Planning, Property & Development - Launching More Development Permit Exemptions

February 25, 2026

More Development Permit Exemptions: March 2

Planning, Property & Development implemented the first phase of changes in March of 2024, which included 25 development permit exemptions. This reduced year-over-year volumes by more than 30%.

 

The second phase was launched in September of 2025 and included 11 exemptions. Early results show a 30% reduction in volumes when comparing September to December 2025 volumes against the same period in 2024.

 

Based on trends over the past two years, the latest round of development permit exemptions may contribute to a further reduction in annual volumes. PPD could potentially achieve up to a 20% reduction relative to 2025 levels.

 

The five new development permit exemptions being launched on March 2 are:

• Change of use to establish an office in an existing commercial building anywhere in the city
• Change of use to establish a personal services use or a retail sales use in an existing commercial building outside of the downtown area
• Change of use to re-establish agricultural cultivation (farming)
• Replacement of an existing fire escape
• Like-for-like replacement of balconies

This brings the total to 41 development permit exemptions introduced over the last two years. These exemptions benefit the development industry by allowing qualifying projects to move directly to the building permit stage.

 

The latest round of exemptions will be live on March 2. See the full list of development permit exemptions here.

 

More Development & Building Permit Statistics: March 12

Launched in September 2025, this web page is a valuable tool for the construction industry. Using Open Data, it displays the number of permits issued, and net changes in dwelling units. The data is categorized by project type and community. The website includes charts and graphs highlighting year-over-year residential and commercial building permit volumes from 2010 to present. On March 12, PPD will be adding development permit statistics to the web page.

 

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