Planning Applications

Newmarket’s Planning Services staff process all planning applications in accordance with the prescribed processes contained in the Ontario Planning Act.

Please be advised that on April 14, 2022, the Province of Ontario gave Royal Assent to the new Bill 109, More Homes for Everyone Act, 2022. In response to this new legislation, the Town of Newmarket modified its application processes in order to reflect the requirements of this new legislation. 

Newmarket's Development Portal

To submit your Planning application (Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-Law Amendment, Compliance Letters, Consent & Minor Variance) and track the progress and status, please click the button below: 


Planning Application Process: Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment 

Below is a quick summary of the Town’s Development Approval Process. The OPA & Rezoning Application Process flowchart also provides an overview of the process. For a simplified description, please refer to our Easy Explanation on Zoning By-Laws.   

1. Preliminary Meeting

Applicants are strongly encouraged to have a Preliminary Meeting with Planning Services staff before they file an application, especially for the following applications: 

So you're getting ready to apply for a preliminary meeting? That's a great first step! Before you apply, we encourage applicants to complete a bit of early "homework" so that all the key considerations have been looked at ahead of time. This "homework" is intended to support a more efficient review process by ensuring that Staff have all the necessary requirements early.

To help with this, we've put together a simple Checklist for you to go through. While this checklist is not mandatory, it is a useful tool for us to flag potential issues early and help keep your application moving forward with fewer delays

This will ensure that the Town understands the purpose of the application and that the applicant knows what information to provide to support the application and what to expect from the planning process in Newmarket. The application is circulated to relevant internal departments and external agencies for preliminary review and comments. A more in-depth review of the application will be conducted at the pre-application submission stage. 

In order to request a preliminary meeting, submit application and track the progress and status, please click the button below: 


Please see the Preliminary Meeting Application Form as a guide. A fee of $1546.50 applies in accordance with the Town’s Fee Schedule.

2. Pre-Application Submission
In accordance with the Pre-Application Submission By-law (PAS By-law 2023-49), a full, in depth, review of all submission materials is conducted prior to accepting a formal application submission. The application will be recirculated to relevant internal departments and external agencies (i.e. LSRCA, York Region) for commentary. No application fee is applied at this stage. Please note that applications typically go through multiple pre-application submissions in order to allow any design issues to be addressed, before moving on the Formal Submission. The PAS By-law outlines the applicant's and the Town's responsibilities during this part of the review process. 
3. Application Deemed Complete & Formal Application

Once the concept design has progressed through the Pre-Application stage, Planning Services staff will advise when it’s ready to proceed to Formal Submission.  At this stage, all applications must be submitted in full, including the application form, fees and drawings prior to processing by the Town of Newmarket. To be considered a complete application under the Planning Act, specific documentation, information and/or reports are required to be submitted with the completed application form and the receipt of applicable fees for Official Plan Amendment, Zoning By-law Amendment or Draft Plan of Subdivision approval. This information will be determined at the preliminary meeting. Application fees are set by Council yearly through the Fees and Charges By-law.     

Once the application is deemed complete, the fees will be processed.              

4. Notice of Public Meeting
In accordance with O. Reg. 545/06 of the Planning Act, a Notice of Public Meeting will be given as part of the complete application process. In accordance with the Planning Act requirements, Notice of the Public Meeting is sent by regular mail to property owners located within 120 metres of the subject lands and a sign is posted on the subject lands. Notice will also be published in the Town’s local newspaper.
5. Public Meeting

A statutory public meeting as required by the Planning Act will be held in a hybrid setting. At this meeting, the applicant will present their application and members of the public will have a chance to speak and ask questions. Anyone who wishes to attend may do so in-person in the Council Chambers at 395 Mulock Drive or via the live stream available at newmarket.ca/meetings. Meetings related to Zoning By-law amendments and Official Plan amendments are often held on Mondays.

Please note that the purpose of this meeting is to provide information on the application to members of the public. No decisions are made at this meeting.

6. Recommendation Report and Council Decision

Following the statutory public meeting, the Planner assigned to the application will prepare a report to Committee of the Whole addressing the application and the comments provided by commenting bodies and from the public. The report will provide a recommendation, either to approve, defer or deny the amendment application. If approved, at a subsequent meeting, Council will pass a by-law which will be circulated to give interested parties the chance to appeal.  


7. Site Plan Application (If Applicable)
Following approval of a Zoning By-law Amendment application, a Site Plan Approval process may begin (if applicable). A  summary of this process can be found in the Site Plan Application Process flowchart. More information can also be found in the Site Plan Approval Process page. For a simplified description, please refer to our Easy Explanation on Site Plans.  


Current Development Applications

Learn more about current development applications by clicking the button below: 

Current Planning Applications

Resources

​Forms ​Documents ​Helpful Links


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