Park Dedication Bylaw

The Planning Act allows municipalities to require land for park (or other public recreational purposes) to be given to the City as part of the approval of a development application. The contribution can come in the form of land conveyance (for a future park) or payment in lieu of land (which the City uses to purchase land for parks and other recreational facilities). Parkland Dedication policies are the tool that Burlington uses to acquire land and/or provide funding for new parks and recreational facilities as the city continues to grow.

The Planning Act (the Act) is provincial legislation that sets out the rules for land use planning in Ontario. It describes how land uses may be controlled and who may control them. Section 42 of the Planning Act allows Burlington to address growth by requiring all new developments to contribute to the expansion and enhancement of the City’s parks system.

The Official Plan, required by the Planning Act, describes the City’s Park System and sets out the Parkland Dedication policies for the city. Section 42 of the Planning Act requires the City to have a Parkland Dedication By-law in order to require parkland dedication as a condition for some types of development or redevelopment in the city. This by-law is applied when an applicant submits a building permit and the proposed form of development is applicable under the by-law. The City’s Official Plan, and existing Parks Plan (2009) provide the necessary work for the City to update the residential by-law with the alternative rate requirement.

The City’s new Official Plan (OP) was adopted by City Council in April 2018 and approved by the Region of Halton in November 2020, with modifications. Currently, the new OP is under appeal at the Ontario Land Tribunal. However, since those policies are under appeal, the existing OP remains in effect. As such, the relevant policies under the existing OP concerning parkland dedication are provided for indicating intent of the city to impose the alternative requirement. These policies are also supported by the City’s 2009 Parks, Recreation and Cultural Assets Master Plan.

Parkland Dedication is one method the City uses to gain new parkland. Relying only on parkland dedication through approval of development applications is not enough to achieve the parkland targets outlined in the City’s Official Plan because of the maximum limit for dedication set by the Planning Act.

On July 7 staff are bringing forward the amendment to the Residential Park Dedication By-law (057-2005) to meet the legislative requirements of the Planning Act as amended by Bill 197, and to address the outdated caps on the Alternative Rate within the City’s by-law.

The link below provides access to Report #ES-06-22, the supporting Parkland Dedication By-law Review Background Report and proposed amended by-law.

• July 7th Agenda

The amended By-law 057-2005, being a transitional by-law, that will be revisited when the Parks Provisioning Master Plan is updated.

At which time staff will complete a more comprehensive update that reflects broader policy issues, and develops clear, and robust spending policy guidelines that will update the residential park dedication by-laws to be more reflective of issues and trends the city is seeing in the community.