ULI seminar entitled “New Rules of Engagement? Planning and Development in Doug Ford’s Ontario”.
This seminar has a number of panelists from the development industry and from various municipalities, and as such provides a wide perspective of interests and who is impacted by the recent Provincial Growth Plan policy changes.
Some of the important high lights from the seminar are as follows:
- The Growth Plan population projections have now been more refined and the forecast period has been extended to 2051, and City and Region will have two (2) years to update their Official Plan policies and housing targets such that they conform with the new Growth Plan policies and numbers.
- Requests for employment land use conversions require a Municipal Comprehensive Review. Changes to the legislation will shift the approval authority from the Region to the Province, and there will be no opportunity for appeals.
- Community benefit Charges (CBC) came into effect through Bill #108 in September 2020, in order to replace the Planning Act Section #37, pertaining to increased height and density permissions in place of providing community benefits.
- Discussion on the increased use of the Minister Zoning Orders (MZO), will allow the Province to zone lands without a public consultation process, or appeal process, for the purpose of expediting their priority projects. This will also be used to expedite local objectives of providing affordable housing, public transit corridors, and long term care projects.
This information is mainly directed to Policy Staff and for the information of the managers in Development Services who may not be following these trends.