Official Plan Review

On September 12, 2022, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing used their authority pursuant to subsection 17(40.1) of the Planning Act to suspend the 120-day decision making timeline for the following matters:

• OPA 537: Keele-St. Clair Secondary Plan
• OPA 540: Bloor-Danforth Corridor Protected Major Transit Station Areas
• OPA 544: Lower Density Target Major Transit Station Areas
• OPA 570: 57 Protected Major Transit Station Areas City-wide
• OPA 575: 25 Major Transit Station Areas City-wide
• OPA 583: Environment and Climate Change Policy Updates
• OPA 591: City-wide Employment Policies and Conversion Request

A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (Growth Plan (2019) came into effect on May 16, 2019. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has established a deadline of July 1, 2022 for municipalities to update their Official Plans to achieve conformity with the Growth Plan (2019). This provincially legislated requirement is satisfied through a Growth Plan Conformity exercise and Municipal Comprehensive Review. On June 29, 2020, City Council approved a work plan (Item PH14.4) for the “Growth Plan Conformity and Municipal Comprehensive Review of the Toronto Official Plan”. Attachment 5 of the Council report lists the work plan components. The dropdown tabs below provide more information on key elements of the work plan including Managing Forecasted Growth through Intensification, Major Transit Station Areas, Protecting Employment Areas and Updating Environmental Policies.

• At its meeting on February 2, 2022, City Council requested a one-year extension to the date by which the City of Toronto’s Official Plan must conform with the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (Item PH30.6). The decision from the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing is pending.

The Official Plan review process, which the City is calling Our Plan Toronto, presents an opportunity to address, through planning policy, a number of the growth related challenges facing Toronto today and in the future. These challenges include: housing affordability, climate change, mobility, public health and others that will help inform the City’s response to, and recovery from, the current global pandemic.

Through Our Plan Toronto, the City of Toronto is undertaking an intensification strategy to satisfy the Growth Plan (2019) policies. This intensification strategy is intended to direct Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and prioritize growth where transit and other infrastructure currently exists or is planned, including in Major Transit Station Areas, Urban Growth Centres, and other Strategic Growth Areas. As part of the intensification strategy, City staff will lead a Land Needs Assessment, as required by the Growth Plan (2019), to assess the quantity of land required to accommodate forecasted growth to 2051.

MTSAs are defined in the Growth Plan (2020) as areas within an approximate 500-800 metre radius of a transit station and representing a 10-minute walk. The Growth Plan (2020) prescribes the following minimum density targets for MTSAs: 200 residents and jobs per hectare for subways; 160 residents and jobs per hectare for light rail transit; and 150 residents and jobs for GO Transit rail. Through Our Plan Toronto, to satisfy the Growth Plan (2020) requirements, the City is required to individually delineate the boundaries for the 140+ MTSAs within the City and to demonstrate that each MTSA is planned for the established minimum target for residents and jobs.

Protected Major Transit Station Areas (PMTSAs) will become a subset of the 140+ MTSAs. Under Policy 2.2.4.5 of the Growth Plan, the City can delineate PMTSAs before the Municipal Comprehensive Review is completed provided the delineation is in accordance with Section 16(15) of the Planning Act. The introduction of PMTSAs is part of Our Plan Toronto’s equity lens that prioritizes the delineation of PMTSAs to enable the implementation of Inclusionary Zoning as an affordable housing tool, where market conditions could support it.

Additional detail on the recommended MTSA and PMTSA delineations adopted by City Council can be found on the MTSA Interactive Engagement Tool.

Major Transit Station Areas progress:

• At its Meeting on July 19 – 22, 2022, City Council adopted the recommended MTSA and PMTSA Official Plan Amendments (OPA 540, OPA 544, OPA 570 and OPA 575), which would amend Chapter 8 of the Official Plan pursuant to Sections 16(15) and 26 of the Planning Act. These OPAs add a combined total of 115 MTSAs and PMTSAs to Chapter 8 of the Official Plan. These OPAs will now be submitted to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for final approval. See Item PH35.16 for more details.
• At its Special Public Meeting on July 5, 2022, Planning and Housing Committee recommended the MTSA and PMTSA Official Plan Amendments (OPA 540, OPA 544, OPA 570 and OPA 575) for adoption by City Council. These OPAs amend Chapter 8 of the Official Plan pursuant to Sections 16(15) and 26 of the Planning Act.
• Draft OPA 570 and 575: At its meeting on March 25, 2022 Planning and Housing Committee approved for consultation 57 PMTSAs and 40 MTSAs (Item PH32.7) located across the City.
  • [Correction to Staff Report, page 7 of 23] Seven stations are identified as potential Protected Major Transit Station Areas (PMTSA), but are not within Inclusionary Zoning Market Areas shown on Map 37 of the Official Plan. The Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) By-Law will only apply to development that is both within an IZ Market Area and an approved PMTSA.
    • These stations are: Islington, Kipling, Caledonia, Fairbank, Oakwood, Keelesdale and Guildwood GO.
• OPA 524 – Downtown Plan PMTSAs & Interpretation Policies
  At its meeting on February 2, 2022, City Council adopted Official Plan Amendment (OPA) No. 524. This OPA includes 16 Protected Major Transit Station Areas (PMTSAs) within the Downtown Secondary Plan area (PH30.3). It also includes new interpretation policies and guidance in the Official Plan to implement PMTSAs and Major Transit Station Areas.
• Draft OPA 540 – Bloor-Danforth Corridor
  At its meeting on January 12, 2022, Planning and Housing Committee approved the draft delineation of 23 Protected Major Transit Station Areas along two segments of the Bloor-Danforth corridor, from Jane Station to Bathurst Station, and Castle Frank Station to Victoria Park Station. This includes 20 Line 2 Subway Stations, and 3 GO Rail stations.
• Draft OPA 544 – Lower Targets Request
  At its meeting on October 18, 2021, Planning and Housing Committee approved the draft delineation of 11 Major Transit Station Areas that require lower density targets than are otherwise identified in the Growth Plan (Item PH27.5). Seven of these stations are identified at Protected Major Transit Station Areas (PMTSA).
• OPA 482 – Keele Finch Secondary Plan PMTSAs
  At its meeting on December 16, 2020, City Council adopted Official Plan Amendment No. 482 (Protected Major Transit Station Areas) and endorsed Official Plan Amendment 483 (Keele Finch Secondary Plan). Official Plan Amendment No. 482 is before the Province for consultation and approval.

MTSA Key Map

The Key Map below shows the delineation of Council-adopted Major Transit Station Areas and Protected Major Transit Station Areas across the City, as well as stations requiring further study as indicated by red text.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Joshua Wise – Joshua.Wise@toronto.ca (Planner) 416-392-4787 or Dan Godin – Dan.Godin@toronto.ca (Senior Planner) 416-392-0421.

The City of Toronto is developing inclusionary zoning policy that would require new residential developments to include affordable housing units, creating mixed-income housing. Inclusionary zoning is one solution among a range of City initiatives to help address Toronto’s housing needs. The policies that get developed through the Inclusionary Zoning Policy work currently underway will be aligned with Our Plan Toronto.

An integral component of the City’s economic health are the 8,000 hectares of lands designated as Core Employment Areas and General Employment Areas. These two designations account for 13 per cent of all lands in the City, accommodating of 400,000 jobs. Since 2000, the value of new industrial building permits within Employment Areas averaged over $48 million annually, demonstrating continued investment, interest and confidence in these areas.

As part of Our Plan Toronto, the City is reviewing the Official Plan land use policies for these areas. The Growth Plan 2019 requires municipalities to: prohibit certain land uses (residential); prohibit or limit other sensitive land uses; prohibit or establish size or scale thresholds for major retail uses; and address compatibility issues between Employment Areas and non-employment areas.

In support of the Growth Plan conformity exercise and MCR, the City retained Hemson Consulting Ltd., with Cushman & Wakefield, to carry out an employment study and economic analysis of the City’s Employment Areas and office market (“Employment Study”). The Employment Study was provided to Planning and Housing Committee for consideration at its meeting on April 27, 2022 (PH33.13). The Employment Study recommends directions to strengthen and clarify the Official Plan policies to support and grow employment and maintain a healthy economy.

• Future of Toronto Employment Areas and the Office Market (Attachment 6, Part 1)
• Appendix 1: Mapping of Employment Distribution and Change Over Time by Land Use Category
• Appendix 2: Area of Employment Profiles – (1) South of Eastern; (2) Rexdale-Airport; (3) Junction-Weston-Dupont; (4) Tapscott; (5) Liberty Village; (6) South Etobicoke; and (7) Northwest Etobicoke
• Appendix 2: Area of Employment Profiles (con’t) – (8) Port Lands-Central Waterfront; (9) Eastern-Carlaw-DVP; (10) Leaside-Thorncliffe Park; (11) Bermondsey-Railside; (12) Scarborough-Highway 401; (13) Milliken; (14) Coronation Drive; (15) Golden Mile / South-Central Scarborough
• Appendix 2: Area of Employment Profiles (con’t) – (16) Scarborough Junction; (17) Highway 400; (18) Downsview; (19) Caledonia – South Downsview; (20) Victoria Park – Steeles; (21) Consumers Road; (22) Duncan Mill; and (23) Don Mills

Research and recommendations provided in the Employment Study along with business-focused consultation has helped informed staff’s draft employment policies adopted by Planning and Housing Committee at the April 27, 2022 (PH33.13) meeting to be used as the basis for consultation.

• Attachment 2: Draft revisions to Chapters 2, 3, and 4 – Employment Area, Economic Health, and Land Use Designation Policies

The City Planning Division has received approximately 150 requests to convert lands designated Core Employment Areas or General Employment Areas for non-employment uses as part of the city-initiated MCR.  The year-long City Council approved window to receive conversion requests closed on August 3, 2021.

The City is also considering the conversion of some lands designated Employment Areas resulting from the outcome of a city-initiated planning study; as directed by Planning and Housing Committee to expand Preliminary Assessments for specific conversion requests; and, complete applications for an Official Plan Amendment.

City Planning and Economic Development and Culture staff are currently reviewing requests to convert Employment Areas. Planning and Housing Committee considered Preliminary Assessments in 4 groups. The Preliminary Assessments form the basis for consultation with key stakeholders and the public, including landowners and businesses, to obtain comments and feedback.

• Group 1 (Item PH30.5)
• Group 2 (Item PH31.7)
• Group 3 (Item PH32.8)
• Group 4 (Item PH33.13)

Staff’s final recommendation for each conversion request will be considered by Planning and Housing Committee and Council in the coming months.

City Council authorized the commencement of the Municipal Comprehensive Review on August 4, 2020, and requested the Chief Planner to receive written conversion requests pursuant to A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe (2019) policies 2.2.5.9 and 2.2.5.10 until August 3, 2021.

Requests received on or after December 18, 2020 to August 3, 2021 are subject to the Employment Areas Conversion Request User Fee of $20,000 per request (Item PH19.3, By-law 1137-2020). The fee is waived in circumstances where a complete application for an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) has been received for the same address(es), including payment of the OPA application fee.

If you have any questions, please contact:

• Etobicoke York District – Gerry Rogalski (Senior Planner) 416-397-4074
• North York District – Kyle Fearon (Senior Planner) 416-397-5264
• Scarborough District – Pauline Beaupre (Senior Planner) 416-392-0881
• Toronto and East York District – Janani Mahendran (Senior Planner) 416-338-3003

KSC = Keele-St. Clair Local Area Study.

The Province’s Growth Plan Policy 2.2.5.7 requires the City to prohibit residential uses within lands designated as Employment Areas in the Official Plan.

As part of the MCR, Site and Area Specific Policies (SASPs) in Chapter 7 of the Official Plan are being reviewed. There are 14 SASPs that currently permit residential uses on lands that are designated Core or General Employment Areas. The residential permissions in these SASPs prevail over the Employment Areas policies that do not allow residential uses.

A staff report with draft directions for upcoming consultation on these matters was considered by the Planning and Housing Committee on July 5, 2022.  The following are links to the Council item, staff report, draft directions for this study and Chapter 7 of the Official Plan, Site and Area Specific Policies.

Staff are reviewing these SASPs and will consult with the landowners, based on the draft directions, on the following dates:

The information presented at the three meetings above can be found in the Policy Study of Employment Areas that have Residential Permissions presentation.

Additional recommendations since December 2022 have been made for SASPs 1, 154 (7-77 Florence Street and 478-492 Dufferin Street) and 288 (136 Westmore Drive) and are also included in the presentation.

Official Plan Amendment 583

On June 15, 2022, City Council adopted Official Plan Amendment (OPA) 583 with updates related to environment and climate change. These updates were adopted as part of Item PH34.1, which includes OPA 583, a summary of changes, and redline version showing the updates made to the Official Plan. OPA 583 has been submitted to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and will be in-force following the Minister’s approval.

The Official Plan articulates the City’s vision for the future, directs land use, and guides city building decisions that can help address our goals as we plan within a climate and biodiversity emergency. OPA 583 brings the Official Plan into conformity with The Growth Plan (2020); the Provincial Policy Statement (2020); the Greenbelt Plan (2017); and the Food and Organic Waste Policy Statement (2018) as it relates to the City’s environmental and climate change policies. OPA 583 also reflects City Council’s directions made in adopting the City’s updated TransformTO Net Zero Strategy, Toronto Green Standard Version 4, the 2019 declaration of a Climate Emergency, and the Long Term Waste Management Strategy. These updates make changes to the Official Plan’s Chapters 2-5, Chapter 7, Schedule 3, and updates to Map 9, Map 12A and Map 12B.

As a major undertaking that will direct the future growth of the City for the next 30 years, Our Plan Toronto includes engagement opportunities for all Torontonians, businesses, and other stakeholders, including First Nations and Métis communities to have the opportunity to participate and engage with the City on this important project. Engagement opportunities will include online consultation, surveys, interactive mapping and virtual meetings. Engagement activities must accommodate physical distancing measures, given the City’s current inability to host public gatherings.

You can access the Engagement Summaries

• Our Plan Toronto Engagement Summary
• Phase 1 Engagement Summary Report
• Phase 2 Engagement Summary Report
• Attachment – Phase 2 Stakeholder Group and Community Leaders Circle Meeting Summaries
• Phase 3 Engagement Summary Report
• Indigenous Engagement Summary Report
• Stakeholder, Community Leaders Circle and Indigenous Engagement Contact Lists
• Scarborough Community Renewal Organization (SCRO) Meeting
• Accessibility Focused Meeting Summary, Slide Deck, Youtube Video

October 2021 Stakeholder meetings or our Public Meetings Youtube presentations:

• Public Meeting;
• Affordable Housing & Intensification;
• Environment & Climate Change;
• Employment & Future of Work, and
• Neighbourhoods & Complete Communities.

Spring 2022 Open Houses, Town Halls and Public Meetings YouTube presentations:

• Open House on Environment and Climate Change Policies (April 12, 2022)
• Etobicoke York Town Hall Meeting Summary, Slide Deck PDF, Youtube Video (May 26, 2022)
• Scarborough Town Hall Meeting Summary, Slide Deck PDF, Youtube Video (May 26, 2022)
• North York Town Hall Meeting Summary, Slide Deck PDF, Youtube Video  (May 30, 2022)
• Toronto and East York Town Hall Meeting Summary, Slide Deck PDF, Youtube Video (June 1, 2022)
• City-wide Statutory Public Open House Meeting Summary, Slide Deck PDF, Youtube Video (June 7, 2022)
• Policy Focus: Employment Lands and the Future of Work Meeting Summary, Slide Deck PDF, Youtube Video (June 21, 2022)
• Policy Focus: Neighbourhoods and Complete Communities Meeting Summary, Slide Deck PDF, Youtube Video (June 22, 2022)
• Policy Focus: Housing and Intensification Meeting Summary, Slide Deck PDF, Youtube Video (June 23, 2022)
• Planning and Housing Committee Meeting Summary, Youtube Video (July 5, 2022)

Spring 2023 Open Houses and Public Meetings

• Employment Areas Conversion Requests Public Open Houses May 15 and 17 Summary, Slide Deck PDF

The MTSA interactive engagement tool provides some introductory information and Major Transit Station Areas and an ability to interact with our map.

Through the course of Our Plan Toronto, City staff may determine that additional Official Plan policy matters may need to be reviewed and amended.

The City of Toronto Official Plan was approved by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) in 2006. The first statutory Five Year Review subsequently began in 2011. Updated policies have been adopted by Council for a number of thematic policy areas and are either in effect, being reviewed by the Province, or are being adjudicated at the LPAT.

Environment

OPA 262 was approved by the Province in May 2016. The OPA is in full force and effect.

Employment

OPA 231 is currently being adjudicated by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT). The majority of the policies and mapping are in full force and effect.

An April 2021 consolidated version of OPA 231 is available.

Heritage

OPA 199, which won the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals Award of Excellence, was approved with modifications by the Ontario Municipal Board in April 2015. The OPA is in full force and effect.

Housing

OPA 214 was approved by City Council in July 2013. The OPA is in full force and effect.

On April 6, 2016, Planning and Growth Management Committee considered a new Official Plan definition for Affordable Ownership Housing.

Neighbourhoods & Apartment Neighbourhoods

OPA 320 was approved with modifications by the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) in December 2017 and December 2018. The OPA is in full force and effect.

Urban Design

OPA 479 and OPA 480 were approved by the Province with one modification on September 11, 2020. The OPAs are in full force and effect. The Minister’s Decision approving OPA 479 and the Minister’s Decision approving OPA 480 are available using the links provided.

Transportation

OPA 274 was approved by the Province on December 31, 2014. The OPA is in full force and effect.

OPA 456 was adopted by City Council on February 26, 2020, and was approved by the Province with one modification on June 9, 2021. The Minister’s Decision approving OPA 456 is available using the link provided.