Provincial housing bill would override Kitchener's own zoning reforms, planners warn
The city spent two years legalising fourplexes citywide. Bill 34 would replace that framework with a provincial standard by spring.
Kitchener legalised fourplexes on every residential lot in 2024, ahead of every other Ontario city its size. Bill 34, tabled last week, would replace municipal frameworks like it with a single provincial standard — and the standard is narrower.
City planners told council's planning committee the bill would remove the city's parking-minimum exemptions and its height permissions on transit corridors, both of which go further than the province proposes.
The ministry says the bill sets a floor, not a ceiling. The city's solicitor reads section 12 differently, and so does the association representing Ontario's planners.