Bill 98 (Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act, 2026) received Royal Assent on June 2, 2026. Three changes matter most for developers: site plan control can no longer impose EV charger mandates or expanded green requirements; developers can now propose encumbered parkland (over parking structures, POPS) with a 90-day municipal decision clock; and official plans will eventually be standardized around 12 prescribed land use designations. Several provisions are not yet in force pending regulation.
Ontario's planning legislation has been revised repeatedly since 2022 to accelerate housing delivery. Bill 98 is the latest round. It does not restructure the approval system but narrows what municipalities can demand at site plan control, introduces a more prescriptive parkland dedication framework that gives developers more certainty, and begins the transition to standardized official plans across Ontario's 444-plus municipalities.
Unlike Bills 23 and 109 before it, Bill 98 is incremental rather than structural. For most projects, the practical effect is a narrower site plan negotiation scope and a new tactical option for parkland dedication. The bigger reform, standardized official plans, will unfold over several years as municipalities conform to the prescribed structure.
| Provision | What changed | Legislation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site plan control scope | EV charger mandates, expanded green requirements, and environmental/conservation construction standards removed from SPC scope | Planning Act, s. 41 | In force |
| Encumbered parkland dedication | Developers can propose stratified lands, POPS, and lands over parking structures as parkland; 90-day municipal decision clock | Planning Act, s. 42 | Pending reg. |
| Parkland OLT appeal right | Landowner can appeal municipal refusal of proposed parkland to OLT; OLT can order conveyance if criteria met | Planning Act, s. 42 | Pending reg. |
| Standardized official plan structure | 12 prescribed land use designations; OP must be shorter, machine-readable, more permissive | Planning Act, s. 16 | Pending reg. |
| City of Toronto Act amendments | Parallel site plan and parkland changes applied to Toronto under the COTA framework | City of Toronto Act, 2006 | In force |
| Transportation infrastructure provisions | New powers for municipalities and the province to facilitate transit-related infrastructure approvals | Municipal Act, 2001 | In force |
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Get my checklist →Site plan control (SPC) is the approval process that governs a building's exterior design, massing, access, landscaping, and on-site amenities. Prior to Bill 98, municipalities were using SPC to impose conditions that went beyond aesthetics and servicing: EV charging stations, additional stormwater management above OBC standards, expanded green roof requirements, and other sustainable design elements.
Bill 98 explicitly removes these items from the scope of SPC. A municipality cannot refuse site plan approval or attach conditions that require:
What remains within SPC scope: building massing and exterior design, access and traffic, landscaping and tree retention, exterior lighting, site drainage and utilities connections, and sustainable design elements that are within OBC requirements. If your project is currently stalled on an SPC condition that falls into the now-excluded categories, you have grounds to request its removal under the amended Planning Act.
Projects in municipalities that were imposing aggressive green or EV conditions through SPC now have a direct legislative argument for removing those conditions. Review your site plan agreement against the amended s. 41 before your next submission conference.
Under Ontario's Development Charges Act and Planning Act, municipalities collect parkland from developers, either as actual land or as cash-in-lieu. The traditional requirement was that the land be open, unencumbered, and usable as a park. Bill 98 expands what counts.
The new framework allows developers to propose parkland that includes:
Parkland over a parking structure (e.g., a rooftop park over an underground garage). These were typically rejected as encumbered.
A registered easement giving the public access to privately-owned outdoor space. Previously, POPS were not accepted as parkland dedication.
Less-than-fee-simple interests (easements, rights of way) that provide public access or benefit, if prescribed criteria are met.
The developer retains the right to formally identify proposed parkland at any point from planning application through to building permit issuance, giving flexibility to lock in a parkland deal late in the process.
Once the developer formally proposes parkland, the municipality has 90 days to accept or refuse. A refusal can be appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal. The OLT can order conveyance of the proposed parkland if it meets the prescribed criteria. Municipalities have raised concerns that this limits their ability to reject small, fragmented, or strategically unsuitable parcels.
Ontario has 444 municipalities, each with its own official plan. Official plans vary enormously in length, structure, terminology, and permissiveness. Bill 98 introduces a provincial standard: all official plans must be restructured around 12 prescribed land use designations and must be shorter, more permissive, and machine-readable.
The stated goals are consistency (a developer operating across multiple municipalities faces the same base OP structure), reduced ambiguity (fewer interpretation disputes), and digital compatibility (machine-readable OPs can be queried programmatically). This aligns with the province's broader data-first planning agenda.
Municipalities will be required to conform their official plans to the standardized structure on a timeline set by regulation. For municipalities currently in a five-year OP review, this adds a conformity layer. For projects in municipalities with complex or idiosyncratic OPs, the eventual standardization will reduce one source of pre-application uncertainty. This provision is not in force as of July 2026.
Bill 98 does not alter the core planning application types: official plan amendments, zoning by-law amendments, site plan approval, plan of subdivision, plan of condominium, minor variance, and consent remain as they were. It does not change the Ontario Land Tribunal appeal structure for these applications. It does not further reduce development charges (that was the Canada-Ontario DCRP in March 2026). It does not extend as-of-right permissions for additional housing units (that was Bill 23 in 2022).
Bill 98 is the Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act, 2026. It received Royal Assent on June 2, 2026, and amends the Planning Act, City of Toronto Act, Building Code Act, and Municipal Act. Key changes: narrowed site plan control scope (no EV charger or green mandates), new parkland dedication framework allowing encumbered lands, and a standardized structure for official plans with 12 prescribed land use designations.
Bill 98 removed from the scope of site plan control: construction standards related to environmental protection and conservation, requirements for EV charging infrastructure, and expanded sustainable design elements that go beyond what the Ontario Building Code requires. Municipalities can no longer use the site plan process to impose these conditions. Other site plan elements (building massing, access, landscaping, exterior design) remain within scope.
Under Bill 98, developers can now propose encumbered lands as parkland dedication, including lands over parking structures (stratified), privately-owned publicly accessible spaces (POPS), and other interests in land not previously accepted as full parkland. The developer can make the proposal up until building permit issuance. The municipality has 90 days to accept or refuse. A refusal can be appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
No. The site plan control changes and City of Toronto Act amendments came into force at Royal Assent (June 2, 2026). The encumbered parkland dedication provisions and the standardized official plan structure are not yet in force. They will come into force on a date to be set by regulation. Confirm the commencement date for each provision before adjusting your approval strategy.
No. Bill 98 does not amend the Development Charges Act or change DC rates. The 2026 DC reductions for municipalities like Toronto, Mississauga, and Vaughan came through the Canada-Ontario Development Charge Reduction Program (DCRP), announced in March 2026, which is a separate federal-provincial funding program, not a legislative change under Bill 98.
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