MISSISSAUGA, ONT. – The City of Mississauga is undertaking several immediate changes aimed at unlocking more housing in urban areas.

The city has a variety of urban design guidelines that developers must follow, including wind and shadow studies. The Urban Design Program Review will include an assessment of these guidelines as well as associated Official Plan policies and zoning bylaw regulations. “The aim is to remove unnecessary housing barriers while continuing to encourage healthy, well-designed and vibrant communities,” a release notes.

The review is also addressing recommendations from the Mayor’s Housing Task Force, which noted some urban design requirements have made it harder – and too expensive – to get housing built without meaningful results for the community.

In late 2024, Mississauga introduced two urban apartment zones in the zoning bylaw. The regulations are designed to help speed up development approvals for apartments in urban areas, the city explains. Staff are now proposing updates to the city’s urban design requirements for these areas.

Recommendations include:

Replacing “angular plane” requirements with simplified setbacks: Many communities across Canada are revisiting policies that require buildings to “step back” as they increase in height. This requirement removes floorspace that could be used for housing. It also drives up construction costs by requiring heavier structures, transfer systems and inefficient layouts.
Reducing minimum tower distances: Setting a minimum distance between towers helps protect privacy, sky views and mitigates wind impacts. Staff recommend reducing the required distance from 30 to 25 metres which is more typical for urban areas. This helps buildings fit more naturally on a site, supports practical building layouts and avoids leaving portions of a site underused.

Other urban design-related recommendations include providing more flexibility for amenity areas for residents, ground-floor windows and street-level building entrances, the release adds.

Staff will engage with developers and community members as the review progresses.

The proposed zoning changes for the city’s urban apartment zones and amenity areas will go to city council for approval in April, subject to further comments that may be received prior to the meeting.