Oshawa announced more than $280 million in year-to-date residential construction value, which has already well surpassed last year’s total.
“Residential is one of Oshawa’s fastest growing areas of construction. We have residential projects underway across the city to serve the growing demand of people who are choosing to call Oshawa home,” said Mayor Dan Carter.
The City of Oshawa has been ranked No. 1 for development approval timelines in a municipal benchmarking study examining 18 major housing markets across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the city announced
“Ranking first for development approval timelines and overall within the top five illustrates that the City of Oshawa has streamlined processes to quickly ensure the approval of high-quality housing projects in our community.”
Compiled by Altus Group and released by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), the study examined several factors related to housing affordability in the GTA, including municipal approval processes and timelines for approvals. The study compared approaches that municipalities have in place to deal with the approval and development of new housing, said an Oshawa statement.
The City of Oshawa ranked first for having the shortest development approval timeline. The rating reviewed categories such as zoning by-law amendments, plan of subdivision and plan of condominium and averaged a nine-month approval process for Oshawa.
Overall, Oshawa ranked within the top five municipalities across the GTA. Oshawa’s overall score was based on three factors – planning features, development charges and related fees, and municipal approval processes.
Earlier this year, the Mayor’s Economic Recovery Task Force identified a streamlined approval process as key to supporting local economic recovery efforts while continuing to ensure community health and safety including Ontario Building Code regulations.
An example of the City’s progress is the digitization of Oshawa’s building permit approval process within the Building Services Department, which was launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support developers and the construction of new developments, including new housing.
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