Valery Group appreciates the…

Valery Group appreciates the opportunity to provide comments regarding the proposed changes to the parkland dedication framework under Bills 23 and 98 and the related regulatory proposal respecting developer-identified parkland. We support the Province’s objective of modernizing the parkland dedication framework to improve consistency, flexibility, and transparency while supporting housing delivery, intensification, and complete community planning across Ontario. In particular, the proposed direction to recognize certain encumbered lands and privately owned public spaces (POPS) within parkland dedication frameworks is a positive step toward better aligning parkland policies with contemporary urban development patterns and broader public realm objectives.

As municipalities continue to accommodate growth through intensification and infill development, opportunities to deliver traditional standalone park blocks have become increasingly limited. In these contexts, integrated open space systems play an important role in supporting recreation, connectivity, walkability, and access to green space within built-up urban areas. However, many of these lands are subject to environmental protections, hazard constraints, setback requirements, view preservation policies, or easement arrangements established through provincial, agency, or municipal planning frameworks. While these constraints may limit developability, they do not necessarily diminish the public value or recreational function of the lands.

The proposed framework under Bills 23 and 98 appears intended to provide greater flexibility in recognizing these types of lands within parkland dedication requirements. Valery Group supports this direction and encourages the Province to ensure that the associated regulations appropriately recognize publicly accessible open spaces that contribute to broader municipal and regional open space systems.

In particular, consideration should be given to recognizing lands that are publicly accessible, or publicly usable where access or ownership may be constrained by easements, view preservation policies, environmental protections, utility infrastructure, or other existing municipal infrastructure constraints such as sewers that do not materially interfere with the public use, provided the lands continue to contribute meaningful recreational, or open space functions. Consideration should also be given to explicitly recognizing publicly accessible trail systems, linear parks, and multi-use pathways as eligible components of parkland dedication frameworks where they provide meaningful recreational and connectivity benefits and create linkages between parks and open space systems that may otherwise be difficult to accommodate within intensification areas.

Valery Group has encountered this issue through a recent intensification development application involving the proposed conveyance of lands intended to form part of a municipally planned public parks and trail system. The lands do not qualify toward parkland dedication requirements because they are subject to zoning setback constraints intended to preserve views. In this instance, while the restrictions do not prevent the lands from functioning as publicly accessible parkland or trail connections and are in fact required to function as such per the planning approvals, they cannot be eligible for parkland dedication credit. In this case, the development is subject to the full payment of cash-in-lieu of parkland dedication notwithstanding the conveyance of significant publicly accessible open space lands.

Valery Group also encourages the Province to provide clear implementation direction, transition policies, and supporting regulations to ensure the intent of the proposed legislative changes is applied consistently across municipalities. Without clear provincial guidance, there is a risk that the intended flexibility introduced through these Bills may be implemented more narrowly than intended. Clear regulatory direction and transition provisions would assist municipalities, applicants, and approval authorities in implementing the new framework in a predictable and coordinated manner, while reducing uncertainty during development approval processes.