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Ottawa Citizen

BILD Applauds Mayor Del Duca and City of Vaughan for New "Three Strikes and You're In" Site Plan Approval Model

Article content Toronto, May 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Toronto May 14, 2025 – The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) applauds the City of Vaughan for taking yet another positive step to facilitate housing supply and affordability in the municipality. Following yesterday's Committee of the Whole approval of the motion being put forward by Mayor Del Duca to implement a new 'Three Strikes and You're In' model for site plan approval, Vaughan is taking concrete action to reduce delays and streamline the approvals process. This move also supports the city's pledge to enable the construction of 42,000 new homes by 2032. Article content Article content Article content 'When it comes to residential and commercial development, time is literally money,' said Dave Wilkes, President and CEO of BILD. 'We know from BILD's 2024 Municipal Benchmarking Study that each month of delay in planning approval in the GTA adds between $2,673 per unit per month to $5,576 per unit per month, depending on housing type and location. With site plan approvals in the GTA averaging 23 months this adds up quickly, impacting housing affordability and slowing additional supply.' Article content Yesterday's motion commits to set up a new process effective June 2025 that will limit the city's comments on site plan applications to three sets of comments (if necessary). This will limit the time delays and bureaucratic back and forth that has come to characterize site plan application processes in many GTA municipalities. Following the third set of comments by the City, applicants with outstanding issues will be given the option of a face-to-face 'redline' meeting with City staff to resolve any of these issues, with the goal of leaving that meeting with an issued Site Plan Approval. Article content Article content 'This motion and the resulting new process represent a significant and welcome culture shift by the City of Vaughan, led by the Mayor and Council,' said Wilkes. 'It marks a recognition that together, industry, municipalities and other levels of government must do what is necessary to ensure that young and new Canadians are afforded the same home ownership opportunities as previous generations. Addressing this generational housing inequity is a defining issue of our time, and failure is not an option. We congratulate and thank Mayor Del Duca and Vaughan City Council for this initiative that will lower added costs, reduce delays, and accelerate the addition of housing supply.' Article content Vaughan's approach reflects similar practices adopted in other municipalities, such as Mississauga, and should be considered a best practice for all GTA municipalities. Article content Article content