Item - 2023.PH8.8

The Planning and Housing Committee:

1. Requested the Deputy City Manager, Development and Growth, in consultation with the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, and the Chief Building Official and Executive Director, Toronto Building review the planning application checklist and report back by the second quarter of 2024 with any identified redundancies, duplications or items that may reasonably be eliminated from the list of required studies to be submitted alongside the following applications:
 

a. Official Plan Amendment (OPA)
b. Zoning By-law Amendment (ZBA)
c. Draft Plan of Subdivision (SUB)
d. Site Plan Control (SPA)
e. Part Lot Control Exemption (PLC)
f. Draft Plan of Condominium (CDM)
 

2. Requested the Deputy City Manager, Development and Growth, include in the report back in the second quarter of 2024 an evaluation of the requirements for third party reviews of submitted studies as part of an application, an evaluation of the current annual cost to hire consultants to undertake these third-party reviews in instances where the City of Toronto does not itself have the in-house expertise, and recommendations to reduce the administrative burden on City Staff and accelerate approval timelines.

On October 19, 2023, the first meeting of the Housing Action Roundtable was held at City Hall. The purpose of the Roundtable is to bring together external experts from a variety of perspectives to help us bring forward the transformative change needed at the City of Toronto to build an affordable city for current and future generations. I am leading this Roundtable at the request of Mayor Olivia Chow, who shares the goal of building more housing for Torontonians.

Among its list of objectives, the Roundtable is intended to help guide efforts to accelerate city review and approval processes for new housing. Today, it takes 3 ½ years to get housing approved. That’s a big factor into why it takes far too long to get shovels in the ground on the housing we so desperately need. Worse still, many housing projects die a slow death because by the time a builder gets that approval in hand, construction costs have increased, their financing has fallen through, and the project that once made sense no longer pencils. We must do better.

One of the immediate priorities identified by the Roundtable is the need to eliminate redundant – and often unnecessary – studies from the application process. On any given application, there can be as many as 34+ studies that an applicant is asked to submit. These studies represent a significant cost to a builder, in terms of both time and money. The City has only continued to add to the list of requirements over the years, and some may require a rethink.

I’ll give you a few examples:

●  Applicants are asked to provide a Parking Study despite City Council having eliminated the requirement to provide parking within new developments. In many cases, these reports are being written to justify the intention to build zero onsite parking.

●  Applicants building housing along Queen Street or other transit routes are often asked to submit a Noise Impact Study outlining how the noise from public transit will impact future residents, despite the goal to build housing close to transit. Spoiler alert: if you live on Queen Street, you may occasionally hear the bell and speaker from the 501.

●  Applicants are asked to do the City’s work for them by submitting a Community Services and Facilities Study to determine if the additional population will necessitate the creation of new services (e.g. community centres, libraries). The Census already provides data on population growth and socio-demographic trends.

●  Applicants are asked to submit an Avenue Segment Review in areas where the City has not themselves undertaken an Avenue Study to help guide new development – and explain how their own project might fit into that broader plan. This would not be necessary if the City proactively planned for the growth that we need.