers and overlays that sit between a drawing and a permit.
- By-law 569-2013
Toronto's city-wide zoning by-law. It is the document that says what a given zone permits, and it is the source almost every figure on a Toronto lot traces back to.
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- Site-specific exception
A numbered clause attached to a particular property that overrides part of its base zone. Reading a lot from its zone label alone, without checking its exceptions, is where a confident wrong answer usually comes from.
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- Committee of Adjustment
The panel that hears minor variance applications. It is where a proposal that is close to the by-law but not quite inside it gets decided.
- Minor variance
Permission to depart from a specific requirement of the by-law by a small margin. What counts as minor is a judgement, and it is the Committee's to make.
- Secondary plan
A policy document covering one area in more detail than the Official Plan does. Membership does not change what the by-law permits, but it shapes what the City is likely to support.
- Heritage Register
The City's list of properties with recognised heritage interest. Listing and designation are different things, and they carry different consequences.
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- Rental replacement
The requirement to replace rental housing that a redevelopment would remove. It applies above a threshold, and it changes what a site is worth.
- Archaeological potential
A mapped likelihood that a site contains archaeological resources, which triggers an assessment before soil is disturbed. It covers a large share of Toronto and is a screening flag rather than a finding.
Easier to see on a lot than to read on a page.
Book a demoEvery ZoneForm output is preliminary and not legal advice. It is a first-pass reading of the City’s own data, meant to be verified with the City before anyone spends money on it.