May 20, 2025 Ministry of…

May 20, 2025

Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Office of the Minister
777 Bay Street, 17th Floor
Toronto ON M7A 2J3

Dear Honourable Minister Flack:

Re: Bill 17, Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025; Environmental Registry Comments

The Town of South Bruce Peninsula is in receipt of the Technical Briefing provided by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing dated May 12, 2025, wherein Bill 17, the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025 was explained in summary form. Subsequent to the receipt of that document, the Town received correspondence on May 13, 2025 from your office explaining the Environmental Registry postings and the timeframe for making submissions.

To that end, the Town of South Bruce Peninsula feels compelled to make a submission. Firstly, on behalf of Council, thank you for all of the bold efforts being made to kick-start development in Ontario. The Town of South Bruce Peninsula has long advocated for the decrease and ultimately, the elimination of red tape as it relates to development. As a municipality in the County of Bruce, we struggle to fit the mold established by the upper tier. We feel that we are a community on the cusp of development, however, we face roadblocks by upper tier planning documents and ideals. We see Bill 17 as a way forward; a sign that the Province supports the Town in its efforts to increase the housing supply, particularly in our community. We find it particularly refreshing that much of the language in the Technical Briefing mirrors the position and conversations held around our Council table for a number of years.

Our comments on the proposal are below.

Ontario Building Code Act
The Town supports the premise that the Ontario Building Code Act/Code should be the document which provides the standards for building. We feel that greater clarity is required in order to allow our Building Division staff to implement the provisions as intended by the legislation. We currently are attempting to have Bruce County remove the regulations and provisions in their Official Plan which would attempt to interfere with and override the Building Code Act. An example is the County’s insistence on interpreting the Province’s direction to protect source water as a means to require additional studies such as Nitrate Studies prior to any development taking place. We submit that the Building Code Act permits the construction of sewage systems and the Ontario Building Code provides regulations for their compliance. Additionally, the Ontario Building Code Act/Code permits alternate treatment options; the County in their Official Plan does not support alternate treatment options unless agreements are in place for their enforceability. On the advice of a solicitor, we have advised that such agreements are not lawful and that the Ontario Building Code provides the regulations for operation and maintenance of sewage systems and the Ontario Building Code Act provides for enforcement. We trust that with the same regulations being required for everyone, development on private services can proceed using the Ontario Building Code Act/Code.

Development Charges Act
The Town supports Development Charges in as much as they may be required to facilitate growth such as the building of a sewage lagoon or the expansion of a water treatment facility. The Town does not support Development Charges to be used as an additional revenue source for more general purposes. While it may prove difficult for some municipalities, we support the Province in setting streamlined criteria and definitions for Development Charges.

Planning Act
The Town supports any legislation which reduces the amount that our residents must pay when building. With regard to the proposal for minor variances to be permitted to allow 10% as of right setback requirements, we agree with this proposal. We see many applicants have to file expensive applications and undertake multiple studies for the smallest of variances. We would like to suggest that this 10% regulation should also include height and lot coverage requirements. We also request that this is expanded to all areas of a municipality, excepting in environmental hazard and railway areas. Our municipality is bordered by two areas of shoreline and we have many inland lakes. We feel that permitting a Zoning Administrator to approve up to 10% in these areas would help with development and eliminate excessive red tape.

We totally support the proposal regarding the limiting of studies for complete planning applications. We do feel that if not further regulated, the upper tier will make sure that every type of study which can be imagined will be included in the Official Plan documents, thus not keeping with the spirit of the proposed changes. We understand the need for appropriate development and the importance of the protection of the environment. We feel that the requirement of many studies is unnecessary and does nothing more than add costs to a development.

We are encouraged by the Province’s concerns that Official Plan documents have become overly complicated and restrictive. We have sent correspondence on multiple occasions to our upper tier government asking them to simplify their Official Plan. Our vision for that document is to be very high level, leaving room for municipalities to provide detailed planning requirements in their Zoning By-Laws. Having multiple levels of planning documents, many times in contradiction with each other, is confusing and costly for our residents and developers. We support the implementation of standardized land use designations and would further suggest that perhaps where there is a two-tier government system, that there is no upper tier Official Plan. This would allow local governments to develop their own municipalities as they see fit, increasing housing supply and supporting the Provincial mandate.

In closing, and to summarize, the Town of South Bruce Peninsula supports any initiative which would expedite development and particularly, provide the road map for our municipality to allow builders to increase our housing stock. We feel that it is not a difficult premise but have struggled to convince our upper tier government. We feel that Provincial proposals, as in Bill 17, support the Town’s position to embrace alternate sewage treatment, eliminate the number of unrequired studies, reduce the number of planning applications required and support the Ontario Building Code Act/Code as a meaningful piece of legislation which is set up to provide for appropriate development.

Should you require any additional clarification, we would be happy to clarify or participate in a meeting to further discuss our position.

Town of South Bruce Peninsula