Tay Valley Township Council…

Tay Valley Township Council passed Resolution #C-2022-04-13 on April 26, 2022 directing staff to send comments on to the Environmental Registry of Ontario on four housing proposals: Housing Needs in Rural and Northern Municipalities; Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator Guideline; Opportunities to Increase Missing Middle Housing and Gentle Density Including Multigenerational Housing; and Proposed Planning Act Changes from the More Homes for Everyone Act, 2022.

COMMENTS ON FOUR ASPECTS OF THE
MORE HOMES FOR EVERYONE ACT, 2022

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) released three affordable housing related policies as well as proposed Planning Act changes for comment on March 30, 2022, with comments due by April 29, 2022.

The policies are described under the following titles on the Environmental Registry: Housing Needs in Rural and Northern Municipalities Seeking Feedback on Housing Needs in Rural and Northern Municipalities | Environmental Registry of Ontario; Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator Guideline ; Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator – Proposed Guideline | Environmental Registry of Ontario and Opportunities to Increase Missing Middle Housing and Gentle Density Opportunities to increase missing middle housing and gentle density, including supports for multigenerational housing | Environmental Registry of Ontario. The Planning Act changes are related to the More Homes for Everyone Act, 2022 Proposed Planning Act Changes (the proposed More Homes for Everyone Act, 2022) | Environmental Registry of Ontario

MMAH recognizes that rural and northern areas have unique housing challenges related to:

• affordable and appropriate worker housing (e.g., on- and off-farm housing for domestic and international farm workers, seasonal, hospitality, and recreation workers)
• lot creation in rural areas
• lot creation in agricultural areas (e.g., additional support for family-owned farms)
• additional residential units
• affordable rental housing, including on-site housing for seasonal hospitality and recreational workers
• more options for vulnerable populations (e.g., seniors housing)
• additional flexibility or supports to facilitate municipal infrastructure or servicing expansion for hamlets and villages

For its proposal on Housing Needs in Rural and Northern Municipalities MMAH posed four questions. The Planner has provided suggested responses below.

• What are the key barriers impacting your municipality in meeting its housing needs that may be unique to rural communities?

The biggest impediment to providing affordable housing in our area is the issue of servicing. The landowners in Tay Valley Township who are interested in building fourplexes or sixplexes or more units generally require communal septic and water systems. The Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks has recently added additional requirements for permitting communal septic and water systems that make this process more cumbersome.

Rural townships do not receive provincial Gas Tax funding for transit. However, the Township or Lanark County needs some form of funding to provide micro-transit (minivans, etc.) so that the residents of the affordable housing have a means to get to their jobs.

• What kind of flexibility is needed to address housing needs in your municipality?

We already permit tiny homes and Additional Residential Units. The flexibility we need is to be able to offer incentives for green building standards to local contractors and developers to make homes more affordable because they cost less to heat and cool. However, as a small rural municipality we do not have that type of funding available.

• What potential tools or policies could the government consider to address housing needs in your municipality while balancing other provincial priorities?

Ensure wetlands and forests receive sufficient protection so they can provide their ecosystem services of flood mitigation and drought amelioration through groundwater recharge. Flood mitigation is required to prevent affordable homes from being damaged in microbursts which the Township has been experiencing with increasing frequency due to climate change. Drought amelioration through groundwater recharge from wetlands is important since rural homes are serviced by wells.
.
• Do you have other suggestions for ways to improve housing supply and needs in rural municipalities?

Recognize that rural homelessness exists and provide the supports to rural townships necessary to address it. Homelessness is not just an urban problem.

Under subsection 34.1(15) of the Planning Act, MMAH has developed a Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator Guideline for its new Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator tool. The Guideline will enable municipalities to request a Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator Order to regulate the use of land and the location, use, height, size and spacing of buildings and structures to permit certain types of development. The Minister may impose conditions on the issuance of a Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator order.

The province did not provide any questions for this proposal. The Planner, therefore, offers the following comments for Council’s consideration. The Draft Guidelines: Minister’s Orders at Request of Municipalities (Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator Tool) states that the Tool cannot be used in the Greenbelt Area. The Township supports this proposal as the Greenbelt is designated to protect the headwaters, biodiversity, and agricultural lands of municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area. This protection is warranted.

The Township recommends that this protection be extended to Provincially Significant Wetlands (PSW), as was not the case under the previous Ministerial Zoning Order provisions. Furthermore, the province should release staff of the Ministry of Northern Development Mines and Natural Resources and Forests to undertake site visits to approve candidate PSWs or authorize the designation of PSWs based on existing Ontario Wetland Evaluation System (OWES) sheets possessed by the Ministry to ensure that Townships comply with Section 2 of the Provincial Policy Statement on Natural Heritage.

The Township is pleased that a Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator Order will be initiated at the request of Council and not simply undertaken by the Minister. The Township is also pleased that public notice, undertaking consultation and ensuring the Order, once made, is made available to the public is part of the process.

The Township is pleased that when issuing an order, the Minister is only able to provide an exemption for other necessary planning-related approvals from provincial plans, the Provincial Policy Statement and municipal official plans, if this is specifically requested by the municipality.

The Township is also pleased that the Minister will “only consider an exemption from provincial policy requirements if the municipality provides a plan that would, in the opinion of the Minister, adequately mitigate any potential impacts that could arise from the exemption. This includes, but is not limited to, matters dealing with: community engagement; Indigenous engagement; environmental protection/mitigation.”

However, the Township would like clarity to be provided by the province on “the power of the Minister to impose conditions on the municipality or the proponent”.

Opportunities to Increase Missing Middle Housing and Gentle Density Including Multigenerational Housing is the province’s proposed response to the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force Report recommendations.

MMAH has recognized that there is a need in Ontario to diversify housing choices in existing neighbourhoods and increase the supply of new homes to meet the demand for affordable housing. “’Missing middle’ is a term used to describe a wide range of multi-unit housing types compatible in scale with single-detached neighbourhoods, and that have gone ‘missing’ from many of our cities. For example, laneway housing, garden suites, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, rowhouses, townhouses, and low and mid-rise apartments.”
“This gentle density would have minimal impact on existing neighbourhoods while providing additional housing options. Neighbourhoods that offer a variety of housing choices can accommodate people of all ages and abilities, for example:
• Young adults can stay in the neighbourhoods they grew up in (close to parents)
• Older people can age-in-place and stay in their preferred community
• Multigenerational families including people with disabilities and/or other care needs can live together to offset the high costs of housing, childcare and/or long-term care.”

One of the main recommendations of the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force was to permit intensification because it provides an opportunity to accommodate additional housing while making efficient use of existing infrastructure and services. The Task Force recommended allowing missing middle type housing to be built as-of-right and eliminating appeals for this type of modest infill development.

The province has posed four questions on this proposal that the Planner has provided suggested responses to below.

• What are the biggest barriers and delays to diversifying the types of housing built in existing neighbourhoods?

The biggest impediment to providing affordable housing in our area is the issue of servicing. The landowners in Tay Valley Township who are interested in building fourplexes or sixplexes or more units generally require communal septic and water systems. The Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks has recently added additional requirements for permitting communal septic and water systems that make this process more cumbersome.

Rural townships do not receive provincial Gas Tax funding for transit. However, the Township or Lanark County needs some form of funding to provide micro-transit (minivans, etc.) so that the residents of the affordable housing have a means to get to their jobs.

• What further changes to the planning and development process would you suggest to make it easier to support gentle density and build missing middle housing and multigenerational housing, in Ontario?

As of right zoning for 4-6 unit dwellings in Hamlets and cluster lots that are screened from view so that the rural landscape is maintained.

• Are you aware of innovative approaches to land use planning and community building from other jurisdictions that would help increase the supply of missing middle and multigenerational housing?

Allowing a variety of housing sizes and Additional Residential Units as of right has worked in the various areas of the United States and Canada. Allowing Accessory Commercial Units would also be beneficial to provide small scale services to rural hamlets and other areas of higher housing density.

• Are there any other changes that would help support opportunities for missing middle and multigenerational housing?

Rural townships do not receive provincial Gas Tax funding for transit. However, the Township or Lanark County needs some form of funding to provide micro-transit (minivans, etc.) so that the residents of the affordable housing have a means to get to their jobs.

The province should offer incentives for green building standards to local contractors and developers to make homes more affordable because they cost less to heat and cool. However, as a small rural municipality we don’t have that type of funding available.

Proposed Planning Act Amendments are suggested in Section 5 of the More Homes for Everyone Act. These changes include:
o Require municipalities to partially refund application fees to applicants who do not receive a decision on their zoning by-law amendment applications within 90 days (or 120 days if submitted concurrently with an official plan amendment application) and on a graduated basis thereafter for applications made on or after January 1, 2023,
o Requiring decisions on site plan applications to be delegated to staff for applications made on or after July 1, 2022
o Extending site plan application review from 30 to 60 days
o Establishing regulation-making authority to prescribe complete application requirements for site plan applications
o Requiring municipalities to partially refund site plan application fees to applicants who do not receive a decision within the 60-day timeframe and on a graduated basis thereafter for applications made on or after January 1, 2023
o Establishing regulation-making authority to prescribe what cannot be required as a condition of subdivision approval
o Establishing a one-time discretionary authority to reinstate draft plans of subdivision that have lapsed within the past five years, subject to consumer protection provisions.
o Providing the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing with regulation-making authority to authorize landowners and applicants to stipulate the type of surety bonds and other prescribed instruments to be used to secure obligations in connection with land use planning approvals
o Establishing regulation-making authority to require public reporting on development applications/approvals.
o Refer all or part(s) of an official plan matter to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) for a recommendation, and
o Forward all of an official plan matter to the Ontario Land Tribunal to make a decision.

MMAH did not pose any questions for this proposal so the Planner will provide comments below.

Shortening the timeframes for zoning amendment and site plan approval under penalty of refund of the application fees could negatively affect a rural municipality’s budget. It will increase the demand for professional planners as urban areas will need to hire more planners to meet the timelines and therefore the fees planners require which could also negatively affect municipal budgets.

Referring an Official Plan to the OLT seems likely to remove local influence over local land use decisions and could result in inappropriate development.

CLIMATE AND FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Provincial financial support for deep energy retrofits or new Energy Star Building Standards will reduce fossil fuel use and help the Township achieve its Climate Action Plan goals and will save residents money.