On October 23, 2025, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing (the “Minister”), the Honourable Rob Flack, introduced the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 (the “Act”). The Act proposes over 40 initiatives under three themes: “Building Homes and Communities”, “Fighting Delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board”, and “Keeping People Moving”. This article will largely focus on the first theme, intended to “accelerate housing development”, however, the Technical Briefing, summarizing all three themes, can be found here.
This article outlines the initiatives and most notable amendments proposed to the Development Charges Act, 1997; the Planning Act; and the Transit Oriented Communities Act, 2010.
Development Charges Act, 1997
Schedule 3 of the Act amends the Development Charges Act, 1997 (the “DC Act”), introducing amendments related to land acquisition costs and local service policies.
- Land Acquisition Costs: Pursuant to proposed subsection (3.1) to section 7 of the DC Act, if a municipality wants to impose development charges to cover land acquisition costs, it must create a separate class in its by-law that includes only those land acquisition costs and nothing else. For the purpose of determining the development charges that may be imposed under section 5, the land acquisition costs would be exempted from the historical service level cap, and these costs would be limited to those relating to the ten-year period following the background study.
Under subsection 35(1) of the DC Act, the money in a reserve fund established for a service may be spent only for capital costs determined under paragraphs 2 to 7 of subsection 5(1). Proposed subsection 35(1.1) provides that in addition to the uses permitted under subsection (1), money in a reserve fund established for a service may be spent on the capital costs of that service, provided the costs are not paid for with money from the reserve fund for the land acquisition class.
- Local Services: Under section 59 of the DC Act, municipalities generally cannot impose charges or require the construction of services related to development through conditions or agreements under sections 51 and 53 of the Planning Act. However, an exception allows municipalities to require owners to install or pay for local services as a condition of approval under those sections.
The Act amends section 59 by adding, among other things, subsection (2.2) requiring municipalities imposing development charges to establish local service policies that specify which works or classes of works are intended as local services. These policies may also clarify which works are not or only partially intended as local services, including those funded through development charges. These policies must be provided to the Minister upon request and reviewed whenever a development charges by-law is passed.
Planning Act
Schedule 10 of the Act proposes to amend the Planning Act by introducing new provisions on policy statements and Minister’s decisions, Protected Major Transit Station Areas (“PMTSA”), Community Improvement Plans, minor variances, and Minister’s zoning orders.
- Policy Statements and Minister’s Decisions: The Act adds subsections (5.1) and (5.2) to section 3 to the Planning Act. These provisions provide that clause 3(5)(a) of the Planning Act, which requires decisions regarding the exercise of any authority affecting a planning matter to be consistent with the policy statements under subsection 3(1), does not apply and is deemed to have never applied to a decision of the Minister. These subsections do not apply to decisions that apply to land in the Greenbelt Area.
- PMTSAs: Under subsection 17(9) of the Planning Act, the Minister may exempt a plan or proposed official plan amendment from their approval. The Act amends section 16 of the Planning Act by adding subsection (18.1), which provides that if an official plan amendment changes the permitted uses of land within a PMTSA, and would allow residential uses on all of that land, then any order made under section 17(9) will also apply to that amendment.
- Community Improvement Plans: Further changes to the Planning Act seek to amend the process under section 28 of the Planning Act by which Community Improvement Plans are established, as the current framework only allows prescribed upper-tier municipalities to establish them. The Act proposes to allow all upper-tier municipalities to designate Community Improvement Project Areas and adopt Community Improvement Plans without being prescribed or needing official plan policies. Further, the Act seeks to provide that upper-tier municipalities without planning responsibilities may fund lower-tier Community Improvement Projects. As well, a new subsection would revive Community Improvement Project Areas and Community Improvement Plans for upper-tier municipalities without planning responsibilities that were previously in effect.
- As-of-Right Minor Variances: The Act includes amendments to section 34 of the Planning Act that may reduce the need for minor variances by expanding minimum and maximum standards found in zoning by-laws “as-of-right”. Specifically, under proposed subsections (1.3.1), (1.3.2), and (1.3.3), with the exception of minimum setback distances, minimum standards in a zoning by-law can be reduced and maximum standards can be increased by certain percentages, to be prescribed by regulation at a later date. This applies to buildings, structures, or parcels within urban residential land not covered by the Greenbelt Act; however, it would exclude parcels where site plan control is allowed for developments of 10 residential units or less such as land near shorelines or railways. Transitional provisions are included in subsection 34(1.5.1) and provide that if a building permit has already been issued or where no permit issued but the use lawfully established, the standards that apply are those that were in effect when the permit was issued or the lawful use began.
- Minister’s Zoning Orders: The final notable amendments to the Planning Act relate to Minister’s Zoning Orders (“MZO”), which currently must be made by regulation. Amendments to section 47 of the Planning Act, specifically subsections (1.0.0.1) to (1.0.0.3), provide that MZOs will be non-regulatory orders that must be published on the Province’s website.
Subsection 47(4.6) of the Planning Act will also be amended to provide that the Minister may issue a direction to specify timelines for entering into agreements under clause 47(4.3)(b) and for the resolution of matters required by such an agreement. If any part of an agreement entered under clause 47(4.3)(b) has not been satisfied, under proposed subsection (4.9.1), the Minister may make an order deeming terms or conditions of the agreement satisfied, or of no force and effect. Under this provision, the Minister may also require the owner or municipality to make a motion for directions to the Ontario Land Tribunal to resolve any dispute about any part of the agreement.
Transit Oriented Communities Act, 2010
Schedule 15 of the Act proposes amendments to the Transit Oriented Communities Act, 2010 (the “TOC Act”).
- Transit-Oriented Communities Advisory Panel: Specifically, the Act proposes to add section 2.1 to the TOC Act, which will allow the Minister to establish the “Transit-Oriented Communities Advisory Panel”. Under subsection (3), this panel will advise and make recommendations to the Minister on infrastructure, transit-oriented community projects, land designated under subsection 2(1) as transit-oriented community land, and other related matters, all with the goal of expediting the delivery of transit-oriented communities.
- TOC Agreements: Under a new section 4.2 of the TOC Act, additional powers will be provided to the Minister to make an order requiring the owner of lands designated under subsection 2(1) to enter into an agreement with the municipality addressing the appropriate development of transit-oriented communities. Further, under new section 4.3, the municipality will be required to designate a municipal officer or employee to provide information to the Minister on the implementation of transit-oriented community projects.
As always, Davies Howe LLP is here to keep you informed of new provincial legislation and how it will shape development across the province. If you have any questions or need guidance on these changes, our land use planning team is ready to assist.