National Post (National Edition)
DRAKE GETS PERMISSION TO BUILD EXTRA TALL FENCES.
TORONTO • At first glance, the residence under construction at 21 Park Lane Circle doesn’t look all that ostentatious. As a sprawling mansion in the heart of Bridle Path, a neighbourhood whose seclusion is sought out by Toronto’s richest, it looks like its neighbours.
Yet on Tuesday, Park Lane Circle is busier than usual. Cars slow as drivers strain for a peek through the black gates. A woman walks by on the opposite side of the street, clutching an iPhone with its camera aimed toward the house.
“Is this Drake’s house?” she asks. “My daughter wanted me to take a picture.”
Given the level of attention already being showered on a property still being built, the Canadian rapper’s request to build fences twice as high as dictated by city bylaws seem all the more reasonable.
On Monday, the City of Toronto granted the rapper permission to build fences up to 4.4 metres high, after his lawyer successfully argued that the singer had a need for greater-than-average security. The city’s bylaws dictate that no residential fence can exceed more than two metres in height.
“The amount of people that try to come onto this property during the day and at night is very, very significant,” Brad Rafauli, vice-president of the Ferris Rafauli Architectural Design Build Group, told North York Community Council on Monday.
“Everyone knows where he eats, where he sleeps and that has really freaked him out,” he added.
The 21,000-square-foot mansion has been under construction since Drake purchased the two-acre parcel of land in 2016 for a reported $6.7 million. He has been giving fans updates on the progress through Instagram posts. The home will have a 44-by-94-foot basketball court, a jersey room as well as a pool, music room, gym and bar with a champagne chamber.
According to a staff report from the meeting, the fencing along the celebrity’s front yard ranges up to 4.2 metres, while an 11.2-metrelong “barrier wall” behind the property reaches up to 4.4. metres.
A lawyer for a property owner who shares a backyard lot line with Drake had asked North York community council to reject the application on the grounds that the construction was an “eyesore” and can be “observed from almost every single room” of his neighbouring residence.
Rafauli argued that his client invested more than a million into planting 20-foot cedar trees to line the fences. “It fits in with the neighbourhood,” he said.
City Councillor Jaye Robinson told CTV News that no other neighbours had expressed any concerns.
“There’s nothing lovelier than a whole row of beautiful trees, so we’re very impressed with the actual investment in trees on this particular property,” she said.