December 2015
Bill 73 Passes Third Reading

2015-12-03 11:07:51 PM

CATEGORIES: Planning

Bill 73, the Smart Growth for Our Communities Act passed third reading today and will now enter into law. The bill amends both the Planning Act and the Development Charges Act, and is meant to give residents a greater say in planning decisions and open up more opportunities for municipalities to fund services.

According to MMAH Bill 73 will:

Help municipalities recover more money to pay for transit services and waste diversion

Give residents a meaningful say in how their communities grow by requiring municipalities to look at opportunities to better involve residents in the planning process for new developments and enhancing a planning tool that will be developed with resident and stakeholder input

Promote and protect green spaces by encouraging more municipalities to develop plans that help determine the need for parkland in the municipality

Help municipalities resolve potential planning disputes earlier at the local level, such as through alternative dispute resolution, to reduce the involvement of the Ontario Municipal Board in local disputes 

Make the planning and appeals process more predictable by extending the review of new municipal official plans - plans that lay out how municipalities will grow and develop - to 10 years, instead of five

Make the development charges system - a system for municipalities to help cover the costs necessary for growth from developers - more predictable, transparent and accountable by creating clearer reporting requirements for capital projects that municipalities are financing through development charges

Make the collection and use of money paid by developers for higher and denser developments, as well as for parkland, more transparent and accountable

For more:

Bill 73, the Smart Growth for Our Communities Act

MMAH Backgrounder: Changes to the Development Charges Act and Planning Act


 


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