That the Economic and Development Services Committee recommend to City Council:
Whereas, on June 12, 2017 Council adopted the Harbour Road Area Community Improvement Plan (the “Harbour Road Area C.I.P.”), a copy of which is available on the City’s website at the following link: https://www.oshawa.ca/en/business-development/resources/Documents/CIP-Harbour-Road-Area.pdf; and,
Whereas, the goals of the Harbour Road Area C.I.P. are to increase the provision of a range of accommodation in the Harbour Road Area, increase assessment and job creation, reduce greenfield development through infilling and intensification and use municipal services more effectively; and,
Whereas, the objective of the Harbour Road Area C.I.P. is to intensify the Harbour Road Area and develop this area with residential uses and mixed residential/commercial uses to support an overall long-term density target of at least 60 residential units per gross hectare to help achieve Provincial objectives related to intensification; and,
Whereas, the Harbour Road Area C.I.P., as currently approved, will expire on December 31, 2023 unless it is extended; and,
Whereas, notwithstanding the fact that the Harbour Road Area is a key growth area of the City located in the vicinity of Ed Broadbent Waterfront Park and Lakeview Park, no formal applications by the development community have been received since the inception of the Harbour Road Area C.I.P.; and,
Whereas, the Province of Ontario introduced Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022, in October 2022 to ensure that municipalities grow and provide housing to meet the needs of all in the Province of Ontario; and,
Whereas, the overall goal to deliver 1.5 million homes by 2032 is to be achieved by assigning a municipal housing target to twenty-nine (29) of Ontario’s largest and fastest growing municipalities including the City of Oshawa; and,
Whereas, the City of Oshawa has been tasked with facilitating the delivery of 23,000 new homes by 2032; and,
Whereas, as part of the 2022 Federal Budget, the Government of Canada announced $4 billion in new funding to create the Housing Accelerator Fund (H.A.F.), a program intended to grow the annual housing supply across the country by providing incentive funding to local governments; and,
Whereas, the City recently submitted an application under the H.A.F. which contained an action plan that included nine initiatives that the City will undertake to achieve its housing supply growth target; and,
Whereas, there are two initiatives within the City’s action plan under the H.A.F. that relate to the Harbour Road Area, including redevelopment of City-owned lands for increased densities in strategic growth areas and offering the use of surplus City-owned land for housing projects; and,
Whereas, it is appropriate that the City supports any development incentivized by the H.A.F., including municipal programs such as the Harbour Road Area C.I.P.; and,
Whereas, there is existing development interest in the Harbour Road Area; and,
Whereas, it is appropriate to extend the expiry date of the Harbour Road Area C.I.P. in order to continue to advance the goals and objective of the Plan through the aid of its incentives, to assist the City in meeting its housing targets, and to support the City’s initiatives under the federal H.A.F. program;
Therefore be it resolved that based on Report ED-23-191, the Economic and Development Services Department be authorized to initiate the statutory public process under the Planning Act for Council to consider the proposed City-initiated amendment to the Harbour Road Area C.I.P., generally in accordance with Attachment 1.