A new take on development

If you find Toronto’s development approval process hard to understand, it’s not your fault. The most common question asked is “Why doesn’t the city just require the builder to respect the existing bylaw?”

The answer is mired in the land use approval provisions set out in the provincial planning act and the processes that subsequently evolved.

One byproduct of the system is that large-scale projects are typically dealt with on a site-specific basis. It is not hard to spot the flaw in a “planning” regime that puts such reliance on this approach. For one thing, the cumulative impact of each individual development becomes difficult to address — the very opposite of “planning.”

Appropriate area-wide infrastructure improvements become hard to put in place. Appeals to the Ontario Municipal Board get in the way of community benefits arranged via the approval process.

It all leads to misunderstandings, mistrust and suspicions of let’s-make-a-deal planning.

There is another approach: an area-based development permit system, putting updated bylaws in place before developers come forward with applications so that questions of size, height and density are decided in advance. This means allowing planners to do actual planning and for specific neighbourhoods, such as Leaside, to have their needs better served.

I have invited Toronto’s chief planner to come to our community this month to discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by our city’s growth. The benefits of adopting an area-based development permit system is one opportunity I have asked her to tell us more about.

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