Two multi-page staff reports and a chunk of council meeting dedicated to the latest housing bill and policy changes from the province included many suggestions, opinions and reactions from town planning staff, and a Collingwood councillor didn't mince her own words about the changes.
“Some of these things are just so dumb. Sorry,” said Coun. Deb Doherty to chuckles from councillors. “It warrants coming back and just saying, what are you thinking?”
The latest housing legislation put forward by the provincial government marks the 10th of its kind since 2021, and municipalities like Collingwood are having to spend more time addressing each subsequent piece than they are planning for their municipality’s growth.
During their May 6 meeting, Collingwood councillors received reports on two amending pieces of provincial legislation.
The two pieces of legislation – the new provincial planning statement and Bill 185: Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act – only have a 30-day commenting window, so town staff have been busy preparing a response to submit by this Friday, May 10.
“There has been near constant change over the past few years...addressing matters of land-use planning, development and municipal regulatory powers,” noted Collingwood’s senior planner Nathan Wukasch in his report to councillors.
“This continuous evolution and lack of stability within the system results in staff constantly catching up on changing processes, forms, applications, bylaws and other instruments,” he wrote. “This pulls significant resources away from the review and approval of the development applications needed to increase housing supply.”
Bill 185 – Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act seeks to amend 15 existing acts to get homes built faster, including changes to the Planning Act, the Municipal Act, and the Development Charges Act. The province is also embarking on a second draft policy document to combine the Provincial Policy Statement and A Place to Grow: Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe into a proposed single, province-wide policy framework called the Provincial Planning Statement (PPS).
Some of the changes proposed by the province include eliminating the Community Housing and Infrastructure Accelerator program (CHIA), reducing third-party appeals to help communities get quicker planning approvals, making pre-consultation with a municipality voluntary on the part of developers, offering exemptions to development charges for affordable housing developments, and removing barriers for additional rental units.
While Collingwood town staff said they generally see many of the changes as positive, some concerns raised by staff through the report include that some of the changes won’t foster an open and transparent approach to land-use planning, and that there’s potential for the changes to increase housing affordability issues in Ontario.
For example, Wukasch notes that exempting affordable housing developments from development charges (DC) could have wide-reaching effects if it isn’t also paired with provincial infrastructure funding.
“Exemptions could result in fewer DC funds being collected and unless the province intends to make municipalities whole financially, any funding gaps for infrastructure projects will fall to the tax base,” he wrote.
Some provincial changes applauded by town staff include the elimination of fee refunds on development applications, and the definition of ‘affordable housing’ under the act being returned to an income-based approach. The legislation also reduces development charge freeze timelines.
In regards to the provincial planning statement changes, Wukasch notes that the new statement is similar to the statement proposed in 2023, and generally supports increased intensification around transit stations and promotes a range and mix of housing options, including housing for students and seniors. Concerns raised by Collingwood staff include that while the statement continues with a supply-first approach, that approach is at the expense of long-standing good land-use planning principles and may have little impact on addressing the housing affordability crisis.
“I would not be afraid to state even stronger that this is just going the wrong way,” said Coun. Doherty.
She said municipalities should be given more than 30 days to comment on such substantial change to legislation. She also asked that both staff reports be forwarded to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
At the end of the staff report, Wukasch notes that a number of the proposed amendments in Bill 185 represent reversals, course corrections, or adjustments from previously enacted legislation, which could have been avoided if there had been more upfront consultation with municipalities, Indigenous communities, and other stakeholders.
“A period of stability is warranted to refocus efforts on building complete, sustainable, healthy and affordable communities,” he wrote.
Councillors voted unanimously in favour of endorsing Collingwood’s comments on both pieces of proposed legislation. Mayor Yvonne Hamlin and Coun. Brandon Houston were absent.
