November 21, 2025    …

November 21, 2025 

Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing 

College Park, 777 Bay St, 14th Floor

Toronto, ON 

M7A 2J3 

Re: Proposed Changes to the Planning Act, 2025 (ERO 025-1097)  

To Whom It May Concern:  

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Proposed Changes to the Planning Act as part of Bill 60, Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025.

PEEL REGION COMMENTS ON THE PROPOSAL 

Peel Region is providing the following comments on matters of regional interest within the context of Peel’s current roles and responsibilities, which include managing, funding and/or delivering housing, early years and child care, regional roads, waste management, health services and water and wastewater. 

From the Regional perspective, the Provincial Planning Statement (PPS) is essential to provide a consistent policy framework to guide local municipal land use planning decisions. Since official plans must conform to the PPS, and the Region relies on official plans as the local municipality’s long-term strategy for growth, the proposed change allowing the Ministry to issue decisions that are not consistent with the PPS could create misalignment between Provincial decisions and long-term, publicly consulted municipal servicing plans. This could result in inconsistent decisions, conflicts with long-term plans, and uncertainty in delivering essential infrastructure. Water and wastewater infrastructure takes many years to plan and construct and cannot quickly change course when there are modifications to where, when and how growth will be accommodated. In some instances, policy deviations could have the potential to delay development.

While the Region has no major concerns with removing provincial approval for Major Transit Station Areas (MTSAs), early and close collaboration between the local municipalities and Peel is essential to ensure land use planning changes consider the ability of Peel to efficiently provide infrastructure and services.

In relation to Community Improvement Plans (CIPs), the proposed changes remove the requirement that a municipality making a grant or loan must have an official plan that contains provisions related to the making of such grants or loans. Peel has been advocating for these changes and thank the Province for addressing this challenge. Peel currently has a Major Office Incentive Program, which supports local-tier CIPs for major office development, with two applications underway. These changes provide the Region greater certainty to finalize these agreements and for staff in making recommendations to Council on the program’s future, and the potential to explore additional funding or incentives to support other local municipal CIPs.

The Region is supportive of the efforts of the Province to fast-track development and continues to make process and operational changes at Peel and in partnership with the local municipalities to support growth with Regional infrastructure and services. However, implications of decisions should consider the potential to cause inefficiencies, increased costs, public health risks, and delays.

I would be pleased to provide any clarifications or additional comments on these matters.

Yours Respectfully,

Tara Buonpensiero, MCIP, RPP

Director of Development Services

Region of Peel

Tara.Buonpensiero@peelregion.ca

437-218-7724