Item - 2025.PH25.7

The Planning and Housing Committee:

1. Received the report (October 15, 2025) from the Deputy City Manager, Development and Growth Services for information.  

This report responds to City Council’s direction on Item CC33.12, which requested that the Deputy City Manager, Development and Growth Services work with Waterfront Toronto on a common planning approach for privately-owned development sites within the Ookwemin Minising precinct. The intent of this work is to ensure the lands in the precinct contribute to complete communities and provide affordable housing in alignment with Council-approved policies, plans and targets.

The planning framework for Ookwemin Minising emphasizes affordable rental housing and the creation of sustainable, inclusive and complete mixed-use communities. Defined by the renaturalized Don River, the island builds on two decades of tri-government collaboration in waterfront revitalization, which has delivered flood protection, land remediation, new housing (market and affordable), and award-winning parks, public spaces, and sustainable architecture.

With respect to privately-owned sites in the precinct, the context is limited: one major landholding is subject to a Council-endorsed Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) settlement, subject to a future OLT decision, which secures development permissions and affordable housing commitments, and two smaller parcels that are not expected to redevelop (see Attachment 1).

Approaches to secure new affordable housing on private sites include community benefits contributions, negotiated settlements, and incentive programs within Ookwemin Minising. Ookwemin Minising lies outside any Protected Major Transit Station Area (PMTSA) and is therefore not subject to Inclusionary Zoning.

City staff have met with Waterfront Toronto to coordinate a shared approach to privately-owned lands in Ookwemin Minising. Beginning in November 2025, Waterfront Toronto will lead a series of workshops with private landowners to discuss affordable rental housing delivery models, funding and incentive programs, and the City’s affordable housing targets and planning expectations. The sessions will also highlight the broader benefits of advancing complete, mixed-use communities in line with the precinct plan. Staff from the City and CreateTO will participate. This coordinated outreach will form the foundation for ongoing collaboration with private landowners and will be repeated in subsequent phases of waterfront revitalization.