Proposed Planning Act, City of Toronto Act, 2006, and Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Act Changes (Schedules 2, 4, and 6 of Bill 97 - the proposed Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act , 2023)

ERO number
019-6821
Notice type
Act
Act
Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990
Posted by
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Notice stage
Decision
Decision posted
Comment period
April 6, 2023 - May 6, 2023 (30 days) Closed
Last updated

This consultation was open from:
April 6, 2023
to May 6, 2023

Decision summary

Ontario has made changes to the Planning Act, City of Toronto Act, 2006 and Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Act to support increasing housing supply and streamlining planning processes.

Decision details

Bill 97, the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023 was introduced on April 6, 2023, and received Royal Assent on June 8, 2023.

To support Ontario’s latest Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants housing supply action plan, Schedule 6 of Bill 97 made various changes to the Planning Act.

The changes, among other matters, addressed:

Fee Refund Provisions

  • Delaying the requirement for municipalities to refund zoning by-law and site plan application fees so that it only applies to applications submitted on or after July 1, 2023.
  • Creating Minister’s regulation-making authority to be able to exempt municipalities from the fee refund provisions in the future if needed. At this time, no exemptions were proposed.

Consequential Changes to Support Implementation of the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 (Bill 23)

  • Clarifying that the existing provisions regarding parking spaces for additional residential units apply only to the second and third units on a property.
  • Making various minor housekeeping edits to support implementation, including the use of consistent terminology.

Regulation-Making Authority for Site Plan Control for 10 Units or Less

  • Creating regulation-making authority to prescribe specific circumstances where site plan control could be used for residential developments of 10 units of less.

Appeals of Interim Control By-laws

  • Enabling an individual who received notice of the passing of an interim control by-law to appeal the by-law at the time of initial passing (rather than only at the time of extension).
  • Amending the notice and appeal timelines to provide 20 days for municipalities to give notice of the passing of an interim control by-law or a by-law extension (instead of the previous 30 days) and for appeals to be made within 50 days of the by-law being passed.

New Authority Related to Minister’s Zoning Orders

  • Providing the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing with the authority to exempt certain subsequent approvals (e.g. plan of subdivision, consents, or site plan control) required to establish land uses permitted by Minister’s zoning orders from having to align with provincial plans or policies.

Ministerial Authority to Require Development Agreements

  • Providing the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing with the authority to require landowners to enter development agreements in relation to lands that have been assigned to the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator.

Changes to Support the Review of Provincial Policies - Review of proposed policies adapted from A Place to Grow and Provincial Policy Statement to form a new provincial planning policy instrument | Environmental Registry of Ontario

Changes to Employment Area Protections

  • Modifying the definition of area of employment to only include heavy industry and other employment uses that cannot be located near sensitive uses, (i.e., not suitable for mixed use) to scope the applicability of existing provisions which limit appeals of municipal refusals and non-decisions.

Regulation-making Authority for New Provincial Policy Document

  • Creating regulation-making authority to modify the application of provincial policy statements to decisions on particular matters to support the implementation of provincial policies on a case-by-case basis.

City of Toronto Act, 2006 Amendment

Schedule 2 of Bill 97 also made amendments to the City of Toronto Act, 2006 related to site plan control, among other matters.

Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Act Amendment

Schedule 4 of Bill 97 also made amendments to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Act to provide for the appointment of up to four Deputy Provincial Land Development Facilitators.

The legislation provides more detail on all the reforms and can be viewed in the below ‘Supporting materials’ section of this notice.

Comments received

Through the registry

68

By email

15

By mail

0
View comments submitted through the registry

Effects of consultation

83 written comments were received under this consultation posting. This included 68 comments submitted directly through the ERO prior to the closing of the commenting period on May 6, 2023, and 15 comments submitted by email prior to this decision notice being posted.

There was a wide range of feedback with many submissions acknowledging Ontario’s housing crisis, and general overall support for increasing supply to meet demand and making the development process more streamlined.

There was both positive feedback and concern raised regarding the proposed changes to the Planning Act. Commonly referenced areas in the feedback received related to the changes to create regulation-making authority to establish conditions where site plan control may be used on residential developments of 10 or less units, new authority related to Minister’s zoning orders, changes to the definition of area of employment, and changes to the provisions surrounding the refunding of planning application fees.

Generally, there was overall support for the proposals to:

  • create regulation-making authority to establish conditions where site plan control may be used on residential developments of 10 or less units,
  • make changes to delay the effective date for the provisions for refunding of planning application fees,
  • make the consequential changes to support implementation of the More Homes Built Faster, 2022, and;
  • amend the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Act to provide for the appointment of up to four Provincial Land and Development Facilitators.

Although generally supportive, some comments requested further clarification surrounding the definition and application of conditions where site plan control may be applied for residential developments of 10 or less units.

There was mixed reception to the proposals to allow appeals of interim control by-laws (ICBLs) for individuals who received notice of the passing of an ICBL at the time of initial passing, and the proposed Ministerial authority to require landowners to enter into development agreements in relation to lands that have been assigned to the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator.

Generally, negative feedback was received with respect to:

  • the new authority related to Minister’s zoning orders,
  • the changes to the definition of area of employment, and;
  • the regulation-making authority to support the implementation of provincial policies.

Effects of the Consultation on this Decision

In developing and finalizing the legislation, consideration was given to all comments received, including those received through other related consultations, and comments received through the Standing Committee process.

In response to feedback received during the consultation process, changes were made to the legislation during Standing Committee to clarify the transition provision for the change to the definition of areas of employment.

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Original proposal

ERO number
019-6821
Notice type
Act
Act
Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990
Posted by
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Proposal posted

Comment period

April 6, 2023 - May 6, 2023 (30 days)

Proposal details

Ontario continues to take action to tackle the province's housing supply crisis. We have already introduced a range of measures to increase housing supply and we can see their growing and positive impact. We know it will take time for their impact to be fully felt, but we will continue to move forward with policies aimed at ensuring we reach our goal of 1.5 million homes by 2031.

In this year's housing supply action plan the Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants plan we are combining the Provincial Policy Statement and A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe into a proposed single document that will streamline Ontario's land use planning rules and encourage more housing.

We're also introducing new legislation called Bill 97: the proposed Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants Act, 2023 and taking steps to make life easier for both renters and home buyers. In partnership with municipalities, we will create the homes that Ontarians need today, tomorrow and in the decades to come.

Proposed Planning Act Amendments

Schedule 6 of the Bill proposes a number of amendments to the Planning Act.

The proposed amendments, if passed, would, among other matters, address:

Fee Refund Provisions

  • Delay the requirement for municipalities to refund zoning by-law and site plan application fees so that it only applies to applications submitted on or after July 1, 2023.
  • Create Minister’s regulation-making authority to be able to exempt municipalities from the fee refund provisions in the future if needed (no exemptions are being proposed at this time).

Consequential Changes to Support Implementation of the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022 (Bill 23)

  • Clarify that the existing provisions regarding parking spaces for additional residential units apply only to the second and third units on a property.
  • Make various minor housekeeping edits to support implementation, including the use of consistent terminology.

Regulation-Making Authority for Site Plan Control for 10 Units or Less

  • Create regulation-making authority to prescribe specific circumstances where site plan control could be used for residential developments of 10 units of less.

Appeals of Interim Control By-laws

  • Enable an individual who received notice of the passing of an interim control by-law to appeal the by-law at the time of initial passing (rather than only at the time of extension).
  • Amend the notice and appeal timelines to provide 20 days for municipalities to give notice of the passing of an interim control by-law or a by-law extension (instead of the current 30 days) and for appeals to be made within 50 days of the by-law being passed.

New Authority for Minister’s Zoning Orders

  • Provide the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing with the authority to exempt certain subsequent approvals required to establish uses permitted by Minister’s zoning orders from having to align with provincial plans or policies.

Ministerial Authority to Require Development Agreements

  • Provide the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing with the authority to require landowners to enter development agreements in relation to lands that have been assigned to the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator.

Schedule 2 of Bill 97 would also make consequential amendments to the City of Toronto Act, 2006 related to proposed changes on site plan control.

Changes to Support the Review of Provincial Policies - Review of proposed policies adapted from A Place to Grow and Provincial Policy Statement to form a new provincial planning policy instrument. | Environmental Registry of Ontario

Changes to Employment Area Protections

  • Modify the definition of area of employment to only include heavy industry and other employment uses that cannot be located near sensitive uses, (i.e., not suitable for mixed use) to scope the applicability of existing provisions which limit appeals of municipal refusals and non-decisions.

Regulation-making Authority for New Provincial Policy Document

  • Create regulation-making authority to modify the application of provincial policy statements to decisions on particular matters to support the implementation of provincial policies on a case-by-case basis.

Proposed Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Act Amendment

Schedule 4 of the Bill proposes an amendment to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Act to provide for the appointment of up to four Deputy Provincial Land Development Facilitators.

Bill 97 provides more detail on all the proposed reforms and can be viewed on the website identified below.

Supporting materials

View materials in person

Some supporting materials may not be available online. If this is the case, you can request to view the materials in person.

Get in touch with the office listed below to find out if materials are available.

Comment

Commenting is now closed.

This consultation was open from April 6, 2023
to May 6, 2023

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