Building Momentum: How Ontario’s Proposed Bill 60 Expands the Legislative Landscape for Land Use and Development

On October 23, 2025, the Province of Ontario (the “Province”) introduced Bill 60, the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 (“Bill 60”).

The Province’s legislative landscape for land use and development has evolved rapidly in recent years, with notable bills such as Bill 23 (More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022), Bill 185 (Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, 2024) and Bill 17 (Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025) reshaping planning, infrastructure, and municipal processes. These reforms have aimed to accelerate housing supply, streamline approvals, and modernize municipal governance. Bill 60 seeks to build on this foundation, introducing a new wave of amendments to multiple statutes and a brand-new Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act, 2025.

Below is a summary of key proposed amendments in Bill 60.

Planning Act

• Ministerial decisions, apart from those applying to lands within the Greenbelt, would no longer be required to be consistent with the Provincial Planning Statement, 2024 (or any other policy statement issued under subsection 3(1) of the Planning Act), which may lead to more flexible or expedited approvals.
• Upper-tier municipalities would be granted expanded powers to designate and amend community improvement project areas, creating more opportunities for redevelopment but requiring developers to monitor changes in local planning authority. 
• New zoning standard rules would allow as of right deviation from minimum/maximum performance standards, reducing the need for minor variances where the proposed deviation falls within the prescribed percentages. The details of this change will be established by regulation. 
• Streamlined agreements pursuant to Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZOs): municipalities would be able to delegate authority to enter into agreements, and the Minister would be able to make orders to resolve disputes or deem terms satisfied, resulting in faster negotiation and implementation but potentially less time for stakeholder input. MZOs would also no longer be considered to be a Regulation pursuant to the Legislation Act.

Development Charges Act, 1997

• The Land acquisition class of development charges would introduce special rules for estimating increased need for land acquisition capital costs, with development charge by-laws required to provide for land acquisition capital costs as their own class, offering developers more transparency in how these costs are calculated and charged. 
• Mandatory local service policies would require municipalities to establish, review, and provide these policies, giving developers clearer guidelines for what services are considered local and how costs are allocated. 
• New reporting deadlines would require that background studies and financial statements be provided to the Minister by set dates, so municipalities must update internal processes and developers may benefit from more timely access to financial data.

Municipal Act, 2001

• The proposed change would transfer jurisdiction in Peel Region over water/sewage utilities from Peel Region to Mississauga, Brampton, and Caledon on the earlier of a date to be prescribed or January 1, 2029. When this change comes into effect municipalities and developers in Peel would need to adjust to new authorities for utility approvals, service delivery, and negotiations.

GO Transit Station Funding Act, 2023

• Transit station charges on residential development would now be permitted, so residential developers should factor these charges into project budgets and timelines.

Building Transit Faster Act, 2020 

• Metrolinx would be granted expanded powers to determine whether municipal service and right-of-way access is required, with s. 52 proposed to now include operation and maintenance (not just construction), meaning developers and municipalities may face broader requirements and oversight for transit-adjacent projects, affecting long-term operations and maintenance agreements.

Transit-Oriented Communities Act, 2020

• The Minister would be able to require landowner-municipality agreements for lands designated for transit-oriented communities, and municipalities would be required to designate an officer or employee to provide information to the Minister as requested, so developers and municipalities must be prepared for mandatory agreements and increased reporting requirements.

Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act, 2025 

(New Legislation)

• The Minister would be empowered to designate corporations for water/sewage services for prescribed municipalities, requiring municipalities and developers to work with new entities for service provision, affecting contracts and approvals. 
• Mandatory transfer of employees, assets, and liabilities from municipalities to corporations is proposed, resulting in significant operational changes for municipalities and new processes for developers seeking service connections. 
• Regulations could require that a designated corporation submit rate plans for the Minister’s approval, and the regulations could set rates if plans are refused, which could lead to more predictable or regulated utility rates but less local control.

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