Case study · decided file
The Committee Approves a Fourplex in Willowdale
14 Ancona St · new three-storey fourplex · approved 2026
The lot is ordinary for its street and sits at the median on area at 697 m². 35.3% of nearby lots match or exceed it on both area and frontage, and 86.1% meet the mapped minimums.
This is a retrospective demonstration study. The Committee of Adjustment already decided this application, and the file is a public record. Daniel Du was not retained on the matter. We prepared this analysis after the decision, as a work sample. It states no planning opinion.
The package includes the report (PDF), print-ready map and chart exhibits (PNG), the data tables with a data dictionary (CSV), a methods note (TXT), the interactive map (HTML).
The interactive map is one HTML file. Open it from disk in any browser. Each threshold has a slider and an exact-value box, and the counts and headline update as you move them. You can change the colours, outlines and fill, switch to a colour gradient, or add a satellite, topographic or building footprint background. Click any mapped feature to see its record. The map works offline. The satellite and topographic backgrounds need an internet connection. The package also includes this same file.
How it is measured
We measure every low-rise residential lot within 500 m from parcel geometry in EPSG:2952. Frontage is the street-facing edge of the lot along its addressed street. The subject is a corner lot. It fronts Ancona St and a second named street. We measure its frontage along Ancona St, the addressed street, and we take its area from the whole parcel. We keep corner lots in the cohort for this study, because a fourplex depends on lot size and not on mid-block position.
We compare each lot with the subject on two measures. A lot 'matches or exceeds' the subject when its area is at least the subject's measured area and its frontage is at least the subject's measured frontage. We allow a tolerance of 0.5 m² and 0.05 m. The softer screen tests each lot against the mapped 550 m² and 15.0 m minimums. We also test each lot against the 'a' and 'f' values of its own zone label, the method used in the delivered Willowdale study. The subject sits in RD (f15.0; a550) (x5), the same zone as the Willowdale demonstration site.
Precedent comes from Committee of Adjustment records. We geolocate each record to the parcel fabric and keep files received in 2015 or later. A file counts as unit-adding when its description mentions a fourplex, multiplex, triplex, duplex or added dwelling units. The search is case-insensitive. The counts are small, so Exhibit 2 shows them against all files on the record rather than as a stacked bar on their own.
The decision record gives the proposal, the decision and the objection field. It does not publish the variances sought or the approved plans. We state what the record says and no more.