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Planning Services in Peterborough

Peterborough now regulates development through a city-wide Community Planning Permit System. We work across the city under the new framework, from Community Planning Permits to Official Plan Amendments and subdivisions, with a fixed fee confirmed before any work begins.

Planning in Peterborough

Peterborough has moved to a city-wide Community Planning Permit System, a modern land use planning framework that replaces the traditional zoning by-law. We work across the city under this new system, with a fixed fee confirmed before any work begins.

Here is how development is regulated in Peterborough under the Community Planning Permit System, and the applications we handle here.

How the Community Planning Permit System works

Peterborough regulates development through a city-wide Community Planning Permit System, or CPPS, established by a Community Planning Permit By-law. The CPPS replaces the City's Zoning By-law. For lands within the Community Planning Permit Area, which covers the whole city, development requires a Community Planning Permit issued under the by-law.

The system combines three approvals that used to be separate, the Zoning By-law Amendment, the Minor Variance, and Site Plan approval, into a single Community Planning Permit application and one approval process. In practice that means most projects that once needed two or three separate applications now move through one. Permits are issued in classes, commonly described as Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3, that reflect the scale and complexity of the development and set how much review is required.

Two things sit outside the Community Planning Permit. Changing the policy direction itself still requires an Official Plan Amendment, because the Community Planning Permit By-law must conform to the Official Plan. And dividing land into new lots still proceeds through a Plan of Subdivision under the Planning Act. Where the by-law itself needs to change to allow a proposal, that is a Community Planning Permit By-law Amendment.

Applications we handle in Peterborough

Official Plan Amendment CPP Amendment CPP Permit (Class 1, Class 2, Class 3) Draft Plan of Subdivision Tree Permits

What this means for your project

The Community Planning Permit System is newer than the conventional zoning regime most owners are used to, and the rules, permitted uses, development standards, and which permit class applies, come from the Community Planning Permit By-law rather than a traditional zoning by-law. Reading a site correctly under the new framework is the first step, and it is where local familiarity matters.

The upside for owners is consolidation: a proposal that previously needed a rezoning, a variance, and a site plan approval can move through a single Community Planning Permit. The work is in framing the application correctly for its class and aligning it with the Official Plan vision the by-law is built to deliver. We confirm the right path for your site before any work begins.

FAQ

Common questions about planning in Peterborough

It is a city-wide land use planning framework that replaces Peterborough's Zoning By-law. Established by a Community Planning Permit By-law, it combines three approvals that used to be separate, the Zoning By-law Amendment, the Minor Variance, and Site Plan approval, into a single Community Planning Permit. For lands within the Community Planning Permit Area, which covers the whole city, development requires a Community Planning Permit.

Not as separate applications. Under the Community Planning Permit System, what used to be a Zoning By-law Amendment, a Minor Variance, and a Site Plan approval are folded into one Community Planning Permit application. If the by-law itself needs to change to allow a proposal, that is a Community Planning Permit By-law Amendment.

Community Planning Permits are issued in classes that reflect the scale and complexity of the development and determine how much review a proposal requires, with simpler proposals in lower classes. We confirm which class applies to your project and prepare the application accordingly.

Yes. The Community Planning Permit By-law must conform to the Official Plan, so changing the policy direction still requires an Official Plan Amendment. Dividing land into new lots still proceeds through a Plan of Subdivision under the Planning Act. Both sit outside the Community Planning Permit itself.