Province new policy directions are retrograde that favour flexibility for one-off decision-making and land use speculation
The City report outlines staff comments on the proposed Provincial Planning Statement as itemized in the attachment. The recommendations contained in this report address concerns raised by City staff intended to inform the Ministry of the City’s comments and suggested revisions to the proposed Provincial Planning Statement. Staff from City Planning, Engineering & Construction Services, Economic Development & Culture, the Housing Secretariat, Toronto Water, Parks, Forestry & Recreation, Corporate Finance and Legal Services reviewed and provided comments organized in the following six themes:
- Regional Planning;
- Housing;
- Employment Lands Planning;
- Environment;
- Infrastructure; and
- Implementation
“As noted throughout the City report, the draft Provincial Planning Statement represents a seminal change in direction for regional planning in Ontario and within the Greater Golden Horseshoe area. The nature of the changes proposed replace predictability and integrated land use, infrastructure and resource management planning with retrograde policy directions that favour flexibility for one-off decision-making and land use speculation instead of a systems approach.
Wholesale changes to the regional planning system are not needed, as proposed in the draft Provincial Planning Statement. The City is open and willing to work with the Province and other municipal partners to refine the regional planning framework and continue to amend municipal policies and practices to facilitate the development of more housing quickly and sustainably as demonstrated over the last several years in approving over 28,000 units per year on average. Importantly as well, City staff welcome the opportunity to work with Provincial staff to assist in refining the policies and providing lived examples of how the proposed policies will potentially be operationalized and which may ultimately not achieve the intended outcomes without further refinement to the policies as contemplated in the proposed Policy Statement.”
A copy of the City of Toronto Chief Planner’s report can be found at: