The City of Toronto has completed the Pet Friendly Design Guidelines and Best Practices for New Multi-Unit Buildings.
The purpose of this document is to guide new developments in a direction that is more supportive of a growing pet population, considering opportunities to reduce the current burden on the public realm, and provide needed pet amenities for high density residential communities.
These Guidelines are to be used by the development industry in the preparation of development applications, by architects to inform the size, location and layout of pet friendly facilities, and by city staff in the various stages of development application review to identify best practices and help inform decisions that will support pet friendly environments. The Guidelines are to be used in conjunction with other policies and guidelines. They are not intended to be prescriptive, but rather are intended to provide an additional degree of information. The Guidelines focus on three scales: The Neighbourhood Scale, The Building Scale as well as the Unit Scale.
All residents, both pet-owners and non-pet-owners, will benefit from the Guidelines as they encourage design that demonstrate considerations for pets and reduces the impact that they have on our parks, open spaces and the environment. They can also be used to inform renovations and improvements to existing multi-unit buildings to become more pet friendly.