Development Approval Process

In April 2022, the Town of Oakville (the “town”) engaged KPMG to complete a Development Engineering Process and Permits Review to review the current processes and identify opportunities for improvement. The initial project objectives were to:

• Undertake a review of the Development Engineering permits (DENG) and Development Engineering Site Plan (DESP) processes to determine and confirm how the reviews are being completed.
• Identify gaps, overlaps or inconsistencies in the different review processes.
• Review the rules as set out in the Site Alteration, Site Plan, Municipal Tree, and Private Tree by-laws to identify gaps, overlaps, duplications, or inconsistencies.
• Identify opportunities to separate the technical review of the application from the permit approval process
• Provide recommendations to address the gaps, overlaps, duplications, or inconsistencies in the by-laws and in the DENG and DESP processes.
• Align recommendations to the Town’s climate action and diversity and inclusion strategic initiatives.

During the completion of this project, the Ontario Government introduced legislation (i.e., Bill 23) that would require Ontario Municipalities to implement new administrative processes and amend municipal by-laws to ensure their compliance. This new legislation also eliminated the Town’s option to continue reviewing DESP applications.

Following the introduction of this legislation, the town and KPMG amended the original agreement to include the following objectives:

• Assess the impact of Provincial legislation.
• Perform a jurisdictional scan to identify how comparator municipalities are responding to legislative changes.

Due to KPMG completing the majority of work prior to the Royal Assent of Bill 23, some of the recommendations outlined in the report will require further review or may no longer be relevant. However, the content of the report reflects the best information available as of the report date.

The implementation of the recommendations will assist in creating capacity and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Town’s development engineering processes.

Development Engineering Review Final Report

The Town of Oakville utilized the Audit and Accountability Fund to engage KPMG and would like to acknowledge the support of the Province of Ontario. The views expressed in the report are the views of KPMG and do not necessarily reflect those of the Province.

Appendices are available upon request.