One Ontario is Revolutionizing the Development Approvals Process
TORONTO, June 1, 2023
The development approvals process is a challenge for everyone involved – especially on the industry side. It is a complicated, lengthy process that involves many stakeholders including applicants, municipalities, conservation authorities, Indigenous groups, and other authorities have jurisdiction. On a complex application there could be up to 45 agencies or groups involved in evaluating, each with its own set of rules and regulations. This complexity is a big contributor to long development timelines.
These long, lengthening, timelines have an increasingly significant impact on the development of new housing and increased costs for developers. A 2020 report suggests that every month a 125-unit low rise development project is delayed developers incur $456,000 in extra cost due to loan carry costs, increased municipal charges, and inflation. Due to supply chain issues and high inflation, these numbers have likely increased over the past three years.
Contrastingly, many international jurisdictions have already successfully utilized technology to streamline their development approvals processes, resulting in substantial time and cost savings – up to 72% shortened timelines. It’s important to note that successful jurisdictions did not simply digitize their existing processes like is happening in Canadian municipalities currently, but instead, they effectively leveraged digital tools to revolutionize the way they intake, collaborate, and make decisions on development applications.
As a digital transformation partner, AECO Innovation Lab’s collaborative research-driven approach to industry challenges has led to the creation of One Ontario – the next generation development approvals platform built for industry, by industry. The standardized data exchange platform will streamline the notoriously complicated development approvals process, ensuring projects get built faster and the process is more consistent and transparent, alleviating the frustration and financial stress that developers face.
The team at AECO has been working closely with RESCON for nearly a decade, driving research initiatives advocating for increased transparency, innovation, and efficiency in the development approvals process, and working together to address the nationwide problem of slow development and the housing crisis in the AEC industry. RESCON has also been a long-time supporter of One Ontario.
Built in collaboration with government, industry, and academia, One Ontario will simplify the complexities of the approvals process enable faster and smoother project development. Being piloted now, the platform offers a range of features designed to standardize and streamline the development approvals process, benefiting both applicants and regulatory agencies. Some notable features include:
Application Dashboard: One Ontario provides applicants with a comprehensive dashboard that allows them to track the progress of their projects, including pending approvals, document reviews, and potential delays. This transparency empowers developers to manage their projects effectively and provides better estimates of approval timelines.
Requirements Menu: One Ontario automates the process of determining project requirements by providing a list of requirements based on the project's location, characteristics, and local authorities' regulations. This eliminates delays caused by coordinating multiple requirements and provides industry professionals with prompt answers.
One-Window Submission Portal: The platform's one-window submission portal replaces outdated methods such as email, fax, and paper. By automatically generating a list of all authorities that must review the application and sending the application to the appropriate authority, One Ontario eliminates inefficiencies and ensures seamless communication between stakeholders – on the applicant side and regulatory side alike.
Consultee Hub: One Ontario centralizes the comments and feedback from all authorities in one place, eliminating the need to wait for all parties to respond before receiving comments. This will significantly reduce delays and enables applicants to address issues promptly, leading to faster approvals.
The benefits of adopting One Ontario are significant and wide-ranging, offering a transformative shift in the development approvals process. With One Ontario, Canada’s AEC industry can achieve standardized and transparent processes, resulting in consistency, and cost efficiency for the development community, while providing true value to government partners.
The current inefficiencies in Ontario’s development approvals processes are not sustainable. They must be urgently addressed to improve delays and allow for faster development at lower cost, and ultimately address the government’s own goal of building 1.5 million new homes over the next ten years.
One Ontario is the industry’s answer to the opaque, convoluted, expensive, and inefficient process that exists today. AECO would like to invite industry leaders to join us in endorsing and adopting One Ontario. We are looking for industry partners to form a steering committee, which can collectively push for change and bring about a faster, greener, and better building future for society.
Get involved by contacting us at info@aecoinnovationlab.com.
Let's revolutionize the development approvals process, help the development community, and build a better Ontario for all.
