Zoning bylaws and telework

Toronto invokes bylaw to prevent telework
October 2006, Toronto software developer and teleworker, Ernie Crawford, received a Notice of Violation from the city telling him to either stop working from home, or move out of his new Toronto home.  Seems when a jealous neighbour had complained, bylaw officers enforce an antiquated zoning bylaws restricting work at home. See Toronto bylaw (City of Toronto Bylaw #169-1998) at this link http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/bylaws/1998/law0169.htm

Mr. Crawford cannot understand the rationale for Toronto’s action.  He’s done nothing that could possibly disrupt the neighbourhood — no noise (he works quietly on a laptop computer), no signage, no steady stream of customers going to and from his house, and no parking problems.

I too fail to understand Toronto’s position. With tens of thousands of teleworkers just like him, the city is basically saying that telework is illegal — completely ridiculous in this age of information workers, and the benefits they bring.

Far from welcoming telework, Toronto appears to want to drive it away. Understandably frustrated with the situation, Crawford says “I have a lot of money invested in my house, and I do not want to be forced to work out of an office building downtown or be forced to move to a suburb.”

With so many benefits, Toronto should allow and promote telework

It’s surprising and disappointing that Canada's largest city, does not allow a concept like telework that it desperately needs to cut traffic and pollution, increase productivity as well as allowing business to continue during strikes, storms, and pandemics etc.  With so many benefits, you’d think Toronto would not only allow telework, but would also promote the heck out of it — much like many cities (mostly US, but some Canadian) have done.

Are you teleworking illegally? Do your zoning bylaws permit telework?
It's likely that your local zoning bylaws don't allow working at home. That's because most were written before this trend became so popular.  Municipalities have simply not had the time to amend their bylaws yet.

If your city's bylaws do not allow telework, you likely won't be bothered too much as long as you don't make noise or cause disruption with too many visitors, parking and traffic disruption, and signage. You might want to contact your municipal government to see what their current thinking is.

Aside from the many advantages that telework can bring to communities, there are many reasons for cities to integrate telework into their zoning bylaws. First of all, the telework population is an enormous one and growing exponentially. Furthermore, teleworkers are employees who tend to be quiet, have few or no visitors and require no signage.  Outdated zoning laws can actually disqualify many telework situations.  Employers are increasingly asking their employers to certify that their teleworking complies with local zoning laws. Residents disqualified in this fashion would not be too happy with their municipality.