Intensifying around transit investment - Provincial role

NRU
Sept. 16, 2015
By Edward LaRusic

A new report recommends the province play a more direct role in encouraging and shaping development along transit corridors to leverage the impacts of its transit investments.

University of Toronto School of Public Policy and Governance fellow Brad Graham and Strategic Projections president Tom McCormack are recommending that the province amend the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe to require municipalities to create “transit development plans” for areas adjacent to and surrounding major transit corridors and stations.

They also recommend that the province require municipalities to fast track development along these corridors. The recommendations are from a report commissioned by the Ontario Home Builders Association to inform its comments to the province on the review of the growth plan.

Graham told NRU that the province is spending an unprecedented $16-billion on transit projects including the Hurontario-Main LRT in Mississauga and Brampton and the B-Line LRT in Hamilton. Now is the time for the province to require a certain form and density around that investment.

“While the growth plan itself calls for the identification of transit corridors and intensification corridors, what this [recommendation] would do is allow the province-through an amendment to the growth plan-to require a transportation development plan around [major transit corridors and stations] and set goal orientated parameters, such as setting density, commercial, retail and residential mix.”

Additionally, Graham said the province should encourage development along transit corridors by requiring municipalities to create a streamlined approvals process. He suggests the development permit system is a good option.

“It could be a [development permit system], just to make sure that development plans don’t get nitpicked to death and we do end up with a comprehensive full plan that takes into account more than one building at a time.”

He noted that the province, through Bill 73, the Smart Growth for Our Communities Act, is proposing to amend the Planning Act to allow the minister or upper tier municipality to mandate a lower-tier municipality to adopt a development permit system. Many municipalities, however, told the province through their review of Bill 73, that this is not an amendment they would support.

Mississauga policy planning director Andrew Whittemore told NRU that there would be some value in having municipalities adopt transit development plans. However, the development permit system is not a tool that lends itself to a one-size-fits-all approach.

“I think that [the development permit system] is not going to be the best tool in every community. I think that the province should enable us to use [the development permit system], but I don’t think it’s the right tool in every single circumstance. The resources that are required to develop a proper development system [are significant]. It’s an extensive process.”

Whittemore said the role of the province should be to provide municipalities the tools and then allow them to decide how to use those tools. As other municipalities noted in their comments on Bill 73, the province should continue to allow councils the autonomy to make local planning decisions consistent with community input.

While it would be ideal for the province and municipalities to agree on what tools to use to encourage intensification around transit investment, Graham said the potential intrusion on local autonomy would be warranted.

“If you recall the original growth plan, every one of those policies were under existing municipal control and authority. But it was recognized that we really needed a regional approach. And I think the same kind of thinking has to go on [with transit projects]. They are local projects but they have significant regional impacts.”

Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Bob Nichols said in an email to NRU that the ministry is content with how municipalities such as Mississauga and Hamilton are planning to take advantage of the LRT investment.