City of Toronto - Approval to amend a municipality’s official plan

A decision was made on January 27, 2025 to approve with modifications, Toronto Official Plan Amendment 653 adopted pursuant to sections 17 and 26 of the Planning Act by By-law 822-2023. Notice of this decision was issued on January 27, 2025 to the City of Toronto. 

The adopted Official Plan Amendment 653 was reviewed for consistency with provincial plans and policies and to ensure it has regard for matters of provincial interest set out in the Planning Act.  

Official Plan Amendment 653 proposes site specific redesignations and policies. 20 modifications have been made by the Minister to ensure that Official Plan Amendment 653 is consistent with the policies of the Provincial Planning Statement and complies with applicable legislation.  

A decision is being withheld as it relates to four areas of the amendment related to proposed policy and land use designation changes applying to lands located in the floodplain of the Lower Don Special Policy Area. This applies to Site and Area Specific Policy 838 for 65 and 87 Heward Avenue and Site and Area Specific Policy 190 for 42-120 and 59-125 Logan Avenue, 22-108 and 31-111 Morse Street, 26-88 and 63-103 1/2 Carlaw Avenue and 523-549 Eastern Avenue. The deferrals on the four areas recognizes that both the Ministers of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Natural Resources must approve changes or modifications to the official plan policies, land use designations or boundaries applying to Special Policy Areas prior to the City of Toronto approving such changes or modifications in accordance with the Provincial Planning Statement, 2024. In addition, a decision is being withheld for Site and Area Specific Policy 154 at the request of City of Toronto Council to allow the Ontario Land Tribunal to first address this policy in the Official Plan Amendment (OPA) 231 proceeding to avoid potential inconsistency.  

Pursuant to subsections 17 (36.5) and (38.1) of the Planning Act, this decision is final and not subject to appeal. Accordingly, Official Plan Amendment 653, as modified and approved by the Minister, came into effect on January 28, 2025.