Explainer: How does Windsor city hall decide what gets built?

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To address the current housing crisis, Ontario municipalities are under more pressure than ever to cut down on red tape and approve residential development.

In light of provincially mandated penalties for sluggish development decisions, the City of Windsor has worked to streamline its development application process. But not every proposal submitted to city hall gets approved.

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Neil Robertson, Windsor’s executive director of planning and development, explains how accredited city staff decide which proposals requiring zoning or official plan changes to recommend for city council’s approval.

Application and review process

The city’s development review process has three stages. The first two are considered “pre-consultation.” They happen before the city officially receives an application from the developer.

First, a developer contacts the city with a development proposal and submits some information. The city circulates that information to a few internal departments to figure out what technical documents and studies the developer will need for that proposal.

Those studies and documents can pertain to a range of things, from location of a connecting road to buffering a protected wetland. They also list conditions the developer needs to address to receive approval.

What about public consultation?

The developer must hold a public open house, share plans with surrounding residents, and gather feedback before moving to the second stage. That gives the developer an opportunity to address neighbourhood concerns earlier in the development process, Robertson said.

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City staff attend developer-run open houses to observe, and to answer process-related questions, “because at this point, it’s just a concept,” he said.

Developers have to submit a summary of the feedback they received during open houses to the city, along with “some analysis around how they plan to address the concerns of the residents.”

“At the end of Stage 1, the developer is provided the roadmap of what they need to do, what they need to provide, in order to move their application forward,” he said. “They have their list of approvals that they need, but also all of the supporting documentation they need for those approvals.”

Residents are also able to provide feedback to members of the development and heritage committee and city council as a whole during public meetings at city hall, if a development proposal makes it to those forums for consideration.

But first, further review by city staff

Stage 2 of the review process begins when the developer has submitted all necessary documents and studies. City staff circulate that information to the appropriate departments at city hall for a technical review.

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A “significant” amount of work is done during the pre-consultation phase, Robertson said, because of provincially legislated deadlines that force municipalities to make relatively quick decisions — they’re given 90 days — on rezoning and bylaw amendments.

housing
Windsor city planner Neil Robertson, left, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, Ward 10 Coun. Jim Morrison, and economic development commissioner Jelena Payne discuss housing targets during a city hall news conference on Oct. 4, 2024. Photo by Taylor Campbell /Windsor Star

Another aim of the pre-consultative technical review that city staff perform for each development proposal is to minimize or mitigate a development’s potential impacts. For example, residents often express concern about developments causing flooding on surrounding properties — but city staff assess stormwater management for every proposal to make sure a development won’t worsen flooding.

Then, it’s on to Stage 3: the formal development application. A developer submits an official application, along with required supporting documents, to the city’s development department for further circulation and review.

During the final stage, city staff identify conditions and requirements that form a final recommendation to council. That could include stormwater management and vehicle access points, Robertson said.

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“The planner makes the final recommendation based on this information collected, as well as sound planning principles.”

Sound planning principles inform staff recommendations

Sound planning principles, Robertson said, come in large part from Ontario’s planning statement — a document that outlines the province’s priorities, and how the city should implement its official plan policies as a result. City planners must also adhere to other provincial legislation, like the Heritage Act, the Environmental Protection Act, and the Endangered Species Act, among others.

“When a planner makes their recommendations, all of the reports make reference to the provincial policy statement and the official plan, and how the development proposal is either in compliance with or in alignment with both of those documents.

“If it’s not, then it would be recommended for denial. But generally, applications that are moving forward tend to be in alignment.”

Sound planning encompasses several issues, he said. They include: providing a range of housing types and levels of affordability; optimizing city resources such as land and road and sewer infrastructure; maximizing and encouraging the use of services like public transit; and promoting physical and mental health with sidewalks, parkland, and proximity to retail.

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“Those are the types of things that we’re really trying to emphasize and encourage when we make our recommendations,” he said.

What makes city planners qualified to recommend developments?

To become a municipal planner — a “recognized profession,” Robertson said — a person must have dedicated education and obtain a registered professional planner designation.

Planners also rely on other technical professionals. Support studies required as part of the development review process must be prepared by qualified professionals.

“Stormwater management, for example, those calculations would be done by a professional engineer. Once the city receives it, it’s reviewed by a professional engineer. We’re not just taking what’s submitted to the city from a developer and accepting it.”

Do city staff support every development proposal?

No. The city sees many proposals that don’t reach the final application stage, Robertson said. They range from drawings on napkins to sophisticated plans.

Most of the development proposals that make it to the development committee, and eventually city council, for consideration, are ones city planners have recommended.

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“There’s a pretty significant amount of technical review and what would be back and forth between the developer and the city throughout the process, from Stage 1 right through to the application. What we tend to see is, if we’re not going to support the application, the developer doesn’t want to bring it forward. The application that council is seeing are the ones that are generally supported (by planners).”

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There will be “the odd one” where a developer wants council to render a decision on a proposal that planners advise against, he said, “but generally, council is seeing ones that have a favourable recommendation from staff.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is second in two-part series. First part: ‘Wave of frustration’ — Windsor neighbourhoods losing battle to stop change

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