Item - 2023.PH5.5

The Planning and Housing Committee:

1. Endorsed the contents of the report (June 19, 2023) from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning as the basis for ongoing public consultation.

This report outlines proposed changes to Zoning By-law 569-2013 (‘the city-wide Zoning By-law’) to simplify and modernize low-rise residential zoning regulations. The proposed changes seek to remove barriers, ease administration, and enable the creation of more housing as part of the Housing Action Plan to achieve or exceed the provincial housing target of 285,000 new homes over the next 10 years. These proposed changes will form the basis for public consultation later in 2023.

The proposed changes are organized by three key themes: ‘simplification’, ‘harmonization’, and ‘modernization’.

-  The proposed ‘simplification’ changes include updating and clarifying zoning regulations to eliminate confusion and duplication regarding secondary suites and multiplexes.

-   Proposed ‘harmonization’ changes aim to align regulations, such as main wall height provisions between building types (e.g., detached and semi-detached houses) across zones to ensure a consistent approach to city-wide building standards with respect to residential building types.

-   The proposed ‘modernization’ changes aim to implement current best practices for regulations, such as alternatives to regulating Floor Space Index (FSI) and moving the city-wide Zoning By-law towards a more form-based approach focusing on the external characteristics of a building.

The proposed zoning changes respond to provincial policy changes to the Planning Act (Bill 23) and will be guided by review of best practices in comparable jurisdictions in Ontario, Canada, and North America, ongoing stakeholder engagement, and integration with other zoning and policy modernization initiatives such as the Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON) project.