Correct Answer: a retiree’s hope to build shared housing that zoning rules prevent
Passage Reference: the lot is zoned for one detached house, and that is where our plan has stalled
Why this is correct: The writer and three friends want to build a small cohousing cluster. But the lot is zoned for one detached house, so the plan has stalled. The rest of the post follows the debate about changing that zoning.
Tips: Read the first paragraph to the end. Notice what the writer wants and what stands in the way.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a retiree’s worry about rising care home fees in the city: Rising care home fees are never mentioned. Care homes come up only in Gagnon’s point about isolation.
- a retiree’s plan to sell a family home and leave the city: The writer wants to build on a lot near the library, not sell a family home and leave the city.
- a retiree’s campaign to widen the narrow streets near the library: Narrow streets are Addo’s worry about traffic. Nobody, including the blogger, campaigns to widen them.
Correct Answer: Doug Addo
Passage Reference: He would accept a few trial sites with parking and delivery rules
Why this is correct: Addo says he would accept a few trial sites with rules, but not a change to the whole city map at once. That is testing on a small number of sites first.
Tips: Read each speaker’s lines and look for a word like “accept” that shows a limited yes. Then check what that person would allow and what they would refuse.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Anita Gagnon: Gagnon asks for the bylaw to name cohousing as its own kind of housing. She says nothing about starting with a few test sites.
- Dmitri Watanabe: Watanabe wants design standards published before the map opens, which is about building rules, not about a small number of test sites.
- Janet Russo: Russo only says staff will report on fire and paramedic costs in the fall. Russo does not propose trial sites.
Correct Answer: evidence that older people who share meals stay out of care homes longer
Passage Reference: People who eat alone most nights end up in hospital more often, and they move into care homes sooner
Why this is correct: Gagnon says people who eat alone end up in hospital more often and move into care homes sooner. Evidence that sharing meals keeps people out of care homes longer would back her up.
Tips: First find Gagnon’s reason for her view. Then pick the proof that would make that reason stronger.
Why the other options are wrong:
- evidence that shared homes bring more traffic to quiet residential streets: More traffic on quiet streets is Addo’s concern, so that evidence would help his side, not Gagnon’s.
- evidence that small cohousing clusters raise the value of nearby houses: Nobody in the blog post talks about property values, and Gagnon’s claim is about isolation and health, not house prices.
- evidence that rooming houses cost less to build than detached family homes: Nobody in the post compares the building costs of rooming houses and detached homes. Also, Gagnon does not want cohousing treated as a rooming house anyway.
Correct Answer: the city would publish design standards before allowing new clusters
Passage Reference: He asked council to have written design standards in place before it opens the map to new clusters
Why this is correct: Watanabe asked council to have written design standards in place before it opens the map. The outcome is standards first, then new clusters.
Tips: Read Watanabe’s request to council to the end and restate it simply. Match the whole idea, not one shared word.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the city would allow new clusters only on a few trial sites: Allowing clusters only on a few trial sites is Addo’s condition, not Watanabe’s.
- the bylaw would define cohousing as separate from rooming houses: Defining cohousing separately from rooming houses is what Gagnon asks for in the bylaw.
- the city would cap each cluster at two households: Nobody in the blog post proposes a limit of two households. Watanabe’s condition is written design standards.
Correct Answer: write to the planning office about a trial site
Passage Reference: next week my three friends and I will send the planning office a letter asking for our lot to be named a trial site
Why this is correct: Near the end, the writer says the four friends will send the planning office a letter next week. It will ask for their lot to be named a trial site. That is the next step the writer plans to take.
Tips: Look at the sentence that starts “So next week” in the last paragraph. It tells you the writer’s next step.
Why the other options are wrong:
- keep waiting for the city to pass a perfect bylaw: The writer says waiting five more years for a perfect bylaw is not an option. So keeping on waiting is not the plan.
- put the garden staircase back into the sketch: The staircase was taken out after Watanabe’s warning, and the blogger says the plan has already been redrawn without it.
- move into a care home near the library: The writer wants to avoid a lonely life by building a cluster with friends. Moving into a care home is never mentioned as a plan.
Correct Answer: name cohousing as its own type of housing
Passage Reference: Her request is that the bylaw name cohousing as its own kind of housing, so that projects like ours are not treated as rooming houses
Why this is correct: Gagnon’s request is for the bylaw to name cohousing as its own kind of housing. That way, projects like the blogger’s are not treated as rooming houses.
Tips: The comment points to Gagnon’s request, so go to her lines. Read the sentence that starts “Her request is”.
Why the other options are wrong:
- treat cohousing clusters as rooming houses: Gagnon wants the opposite: she asks for a new category so that projects like the blogger’s are not treated as rooming houses.
- class shared homes as care facilities: Gagnon never asks for shared homes to be classed as care facilities. Care homes come up only as the place lonely people move to sooner.
- count each cluster as one detached house: Counting a cluster as one detached house is never proposed. The lot’s single detached zoning is the very problem the blogger describes.
Correct Answer: care staff, delivery vans and visiting relatives
Passage Reference: Doug Addo, who chairs the local residents’ association, argued that care workers, delivery vans and visiting families could crowd narrow streets
Why this is correct: Addo argued that care workers, delivery vans and visiting families could crowd the narrow streets. The commenter repeats this list in different words: care staff, delivery vans and visiting relatives.
Tips: The comment calls him the residents’ chair. Find the three groups he says could crowd the streets.
Why the other options are wrong:
- home-support workers, moving trucks and tenants’ second cars: Addo never mentions moving trucks or tenants’ cars. His list is care workers, delivery vans and visiting families.
- visiting nurses, garbage trucks and snowplows: Addo never mentions nurses, garbage trucks or snowplows. His list is care workers, delivery vans and visiting families.
- construction crews, dump trucks and cement mixers: Addo worries about traffic once people live in the cluster, not about building crews or heavy trucks during construction.
Correct Answer: older converted houses often have steps and halls that shut people out
Passage Reference: many older houses converted for shared living have steep steps and tight hallways
Why this is correct: Watanabe warned that many older houses converted for shared living have steep steps and tight hallways. He said a home you cannot get into is not really a home. That is the warning the commenter wants taken more seriously.
Tips: The comment names Watanabe, so go to his lines. Read the first thing he warned about.
Why the other options are wrong:
- narrow streets cannot handle a steady line of vans: The worry about a steady line of vans on narrow streets comes from Addo, not Watanabe.
- basement suites are too dark for older residents: Watanabe never talks about basement suites or light. The warning is about steep steps and tight hallways.
- shared kitchens in older houses often break the city’s fire code: Watanabe never mentions shared kitchens or the fire code. The warning is about steep steps and tight hallways.
Correct Answer: the costs to fire and paramedic services
Passage Reference: Councillor Janet Russo said staff would report back in the fall on the costs to fire and paramedic services
Why this is correct: Councillor Russo said staff would report on the costs to fire and paramedic services, so that is the subject of Russo’s report.
Tips: The comment names Councillor Russo. Find Russo’s one sentence at the end of the third paragraph.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the waiting lists at local care homes: Russo’s report is not about care home waiting lists. Care homes appear only in Gagnon’s point.
- the delivery traffic on each narrow street: Delivery traffic on narrow streets is Addo’s worry, and Russo’s report does not cover it.
- the price of land near the library: The price of land near the library is never discussed by Russo or anyone else.
Correct Answer: a narrow street the residents’ chair meant
Passage Reference: our lot sits on one of the narrow streets he means
Why this is correct: In the second paragraph, the writer admits that the lot sits on one of the narrow streets Addo, the residents’ chair, means. The commenter points back to this detail.
Tips: The blank is about where the writer’s lot is. Look for the sentence where the writer says a point “stung a little”.
Why the other options are wrong:
- land already zoned for four small homes: The lot is zoned for one detached house, which is why the plan has stalled. So it is not zoned for four homes.
- a corner beside the library parking lot: The lot is two blocks from the library, not beside its parking lot.
- a street the city plans to widen: No one in the blog post says the city plans to widen any street. The blogger only admits the lot is on a narrow one.
