Item - 2024.PH14.5

The Planning and Housing Committee:

1. Requested that the Executive Director, Development Review, in consultation with the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, continue to undertake stakeholder consultation on potential policy amendments to address ongoing legislative changes and report back to Planning and Housing Committee by the end of the second quarter of 2025.

2. Requested that the Executive Director, Development Review, in consultation with the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, the City Clerk, and the City Solicitor, establish clear requirements for recording and publishing virtual community consultation meetings on the City of Toronto's digital platforms, including standard requirements for the collection of necessary personal information under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. 

3. Requested the Executive Director, Development Review to support proactive communication and early consultation with communities through the development review process by:

a. providing a Memo to Members of Council outlining current and forthcoming community consultation processes and tools available to support Councillors and the public through the development review process.

b. developing community consultation best practices for applicant use to be posted to the City’s Development Guide; and

c. prioritizing the development of tools, processes and practices that enable early, broad and automatic notification at all milestones in the development review process.

In December 2022, Council established two principles to guide implementation of Bill 109: the More Homes for Everyone Act. Changes to community consultation practices are required to address both principles:

• Continue to focus on and prioritize good city-building outcomes; and
• Mitigate risk to cost recovery of development review services. 

In January 2024, the Planning and Housing Committee requested staff to undertake city-wide public consultation to address potential policy and/or by-law changes to improve consultation practices at two points in the development review process: 1) Pre-application consultation; and 2) Community Consultation Meetings (CCM).

In April 2024, the Province introduced Bill 185: Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act (Bill 185). Bill 185 removes application fee refund provisions and the authority to require by by-law, mandatory pre-application consultation before an application is submitted, while maintaining tight legislated timelines for decision-making and approval under the City of Toronto Act and the Planning Act. Relevant provisions of Bill 185 came into force and effect on June 6, 2024.

As the legislative landscape continues to shift, detailed policy recommendations to amend the Official Plan and Municipal Code are premature. Through consultation with the public, industry and Councillors, staff identified a number of near- and medium-term operating model improvements. These include, but are not limited to organizational structure, process and technology improvements that, despite legislative change, support improved community consultation practices.