Housing Action Plan: Avenues, Mid-rise and Mixed Use Areas Study

Background

General Information

The Housing Action Plan (HAP) is a cornerstone of the City’s efforts to address current housing challenges. Adopted by City Council in December 2022, the HAP outlines a strong ‘made-in-Toronto’ multi-pronged approach to increase housing supply, housing choice and affordability for current and future residents. The Plan will also help to enable market, non-market and mixed housing production to achieve or exceed the provincial housing target of 285,000 new homes over the next 10 years.

Map 2 and Chapter 2 of the City’s Official Plan outlines the policies and geography of Toronto’s Urban Structure. This structure identifies the target growth areas (i.e., Avenues, Downtown, Centres and Employment Areas) in the city that are intended to accommodate most of the city’s population and job growth while being supported by quality public transit, infrastructure, and community services. In combination with Chapter 4, which contains the land use designations that apply across the city (i.e., Mixed Use Areas, Neighbourhoods, etc.), the Official Plan sets out a strategy for managing growth.

To implement the policies of the Official Plan, Urban Design Guidelines and Zoning By-law regulations provide more specific direction to guide how Toronto evolves and grows. Updating the Official Plan, Urban Design Guidelines, and Zoning By-law regulations, as part of the HAP work plan, will help realize the vision of more inclusive and complete communities, and support the objective of increasing housing supply.

It is important to note that other Housing Action Plan items, such as the Expanding Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON) Major Streets Study, are not part of this work program but are interrelated and require the City to take a comprehensive and integrated approach to their implementation.

Updated Zoning for Avenues

The HAP directs staff to review and update zoning permissions and standards along Avenues to remove obstacles to their redevelopment with new housing. At present, Mixed Use Areas along Avenues are generally zoned Commercial Residential (CR) Zone under City-wide Zoning By-law 569-2013, subject to Development Standard Sets “SS2” and “SS3” that reflect the current Mid-rise Building Urban Design Guidelines performance standards. In many areas, the Zoning By-law’s maximum height and density permissions reflect historical permissions carried forward from pre-amalgamation zoning by-laws.

The HAP includes three projects to update zoning permissions for Avenues:

• As-of-Right Zoning for Mid-rise Buildings on Avenues without Avenue Studies
• As-of-Right Zoning for Completed Avenue Studies without Implementing Zoning
• As-of-Right Zoning for new Avenues and Mixed Use Areas

Projects

Updates to Mid-Rise Building Performance Standards Urban Design Guidelines

As one of the initial steps in the HAP, staff are reviewing and updating the Rear Transition Performance Standards from the Avenues & Mid-Rise Buildings Study (Standards 5A through 5D). The focused review of these performance standards has identified that flexibility in transition provisions creates additional opportunities to facilitate the development of mid-rise buildings, supporting increased housing supply in walkable, complete communities. Importantly, this approach intends to provide a wider range of housing options to address current housing challenges without compromising the needs of future generations.

At its meeting on November 30, 2023, the Planning and Housing Committee adopted a motion for the City to make best efforts to report back by Q4 2024 with draft consolidated mid-rise guidelines that incorporate recommendations resulting from mid-rise monitoring, public and stakeholder consultation undertaken to date, and analysis that amend the performance standards with the goal of encouraging mid-rise developments that are more economical to build and more environmentally sustainable.

Estimated Completion Timeline: Q4 2024

Please see the Mid-Rise Buildings webpage.

Avenues Policy Review 

The HAP directed staff to explore opportunities to streamline study requirements for building new housing along Avenues, extend and potentially introduce new Avenues, update the vision and policy direction for how Avenues will develop, and study options for creating areas of transition between Avenues and Neighbourhoods to enable more housing. A proposal report was adopted with amendments by the Planning and Housing Committee on February 28, 2024.

Estimated Completion Timeline: Q4 2024

Expanding Mixed Use Areas Designations

As a future phase of the Avenues Policy Review initiative, the HAP directs staff to review the Official Plan Land Use maps (Maps 13-23) to explore opportunities to expand the Mixed Use Areas designation in certain geographies.

Estimated Completion Timeline: Q2 2025

As-of-Right Zoning for Mid-rise Buildings on Avenues without Avenue Studies

For Avenues where an Avenue Study defining area-specific built form policies has not been completed, the HAP directs staff to amend the Zoning By-law to implement the updated Mid-Rise Building Urban Design Guidelines, including increasing maximum heights and densities.

This Zoning project includes three major components:

• Creating new Development Standard Sets for the CR Zone that replace the current rear angular plane requirements with building setbacks that reflect the proposed new Rear Transition performance standards; and
• Applying the new Development Standards Sets to properties along Avenues that do not have area-specific built form policies; and
• Updating the height and density permissions along these Avenues to permit as-of-right development of buildings that meet the Official Plan and Urban Design Guidelines criteria for a mid-rise building (i.e. a total building height no greater than the street right-of-way width on which it fronts).

Staff will consult with the public and stakeholders through March 2024, and expect to advance a final report to the Planning and Housing Committee in May 2024.

Estimated Completion Timeline: Q2 2024

As-of-Right Zoning for Completed Avenue Studies without Implementing Zoning

For Avenues where an Avenue Study has been completed, but the zoning by-law has not been updated, the HAP directs staff to review these Avenue segments and prepare implementing zoning so development that conforms to the adopted Area-Specific Policies and Urban Design Guidelines can proceed without individual rezoning applications. Staff are determining the potential for implementing as-of-right zoning regulations and standards, which will remove barriers to implementing policy and will streamline construction and development.

Estimated Completion Timeline: Q3 2024

As-of-Right Zoning for new Avenues and Mixed Use Areas

The HAP directs staff to explore opportunities to extend and potentially introduce new Avenues, and expand the Mixed Use Areas designation across the city. This review will provide direction on how to develop Avenues and the potential to create appropriate transition areas between Avenues and Neighbourhoods. To ensure that new housing can be delivered without delay in these expanded areas, updated as-of-right zoning permissions will be implemented.

Estimated Completion Timeline: Q2 2025

Related Projects

Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods: Major Streets Study

The Major Streets Study is part of the Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON) initiative, which is examining opportunities to bring more housing to Toronto’s low-rise neighbourhoods along the City’s Major Streets, as identified on Map 3 of the Official Plan.

The EHON Major Streets Study pre-dates the HAP, and like other EHON projects was incorporated into the HAP when that plan’s work program was introduced in 2023. The EHON Major Streets Study has undertaken significant analysis and consultation over the past 3 years. A proposals report was endorsed by the Planning and Housing Committee in September 2023, followed by city-wide and ward-based consultation between October 2023 and January 2024.

The EHON Major Streets Study has looked at the lands that abut the Major Streets within areas designated as Neighbourhoods in the Official Plan, city-wide. The study excludes lands that are subject to policies that direct intensification, such as MTSAs, secondary plans, and Avenues. Properties included in the EHON Major Streets study provide the opportunity to increase residential densities and height through the introduction of two building types – townhouses and small-scale apartment buildings.

The Avenues are identified on Urban Structure Map 2 as areas where growth will be directed. Since the Avenues are also geographically related to Major Streets, it is likely that some areas that will be considered for new Avenues may overlap with those areas identified as part of the EHON Major Streets Study. While the Avenues Policy Review may ultimately identify some opportunities for mid-rise intensification on Major Streets in Neighbourhoods beyond what the EHON Major Street Study contemplates, these opportunities will be carefully considered and consulted on. The EHON Major Streets Study will recommend as-of-right zoning permissions for moderate intensification. The Avenues review will subsequently identify those portions of Major Streets that are suitable for a greater scale of intensification. The two study teams will continue working together to ensure that the emerging policies are complementary to one another, and that the areas where they apply do not conflict.

Information & Reports

Avenues Policy Review

• PH10.3 – Housing Action Plan: Avenues Policy Review – Proposals Report

Mid-Rise Building Rear Transition Performance Standards Review and Update

• PH4.7 – Mid-Rise Buildings Rear Transition Performance Standards Review & Draft Update
• PH8.4 – Housing Action Plan: Mid-Rise Buildings Rear Transition Performance Standards Review and Update – Status Report

As-of-Right Zoning for Mid-rise Buildings on Avenues without Avenue Studies

• PH8.4 – Housing Action Plan: Mid-Rise Buildings Rear Transition Performance Standards Review and Update – Status Report

Meeting & Events

Upcoming Events

Please check back for upcoming events.

---

Past Events

Virtual Community Consultation

• Date: April 17, 2024
• Time: 6:30 – 8 p.m.

In-person Community Consultation

• Date: April 2, 2024
• Time: 6 – 8 p.m.
• Location: Scarborough Civic Centre, Ground Floor Rotunda
  150 Borough Drive
  Toronto, ON
  M1P 4N7

In-person Community Consultation

• Date: March 27, 2024
• Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
• Location: North York Central Library, Second Floor, North York Central Auditorium
  5120 Yonge Street
  Toronto, ON
  M2N 5N9

Virtual Community Consultation

• Date: March 27, 2024
• Time: 3 – 4:30 p.m.

In-person Community Consultation

• Date: March 25, 2024
• Time: 6 – 8 p.m.
• Location: Metro Hall, Ground Floor Rotunda
  55 John Street
  Toronto, ON
  M5V 3C6

In-person Community Consultation

• Date: March 21, 2024
• Time: 6 – 8 p.m.
• Location: Etobicoke Civic Centre, Etobicoke Council Chambers
  399 The West Mall
  Toronto, ON
  M9C 2Y2

September 20, 2023

• Consultation on draft updates to the Mid-Rise Rear Transition Performance Standards