By Staff
October 25th, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
We will know later today just what the Minister is going to table in the Legislature at 3:00 pm.
Early comment has the government planning to Overrule Municipal Zoning Regulations to Permit More Housing: Report
A confidential cabinet document obtained by the Toronto Star shows that the Progressive Conservatives want to remove restrictions and zoning laws that favour single-family homes over “missing middle” housing — such as duplexes and triplexes — and is not too different than what soon-to-be Premier of British Columbia David Eby has previously suggested for BC.
This is reported to be only one part of a sweeping new set of legislation on housing.
Additionally, in an effort towards “streamlining approvals and removing barriers,” the legislation hones in on cutting the role of conservation authorities (CAs), which have been used to stall development.
To what degree will the role of the Conservation authorities be changed ?
The new legislation would “review and re-scope their role to streamline permitting, freeze fees, and direct CAs to make land available for housing”, as well as reduce them to “commenting agencies” focused solely on preventing floods and other natural hazards.
The new legislation would also allow the Tories to eliminate “unnecessary approvals and inhibiting rules, such as waiving site plan control for smaller developments, limiting third party appeals, and removing unnecessary public meetings.”
It looks like Inclusionary zoning is going to be possible – will it be everything its advocates want?
The internal document also supposedly shows that the government would provide “municipal targets and seek pledges to align municipal work with the province’s 1.5M home goals,” alluding to Ford’s promise to build 150,000 new homes every year for the next decade.
This comes only a few weeks after it was revealed that Ford’s government is also planning on eliminating development charges on “inclusionary zoning” projects. These charges — which can range from $25,470 all the way to $93,978, according to the City of Toronto — are usually rerouted towards funding civic infrastructure, and many argued that doing this could damage the government’s financials.
Inclusionary zoning allows municipal governments to mandate lower-cost housing units, creating more affordable housing for a city and province that desperately needs it.
We will know more later this afternoon – Stand by.
