7 Different Types of Land Use
There are 7 different types of land use that help us answer questions like, how do we use the land and resources in our communities now and into the future? How do we make long-term decisions that respect our neighbours and our environment? Land use planners deal with these kinds of questions every day, and rely on their education and experience to form recommendations on where and how development takes place. The outcome of their recommendations begins with policy (Official Plans) and regulation (Zoning).
What is Land Use?
Land use refers to the relationship between people and the land – more specifically, how the physical world is adapted, modified, or put to use for human purposes, such as the building of communities. This includes even the “non-human use” of lands reserved for natural heritage (wilderness) or protecting humans from negative impacts (hazard lands). Responsible land use recognizes the impacts of proposed developments on the land, air and water, as well as the local community.
Put simply, planning complete communities depends on how we use land.
Land use is expected to change over time and, at times the change is not how it was anticipated by the city. However, using that land responsibly can be a challenge as designing and growing communities is a tricky process. You have to make sure that factories aren’t next to schools, that new apartments are located close to major roads and on transit routes, that schools are placed in pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods, and that those neighbourhoods have parks. The more uses you have to consider, the more complicated it becomes.
That’s where land use planning comes in.
Land use planning refers to the rules and processes which help municipalities (and planning boards) achieve their land use goals, which may include increased density (more apartments) or preserving employment areas (office & industrial space). They design plans to determine the best use of land for the community; they also include how land may/not be used, where structures can be located, the types of buildings and uses, as well as lot requirements related to height, density, and parking. Any land use decisions are regulated through a planning framework, driven by the province (Planning Act, Provincial Policy Statement) and realized at the municipal level (Official Plan, Zoning Bylaws, etc). Change of land use is expected, subject to justifying the change to the municipal rules. A planner is often needed to justify the change.
Why is it important?
In Ontario, land use planners work for municipal and provincial agencies, developers, not-for-profit groups and the public to support the economy, meet social needs and respect the environment. For example, to address the housing crisis, many municipalities are considering ways of including affordable housing as part of their development needs, and have set aside funding and other land use controls that favour these kinds of projects.
At LandPRO, we primarily work with the private sector, assisting our clients as they create new places to live, open/expand a business, or expand on existing properties. Public sector planners, by contrast, work for local, provincial, and federal agencies to align development projects with their land use plans, and update their zoning for healthy, sustainable communities.
People also care a lot about how the land is used to build their communities, even if they don’t necessarily have the planning language to talk about it. That’s why planners include consultation with the public and Indigenous nations. As local residents and organizations can provide support for land use planning applications, or can choose to challenge them, it’s important that anyone wishing to develop on their land consider building relationships with their community. This can determine whether an application is successful.
Knowing the context for how municipalities make their decisions, how their policies are developing, and where funding and support is coming from, can help your development team determine the success of your project through the land use application process. Together, these guidelines and relationships are used to implement the province’s land use planning policy framework and help to develop healthy, safe, and connected communities.
There are 7 different designations of land use, often referred to as “zoning”.
Residential: Permits the building of houses, including low (single family homes), medium (townhouses) and high density (apartments/condos) buildings.
Commercial: Permits facilities that are built for industry, commerce, trade, recreation, or business use. Sometimes referred to as Employment Use.
Institutional/Public: Normally permits public uses such as city hall, municipal facilities, hospitals, museums, religious buildings, schools, and colleges.
Industrial: Permits industrial or manufacturing use; that likely generate extra noise, traffic, larger areas of land and perhaps air emissions.
Open Space: Any parcel or area of land or water that is essentially unimproved and devoted to outdoor active/passive recreation, public health and safety, and the preservation of natural resources. Protects public access to shorelines of water bodies.
Environmental: Protects sensitive or unstable land from degradation and impacts to sensitive wildlife and vegetation. Allows municipalities to protect the public from the impacts of flood, unstable land and erosion control. .
Crown Land: Cannot be sold because it legally belongs to the public (crown). This includes lands designated as Crown lands, which are not subject to planning rules. Private development is not normally permitted on crown lands. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is responsible for managing Crown lands.
Bonus - Mixed use: Mixed-use blends is a relatively new zone, which identifies lands where multiple uses (normally residential & commercial) are permitted to co-exist, where those functions are physically and functionally integrated to encourage pedestrianization and density while reducing sprawl.
