Policy history

The Province approved OPA 405 with substantial modifications to the City’s Yonge–Eglinton Secondary Plan. Modified policy 2.1.3 identifies Neighbourhoods A and B as suitable locations for more intensive low-rise forms, including townhouses, stacked townhouses and low-rise apartments. Modified policy 2.5.12 supports incremental intensification and a wider range of residential uses in Neighbourhoods A.

The changes apply to defined areas within Midtown. They provide an early example in this history of neighbourhood intensification being addressed through mapped policy distinctions.

On 14 December 2022, Council approved the Housing Action Plan brought forward by Mayor John Tory and seconded by Councillor Brad Bradford, then Chair of the Planning and Housing Committee. The direction expressly included amending the Zoning By-law to create transition zones between commercial and residential areas.

Council directed the City Manager to report back by March 2023 with implementation details, timelines and targets. This was the political direction that preceded the more detailed Housing Action Plan work program and its standalone Transition Zones tasks.

The Housing Action Plan identifies a Transition Zones zoning review and updates to the Townhouse and Low-Rise Apartment Guidelines. It connects the guideline work to the emerging mid-rise standards, establishing a place for this work within the City’s wider housing program.

The Q3 2025 tracker scheduled Transition Zones proposals and final reports for Q2 2026. It separately listed the guideline update for Q4 2026. The Q2 reporting targets have passed; the Q4 guideline target had not yet passed at the November 10, 2026 review date. A completed standalone citywide framework was not identified in the public material reviewed for this site. An updated delivery program is needed.

The City updated rear-transition standards and, in December 2024, directed use of draft Mid-Rise Building Design Guidelines in evaluating proposals. The guidelines remove angular-plane requirements and change the design approach to mid-rise buildings.

The City’s current implementation page anticipates further guideline consideration in Q1 2027. This work is related to Transition Zones, while often operating at the scale of the corridor building and its immediate edge. Changes to the corridor envelope do not, on their own, establish new permissions for the separate neighbourhood properties behind it.

On 15 August 2025, the Province approved modified Official Plan policies for 120 Toronto MTSAs and PMTSAs. On Neighbourhood-designated lands within these approved areas, multiplexes and apartment buildings are permitted up to four storeys; up to six storeys are permitted within 200 metres of an existing or planned station, or with frontage on a Map 3 major street.

The permissions can apply on local streets within neighbourhood interiors. They apply within approved, delineated station areas, not around every station automatically. Other policies and any greater applicable density permissions still matter. The City’s current implementation page distinguishes the in-effect Official Plan policies from the ongoing zoning exercise.