Spring brings changes to Ontario’s land use planning framework – Deep Dive on Ontario’s proposed Provincial Planning Statement

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Spring brings changes to Ontario’s land use planning framework – Deep Dive on Ontario’s proposed Provincial Planning Statement

Spring brings changes to Ontario’s land use planning framework – Deep Dive on Ontario’s proposed Provincial Planning Statement

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April 17, 2023

The Ontario government is continuing to implement significant changes to the province’s land use planning regime with the goal of incentivizing the construction of 1.5 million homes by 2031.

On April 6, 2023, the Ontario government released a draft of the Provincial Planning Statement, which is proposed to combine and replace the Provincial Policy Statement, 2020 (the “PPS”), and A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (the “Growth Plan”). Dentons provided a preliminary overview of the Provincial Planning Statement, as well as commentary on certain legislative amendments proposed through Bill 97, in its bulletin entitled “Spring brings changes to Ontario’s land use planning framework – Ontario announces a new Provincial Planning Statement”.

This bulletin provides an in-depth look at the proposed Provincial Planning Statement.

1. Overview of the Provincial Planning Policy Framework and Proposed Changes

Following the introduction of Bill 23 in the Fall of 2022, the Ontario government initiated a review of the PPS and the Growth Plan as part of its ongoing effort to address what has been referred to as Ontario’s “housing crisis”. The review included a public consultation period with feedback sought from Indigenous communities, municipalities, stakeholders, and the public. Following this review and consultation process, the Ontario government issued a draft of the proposed new Provincial Planning Statement which is available on the Environmental Registry of Ontario for review and comment until June 5, 2023.

The Provincial Planning Statement combines elements of the PPS and Growth Plan into an integrated land use planning policy framework. Under the proposed new Provincial Planning Statement, policies are grouped under five pillars:

Generate an appropriate housing supply
Make land available for development
Provide infrastructure to support development
Balance housing with resources
Implementation

In general, the Provincial Planning Statement is aimed at increasing the housing supply by streamlining existing policies and giving municipalities and planning authorities the authority, direction, encouragement, and flexibility to achieve more housing. To that end, the Provincial Planning Statement imposes certain requirements on “large and fast-growing municipalities” (29 of Ontario’s largest municipalities), provides broader permissions for potential residential intensification and development, and eliminates the concept of a “municipal comprehensive review” to simplify and facilitate settlement area expansions and the conversion of employment lands. Of note, however, is the fact that the Provincial Planning Statement also provides flexibility for municipalities to consider local conditions in planning for growth, as it proposes to remove the mandatory intensification/density targets imposed on municipalities by the Growth Plan.

The Provincial Planning Statement will become effective on a date specified by an order in council pursuant to the Planning Act and the Ontario government anticipates releasing the final policies in the Fall of 2023. The Ontario government has indicated that the intention is for official plans to be update as necessary to implement these new policies at the time of their ordinary review cycle (which are required by the Planning Act to be updated ever 5 years or every 10 years after a new official plan).

2. Overview of Key Changes to the Provincial Policy Planning Framework

As noted above, the Provincial Planning Statement largely combines aspects of the PPS and Growth Plan, with the intent to replace these two documents with a single, integrated document. Below we provide an overview of the key changes in the Provincial Planning Statement from the PPS and Growth Statement. Given that the Provincial Planning Statement largely follows the format of the PPS, the references provided below are to the current PPS, unless otherwise stated.

3. Takeaways

The Provincial Planning Statement will continue to transform Ontario’s land use planning framework, particularly alongside other land use planning changes the Ontario government has put forward in recent months including through Bill 109, Bill 23, and Bill 97. Dentons will continue to review these, and any other legislative and policy updates related to land use planning and other related developments. In the meantime, should our clients have any questions about the proposed new Provincial Planning Statement, Bill 97 or Bill 23, or require assistance in providing comments on related legislative and regulatory proposals, please contact Kat Sliwa or any member of Dentons’ Municipal, Land Use Planning and Development Law team.

Subject	Summary of change(s) ¹	Reference ²
Housing/Growth Targets	Requires municipalities to ensure that at the time of each official plan update, sufficient land is made available to meet projected needs for a time horizon of 25 years (noting that planning for infrastructure, employment, and strategic growth areas may extend beyond this time). This is a departure from the PPS, which states that municipalities must have sufficient land available for projected needs for “up to 25 years”.	Subsection 2.1.1, Planning for People and Homes
	Removes the concept of specific population and employment forecasts to 2051 (currently required under the Growth Plan). In its Proposed Approach to Implementation of the proposed Provincial Planning Statement released with the Provincial Planning Statement on the Environmental Registry of Ontario, the Ontario government notes that many of these plans have already been implemented throughout the region and that municipalities would continue to use the 2051 targets at a minimum. After this time, municipalities will need to update these forecasts on their own.	See the Growth Plan
	Requires that where the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has made a zoning order, the resulting development must be in addition to projected needs over the planning horizon established in the official plan and this additional growth must be incorporated into the municipality’s next official plan and related infrastructure plans.	Subsection 2.1.1, Planning for People and Homes
	Expands the definition of housing options to include a broader range of options for residential intensification, including laneway housing, garden suites, rooming houses, additional needs housing, and supportive, community, and transitional housing.	Section 7, Definitions (housing options)
	Removes the definition of affordable from the PPS and the Growth Plan, presumably to correspond to proposed amendments to O. Reg. 232/18 (Inclusionary Zoning) that prescribe how affordable prices/rents should be determined.	See PPS and Growth Plan, Definitions
Settlement Areas and Settlement Area Boundary Expansion	Provides greater flexibility for municipalities to determine when and where to identify a settlement area or allow the expansion of a settlement area boundary (i.e., the requirement for a municipal comprehensive review to permit settlement area expansions has been removed). In identifying a new settlement area or allowing a settlement area boundary expansion, planning authorities should consider factors such as servicing capacity, phasing, and agricultural impact. Encourages planning authorities to establish density targets for new settlement areas or settlement area expansion lands based on local conditions, while large and fast-growing municipalities (a new concept that is described below) are encouraged to plan for a minimum density target of 50 residents and jobs per gross hectare.	Section 2.3, Settlement Area Boundary Expansions
Strategic Growth Areas	Incorporates the concept of strategic growth areas from the Growth Plan, and provides that planning authorities may, and large and fast-growing municipalities shall, identify and focus growth and development in these areas by (1) identifying an appropriate minimum density target for each strategic growth area, and (2) identifying the appropriate type and scale of development in strategic growth areas and transition of built form to adjacent areas.	Section 2.4, Strategic Growth Areas Section 7, Definitions (strategic growth areas)
	Introduces the concept of large and fast-growing municipalities, which includes the 29 municipalities set out at Schedule 1 (Toronto, York, southern Durham, Peel, Halton, Hamilton, London, Waterloo, Kitchener, Barrie, Niagara Falls, St. Catherines, Windsor, Cambridge, Kingston, Guelph, Ottawa and Brantford). As noted above, large and fast-growing municipalities are required to identify appropriate minimum density targets for each strategic growth area and are encouraged to plan for a minimum density target of 50 residents and jobs per gross hectare.	Sections. 2.3 and 2.4.1, General Policies for Strategic Growth Areas Section 7, Definitions (large and fast-growing municipalities and strategic growth areas)
	Provides that any reduction in the size or change in the location of urban growth centres identified in an in effect official plan (as of a date to be determined) may only occur through a new official plan or official plan amendment adopted under Section 26 of the Planning Act.	Section 2.4.2, Strategic Growth Areas Section 7, Definitions (urban growth centres)
Major Transit Station Areas	Incorporates the concept of major transit station areas from the Growth Plan, which means the area including and around any existing or planned higher order transit station or stop within a settlement area; or the area including and around a major bus depot in an urban core. Major transit station areas generally are defined as the area within an approximate 500 to 800 metre radius of a transit station, representing about a 10-minute walk.	Section 2.4.2, Major Transit Station Areas Section 7, Definitions (major transit station area)
	Directs that growth be focused in, where applicable, strategic growth areas, including major transit station areas.	Section 2.3.1, Settlement Areas, and Settlement Area Boundary Expansions
	Requires large and fast-growing municipalities to delineate the boundaries of major transit station areas on higher order transit corridors through a new official plan or official plan amendment adopted under Section 26 of the Planning Act.	Section 2.4.2, Major Transit Station Areas
	Requires large and fast-growing municipalities to establish prescribed minimum density targets (aligned with the current Growth Plan) within major transit station areas on higher order transit corridors. Planning authorities that are not large and fast-growing municipalities, may, but are not required to do the same.	Section 2.4.2, Major Transit Station Areas
Rural Areas, Rural Lands & Agricultural Areas	Provides greater flexibility in the development of rural areas by removing language from the PPS which encouraged the conservation and redevelopment of existing rural housing stock on rural lands.	Section 2.5.1, Rural Areas in Municipalities
	Allows for increased residential development on rural lands by providing that multi-lot residential development is a permitted usewhere site conditions are suitable to the appropriate provision of servicing.	2.6.1, Rural Lands in Municipalities
	Promotes development on rural lands by removing the requirement from the PPS for development on rural lands to be compatible with the rural landscape	Section 2.6.2
	Permits Ontario farmers to have principal dwellings that are associated with an agricultural operation in prime agricultural areas, as an agricultural use.	Section 4.3.2.4, Agriculture
	Promotes residential lot creation in prime agricultural areas by removing language that “discourages” lot creation and instead directs that lot creation in prime agricultural areas must be in accordance with specific conditions.	Section 4.3.3.1, Agriculture
	Imposes restrictions on official plans and zoning by-laws that are more restrictive on lot creation in prime agricultural areas by providing that official plans and zoning by-laws shall not contain provisions that are more restrictive than Policy 4.3.3.1(a) of the Provincial Planning Statement, except to address public or health and safety concerns.	Section 4.3.3.2, Agriculture
	Discourages non-residential lot creation in prime agricultural areas and is only permitted in accordance with specific conditions.	Section 4.3.3.3, Agriculture
	Provides flexibility for non-agricultural uses on surrounding agricultural lands by creating an avenue for when avoidance of impacts from non-agricultural uses are not avoidable, by directing that an agricultural impacts assessment be provided.	Section 4.3.5, Agriculture
Employment	Revises the definition of employment area to exclude institutional and commercial uses, including retail and office uses, unless those institutional or commercial uses are associated with the primary employment area use (being manufacturing, research, and development in connection with manufacturing, warehousing, goods movement, associated retail and office, and ancillary facilities). The revisions to the definition of employment area matches corresponding amendments to the Planning Act.	Section 7, Definitions (employment area)
	Includes various policies that direct planning authorities to protect and preserve industrial, manufacturing, and warehousing uses.	Section 2.8, Employment
	Promotes complete communities and mixed-use development by permitting a diverse mix of land uses, including residential, employment, public service facilities, and other institutional uses on lands for employment that are outside of employment areas. Provides that official plans and zoning by-laws shall not contain provisions that are more restrictive than Section 2.8.1.3 of the Provincial Planning Statement, except for the purposes of public health and safety.	Section 2.8.1.3/4, Employment
	Requires planning authorities to assess and update employment areas identified in official plans to ensure that this designation is appropriate to the planned function of employment areas (a shift from the direction that planning authorities “should” do this from the PPS).	Section 2.8.2.3, Employment
	Provides that planning authorities may remove lands from employment areas where it has been demonstrated that there is an identified need for the removal, the land is not required for the long term, the proposed uses would not negatively impact the overall viability of the employment area, and infrastructure is available to accommodate the proposed uses (including transit and servicing). This is a significant departure from both the PPS and the Growth Plan, which only permit the conversion of employment lands in the context of a municipal comprehensive review (except under limited circumstances). In contrast, the Provincial Planning Statement permits the conversion of employment lands at any time. In addition, the test for conversion is slightly relaxed, as the requirement to consider forecasted employment growth set out in the Growth Plan has been removed.	Section 2.8.2.4, Employment
	Removes the concept of provincially significant employment areas or zones (PSEZs), which exists in the PPS and Growth Plan. In 2019, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing established 31 PSEZs. Pursuant to the PPS and Growth Plan, PSEZs are protected from conversion to non-employment uses except where it has been demonstrated to be appropriate in the context of a municipal comprehensive review. The Ontario government is seeking feedback on the need to identify select PSEZs or portions of PSEZs to protect lands exclusively through an alternative approach (e.g. through a Minister’s Zoning Order under Section 47 of the Planning Act).	See current Section 1.3.2.5 of the PPS and of the concept of “provincially significant employment zones” in the Growth Plan for example of repealed provisions/concepts
Infrastructure and Related Planning	Provides that planning and investment in infrastructure and public services should be prioritized to support strategic growth areas as focal areas for growth and development.	Section 3.1.2, General Policies for Infrastructure and Public Service Facilities
	Encourages planning authorities, in consultation with schoolboards, to consider and encourage innovative approaches in the design of school and associated childcare facilities, such as schools integrated in high-rise developments, in strategic growth areas, and other areas with a compact built form.	Section 3.1.6, General Policies for Infrastructure and Public Service Facilities
Natural Heritage	The natural heritage policies and related definitions remain under consideration the province. Once ready for comment, ERO 019-6813 is intended to be updated with a link to the relevant posting.	Section 41, Natural Heritage

This outlines key changes from the PPS as set out in the Provincial Planning Statement, unless stated otherwise. ↩
All references in this column are to sections of the Provincial Planning Statement, unless stated otherwise. ↩