VAUGHAN, ONT.—The Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) says it is concerned the City of Toronto might not have the resources necessary to carry out mandatory pre-application consultations with developers on a timely basis and that any delay might stall the construction of much-needed housing in the city.
City council recently voted to make it mandatory for developers to attend consultations with planning department staff and other relevant agencies such as business improvement areas and resident and tenant associations before they can apply to start a project.
The new rule goes into effect in November.
Residential builders are generally supportive of pre-application consultations and many have participated in voluntary pre-application consultations, states a RESCON release, adding they allow developers to get a clearer understanding of what is required to submit a formal planning application. Now that the pre-application consultations are mandatory, RESCON has concerns about the capacity of planning department staff to handle such sessions as resources are already stretched.
The current standard for the consultations targets 15 business days from the date of a meeting request to a scheduled meeting date, but applicants are experiencing waits well beyond the intended timeline. For example, in 2020 there were 483 development applications and 449 requests for a pre-application consultation meeting, but the city was only able to grant a meeting to 67 per cent of applicants in the same year, the release states.
Mandatory pre-application consultations will necessitate increased staff time as well as more collaboration between siloed departments, RESCON said.
The council is suggesting the city report on key performance indicators associated with the consultations before they are fully launched.
“We want to make sure that the city has enough planning department and other staff on hand to do the consultations,” said RESCON president Richard Lyall in a statement. “We are not building enough homes and any further delays will only escalate the cost of housing.”
RESCON is worried the mandatory pre-application consultations will be used to triage development applications or add undue burden onto applicants prior to a formal development submission.
“To be clear, pre-application consultations can improve application quality and make for good city-building outcomes,” Lyall added. “Such an initiative has worked in other jurisdictions like Copenhagen for example. Good results were achieved because problems were resolved earlier on. Our worry, however, is that transitioning from a voluntary to mandatory pre-application requirement will require more staff resources – without making other process improvements.”
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