Proposed Changes to the Planning Act (Schedule 10 of Bill 60 - the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025)

The government is seeking public feedback on proposed legislative and regulatory changes under the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 to streamline the construction of new homes and infrastructure (e.g., water, wastewater, roads, transit), reduce gridlock, enhance community safety, and improve landlord-tenant frameworks.

Schedule 10 of Bill 60 proposes a number of amendments to the Planning Act. 

If passed, the proposed legislative amendments would make changes to address the following matters:

Minor Variances (As-of-right Variations from Performance Standards) 

• Changes are proposed to the Planning Act to provide regulation-making authority that would reduce the necessity for planning applications for minor variances by providing for variations to be permitted “as-of-right” for performance standards identified in the regulation (e.g., building height, lot coverage) on specified lands.
  • Specified lands would include parcels of urban residential lands outside of the Greenbelt Area, and exclude areas such as hazardous lands, and lands near shorelines and railways.
  • The proposed change would work with changes made by the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025 (Bill 17) that enable the Minister, by regulation, to permit variation to a zoning by-law to be “as of right” if a proposal is within a prescribed percentage (e.g., 10%) of the required setback (the minimum distance a building or structure must be from a property line) on specified lands (e.g., urban residential lands). The proposed change could further streamline minor variance processes by allowing for some “as of right” variation from other zoning standards identified in regulation.
  • This would help reduce barriers by allowing for small changes to proceed without the need for a planning application.

Policy Statements and Minister’s Decisions

• Changes are proposed to the Planning Act to make provincial policy statements inapplicable with respect to all Minister’s decisions, including past decisions, under the Planning Act outside the Greenbelt Area.  A transparent and accountable oversight framework would be developed to support implementation.
  • The Provincial Planning Statement (PPS) is issued under section 3 of the Planning Act and sets out provincial land use policy direction related to growth and development. Subsection 3(5) of the Act requires that decisions affecting a planning matter “shall be consistent with” PPS policies.
  • The proposed change would facilitate the use of multiple Minister’s authorities on individual priority provincial projects outside the Greenbelt Area, to support faster government decision-making in support of housing, growth, investment and jobs.
  • It would provide the Minister with the same flexibility provided for in 2021 (for MZOs outside the Greenbelt Area) in respect of other planning decisions outside the Greenbelt Area. 

Minister’s Zoning Orders

• Changes are proposed to the Planning Act and, as necessary, related legislation, to enable Minister’s zoning orders (MZOs) to be made by non-regulatory orders and published on a Government of Ontario website. MZOs are currently made by the Minister and filed with the Registrar of Regulations as regulations under the Planning Act. Like other regulations they are published on e-Laws after filing.
• The proposed change would expedite the process, thereby enabling the Minister to make faster decisions aimed at supporting provincial priorities such as supporting long-term care, transit-oriented communities and housing.

Protected Major Transit Station Areas

• Proposed changes to the Planning Act would allow official plan amendments modifying the “authorized uses of land” within a Protected Major Transit Station Area (PMTSA) to be exempt from Minister’s approval if the authorized use(s) after the amendment will include residential but maintain the restriction on exempting amendments changing the other required PMTSA official plan policies (e.g. minimum densities) from Minister’s approval.
  • PMTSAs are a discretionary tool that enables municipalities to designate and zone lands near higher order transit stations (subway, GO, LRT, BRT) that accommodate transit-supportive densities without the key transit-supportive elements of the decisions (e.g., minimum densities) being subject to appeal. PMTSA official plan policies and amendments, other than those of lower-tier municipalities in upper-tier municipalities with planning responsibilities, must be approved by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
  • This reform would remove an unnecessary layer of approval to accelerate implementation of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing’s recent decisions to approve the designation of PMTSAs and unlock the potential for development near transit.

Community Improvement Plans

• Changes are proposed to the Planning Act to support flexible implementation of Community Improvement Plans (CIPs), including enabling all upper-tier municipalities to establish regional Community Improvement Plans and allow funding to lower-tier municipalities for their CIPs.
  • A CIP is a tool under section 28 of the Planning Act. Using these CIPs, municipalities can make grants or loans within the community improvement plan project areas to help pay for certain costs despite the general municipal prohibition on bonusing.
  • Currently, only prescribed upper-tier municipalities who have official plan policies in place can adopt regional CIPs.  Also, municipalities can only provide funding for the CIP of its respective upper or lower-tier municipality if the municipality has official plan policies in place to do so.
  • In 2024 and early 2025, changes came into effect removing planning responsibilities from a number of upper-tier municipalities. As a result, any existing upper-tier CIPs that were in place were made void and those upper-tier municipalities lost their ability to establish CIPs or fund lower-tier municipal CIPs.
  • The proposed changes would remove barriers to enable the flexible use of CIPs, including allowing all upper-tier municipalities to establish regional CIPs and financially support lower-tiers.
  • For upper-tier municipalities without planning responsibilities, changes are proposed that would revive CIPs that were in effect on the day before the municipality became an upper-tier municipality without planning responsibility.
  • In addition, Ontario Regulation 221/07, which prescribes upper-tier municipalities who may designate CIP areas and CIPs, would be revoked as the regulation is no longer required. 

Impact on the Environment

The proposed legislative changes are anticipated to have a neutral impact on the environment by streamlining the process to develop on lands designated for development, while maintaining protections for areas such as the Greenbelt and continuing to restrict development on hazardous lands.

Analysis of Regulatory Impact

Building on previous legislative and regulatory changes, the initiatives are anticipated to further support streamlining land use planning processes; building more homes faster; and creating more certainty in the development approvals processes. This could result in time and cost savings on a project-by-project basis for developers, homeowners and others.

The changes would benefit Ontarians broadly, as they are intended to make it easier and faster to build new homes and infrastructure.