Item - 2023.PH2.11

The Planning and Housing Committee recommends that:

1. City Council amend the City of Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 103, Heritage, substantially in accordance with Attachment 1 to the report (February 10, 2023) from the Chief Planner and Executive Direction, City Planning.

2. City Council authorize the City Solicitor to make such stylistic and technical changes to the amendment to the City of Toronto Municipal Code as may be required.

3. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, as part of the first annual report required under Section 103-8.7 D. of Chapter 103 of the Toronto Municipal Code, to report on the performance and process of administering the delegated authority of listing properties prior to a prescribed event, as defined under the Ontario Heritage Act.

4. City Council request that the Province of Ontario make the necessary amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act to allow for the municipality and a property owner to agree to a mutual extension or waiver of the timeline prescribed in Paragraph 1 of subsection 29 (1.2) requiring that property be listed on the Heritage Register at the time of a prescribed event.

This report provides an update on the recent changes to the Ontario Heritage Act (the "OHA") that the Province has implemented through Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act 2022, and proposes administrative changes to the City of Toronto's Municipal Code as a Phase One response to the amendments.

On November 28, 2022, Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act 2022, received royal assent and proposed extensive changes to the various pieces of legislation, including the Ontario Heritage Act.

On January 1, 2023, the amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act were proclaimed into force, except for one provision that requires that a Heritage Register be posted on a municipality's website, intended to come into effect on July 1, 2023. The Ontario Heritage Act amendments will require significant changes to how the City conserves its cultural heritage resources, particularly with respect to listing properties on the Heritage Register. The identification and conservation of heritage properties remains an integral component of land use planning.

Staff are currently undertaking a review of the City's current practices for listing heritage properties in the context of Bill 23. It is anticipated that through this review staff will have forthcoming recommendations on how to best align the City's response to these amendments within the existing policy framework, the City's phased response to Bill 109, and to the City's Concept 2 Keys program, and ongoing divisional program review. There will likely be a multi-phased approach to the response to the various legislative changes as they relate to the Ontario Heritage Act including consideration of further policy changes from the Province. 

This initial report focuses on the process of inclusion of a heritage property in the Register.

One of the most significant impacts of the amendments is a two year time limitation on the listing of heritage properties. There are currently 3,981 properties listed on the City's Heritage Register that are not yet designated. The properties are located across the City, and some have been listed for nearly fifty years. All listed properties are subject to this new time limitation, whereby if the council of the municipality does not give a notice of intention to designate the property under subsection 29 (1) of the Ontario Heritage Act on or before the second anniversary of the day the property was included in the Register, Council must remove the property from the Register and cannot list it again for a period of five years. 

The Ontario Heritage Act amendments also place restrictions on Council's ability to designate a property that is subject to a development application, if the property is not listed on the City's Heritage Register before the time period prescribed under the Ontario Heritage Act related to those development applications. Given the very limited time available to list a property involved in a development application, and the limitations of scheduled committee and council meetings needed to adopt a listing, this provision places the largest immediate risk before Council.

As an initial response to Bill 23, staff are recommending that Council delegate focused administrative authority to the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning. The purpose of the delegation is to ensure that the City can respond to prescribed applications in a timely manner, while ensuring that Council is not precluded from making timely and informed decisions with respect to land use planning and heritage conservation. Authority would be delegated to include a property in the Heritage Register when they are believed to be of cultural heritage value and where they meet at least two of the Provincial Criteria for holding cultural heritage value or interest (the amended Act requires a property to meet one criterion), and when they are subject to privately initiated Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment, and/or Draft Plan of Subdivision application. Allowing the delegation of listing in these limited instances will ensure the timely listing of unlisted heritage properties within the development process, provide certainty and clarity, and assist staff in processing applications within the Bill 109 timelines. This also ensures that Council is not precluded from considering whether a property merits designation or not under section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act.  Council would remain the approval authority for designations under the Act.