Major Streets zoning in Toronto: townhouses, small apartments and lot assembly

Key takeaways

• A Major Street is a street shown on Map 3 of the Official Plan; the rules apply to Neighbourhoods lots that abut one.
• An apartment building may hold the greater of 60 units or the u number, up to 19.0 metres and six storeys.
• A townhouse may reach 13.0 metres and four storeys, and needs 6.0 metres of frontage per unit when every unit faces the street.
• Side yards of 5.5 metres for walls with main windows make single narrow lots hard to use, which is why the Official Plan supports assembly.
• Buildings of 30 units or fewer skip the amenity space rule; lots of 10 units or fewer skip the water and sewer capacity test.
• The appeal ended on September 11, 2025, and the zoning was deemed in force from June 27, 2024.

What the Major Streets rules changed

For decades a house lot on a busy street in a Toronto neighbourhood could hold the same building as a lot on a quiet side street. The Major Streets rules changed that. A Neighbourhoods lot that abuts a Major Street can now hold townhouses or an apartment building of up to six storeys without a rezoning. This guide sets out the limits in the by-law, the setbacks and frontage minimums that decide what fits, and the reasons many of these sites need more than one lot.

The general multiplex rules still apply to the same lots as an option. Those are covered in the multiplex zoning guide. The developer hub has the full process from site search to permit.

What is a Major Street in Toronto's zoning?

A Major Street is a street shown on Map 3 of the Official Plan, titled Right-of-Way Widths Associated with Existing Major Streets. The City's Major Streets Study page, updated August 21, 2026, describes these streets as transportation corridors that carry surface transit, shipping and delivery routes and connect parts of the city. The rules apply to lots designated Neighbourhoods in the Official Plan that abut one of those streets.

"Abut" is the test. The lot has to touch the Major Street. A lot on a side street beside a Major Street lot does not qualify on its own, which is one reason assembly matters. For a corner lot or a lot with frontage on two streets, the Official Plan amendment has its own criteria for flanking and reverse frontage lots, so read the by-law against the lot's actual lines.

When did the Major Streets rules come into force?

Council adopted the study's recommendations on May 22, 2024 and passed the final Official Plan and zoning amendments in June 2024. One party, a numbered company, appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal. The Tribunal's order of September 11, 2025, in file OLT-24-000837, resolved that appeal. The City's page says the order brought both amendments into force and effect.

The order and By-law 1062-2025 add a detail that matters for files already under way. By-law 1062-2025 says the Tribunal found no part of the zoning amendment was in issue in the appeal and deemed it in force in its entirety on June 27, 2024. The Tribunal's order also records that the rest of the Official Plan amendment came into force city-wide on July 30, 2024. The by-laws were renumbered after the tribunal process: zoning By-law 608-2024 became By-law 1062-2025, and Official Plan By-law 609-2024 became By-law 1061-2025.

How many units and storeys does the by-law allow?

By-law 1062-2025 adds townhouses and apartment buildings to the permitted building types in the R, RD, RS, RT and RM zones on lots that abut a Major Street. The numbers below are the ceilings in the by-law. A single lot rarely reaches them.

The by-law's unit limit is 60. A figure of 30 units also appears in the by-law, in a different rule: an apartment building on a Major Street with 30 units or fewer is exempt from the amenity space requirement. Read the by-law itself, since the numbers sit close together.

The Official Plan amendment, By-law 1061-2025, sets the policy behind the zoning. It says apartments along major streets in Neighbourhoods may be no higher than six storeys, and that development there will be supported to assemble lots along major streets to allow more intense forms of building.

What setbacks and lot rules shape the building?

Setbacks decide the width and length of what you can build, and on a Major Street they decide whether a single lot can hold a building at all. By-law 1062-2025 sets these minimums for a townhouse or apartment building on a lot that abuts a Major Street, and repeats them zone by zone:

• Front yard: on a lot deeper than 36.0 metres, 6.0 metres. On a shallower lot, the lesser of the average-based front yard and 6.0 metres where that rule applies, or 3.0 metres where it does not, and 6.0 metres on a through lot.
• Rear yard: 7.5 metres.
• Townhouse side yard: 0.9 metres if every unit fronts directly on a street, and 7.5 metres if they do not.
• Apartment side yard: 1.8 metres for walls with no primary windows, 5.5 metres for walls with primary windows, and 7.5 metres for any part of a wall past 25.0 metres of building length. A side lot line on a street on a corner lot needs 3.0 metres.
• Two buildings on one lot: 5.5 metres apart if one wall has no openings to units, and 11.0 metres if both walls have them.

Landscaping and coverage take more of the site. An apartment building of 60 units or fewer needs at least 30 percent of the lot for landscaping, half of it soft landscaping. In the RD zone, a townhouse or apartment building may cover up to 50 percent of the lot.

What frontage does a townhouse need?

Frontage is the width of the lot along the street. For a townhouse on a Major Street where every unit fronts directly on a street, By-law 1062-2025 requires 6.0 metres of frontage for each unit, reduced by 1.0 metre for each unit that has no private driveway leading to its front. Four street-facing units that share a rear lane or a parking area need 20.0 metres. The same four units, each with its own driveway, need 24.0 metres.

If one or more units do not front directly on a street, as in a back-to-back or a block set behind another, the lot needs at least 30.0 metres of frontage. Where the zone label carries an "au" value, that number is the minimum lot area for each townhouse unit.

What a smaller building is spared

Several rules switch off below a unit count. Plan the unit count with these lines in mind, because each one moves cost or land.

• At 30 units or fewer, an apartment building on a Major Street needs no amenity space. Above that, a building of 20 or more units needs 4.0 square metres of amenity space per unit.
• At 60 units or fewer, an apartment building on a Major Street is exempt from the rule that requires a drive-through vehicle access between the street and the main entrance for buildings of 25 or more units.
• At 10 units or fewer on the lot, the project is exempt from the by-law's water main and sewer capacity test. Above that, Toronto Water's General Manager has to be satisfied that capacity exists.
• At 10 units or fewer on the parcel, subsection 41(1.2) of Ontario's Planning Act takes the project out of site plan control, unless the land is in a prescribed area.

Why lot assembly matters on a Major Street

Lot assembly means buying two or more lots side by side and planning them as one site. On a Major Street the by-law numbers show why builders do it. An apartment building with windows on both sides gives up 11.0 metres of width to side yards. The rear yard takes 7.5 metres and the front yard up to 6.0 metres. On a narrow single lot, what is left can be too thin for a workable floor plan. Join two or three lots and the same yards come out of a wider site, so the share of the land you can build on rises.

The townhouse frontage rule works the same way. A block with units that do not all face the street needs 30.0 metres of frontage. Measure each lot against that figure before you plan a block. The Official Plan supports this directly: Policy 12 b in By-law 1061-2025 says development along major streets will be supported to assemble lots.

Assembly adds risk. Every owner has to agree, on terms that close together, and one refusal can leave you holding a lot that does not work alone. Your lawyer should tie the agreements to each other, with conditions that match. Owners see the same process from the other side, which the selling with your neighbours page explains. On the City side, a lot split or a lot addition that tidies the lines goes to the Committee of Adjustment, covered in the severance and minor variance guide.

How I look at a Major Streets site

When I screen a Major Streets site for a builder, I first confirm on Map 3 that the street is listed and that the lot abuts it. I check the zone label, any "u" or "au" value and the Height Overlay. Then I lay the setbacks over the frontage and depth to see what building is left, and I test whether one more lot on either side would change the answer. Once the building size is known, the development charges guide and the feasibility guide cover the costs and the numbers. If the site also has protected trees or tenants, the site screening guide covers those checks.

Questions to ask before you assemble lots

• Is the street on Map 3, and does each lot in the group abut it?
• How much width do the side yards take, and what building is left on one lot, two lots and three?
• Will the plan stay at or under 10 units, 30 units or 60 units, and what does each line change?
• Has Toronto Water confirmed capacity for a building of more than 10 units?
• Do the purchase agreements with each owner close together, with matching conditions?
• If one owner says no, can the remaining lots still hold a project?

For how these streets fit into the wider change in Toronto's neighbourhoods, see my post on Toronto's low-rise neighbourhoods. Which lots on the street, taken together, give you a building the rules allow?

Frequently asked questions

What is a Major Street in Toronto's zoning rules?

A Major Street in Toronto's zoning rules is a street shown on Map 3 of the Official Plan, which maps the right-of-way widths of the City's existing major streets. The City's Major Streets Study page, updated August 21, 2026, describes them as transportation corridors for surface transit, shipping and delivery routes. A Neighbourhoods lot that abuts one can hold townhouses or a small apartment building.

When did Toronto's Major Streets rules come into force?

Toronto's Major Streets rules are in force after the Ontario Land Tribunal decision of September 11, 2025, which resolved the one appeal. By-law 1062-2025 says the Tribunal deemed the zoning by-law, first numbered 608-2024, to have come into force in its entirety on June 27, 2024. The matching Official Plan amendment was renumbered as By-law 1061-2025 after the tribunal process.

How many units can an apartment building on a Toronto Major Street have?

An apartment building on a lot that abuts a Toronto Major Street can have the greater of 60 dwelling units or the u number in the lot's zone label, under By-law 1062-2025. The by-law also uses a figure of 30 units, which marks the size at or below which the amenity space rule does not apply. The unit limit itself is 60.

How tall can a building be on a Toronto Major Street?

A townhouse on a Toronto Major Street lot can be the greater of 13.0 metres or the Height Overlay figure, with up to four storeys, and an apartment building can be the greater of 19.0 metres or the overlay figure, with up to six storeys. By-law 1062-2025 sets those limits, and a higher ST value on the overlay map raises the storey limit.

What frontage does a townhouse on a Toronto Major Street need?

A townhouse on a Toronto Major Street needs 6.0 metres of lot frontage for each unit when every unit fronts directly on a street, under By-law 1062-2025. The figure drops by 1.0 metre for each unit that has no private driveway leading to its front. If one or more units do not front directly on a street, the lot needs at least 30.0 metres of frontage.

How does lot assembly help a Major Streets project in Toronto?

Lot assembly helps a Toronto Major Streets project because the side yard rules take a fixed width from every lot. By-law 1062-2025 requires an apartment building to sit 5.5 metres from each side lot line where its walls have primary windows. On one narrow lot that leaves a thin building, while two or three lots planned as one site spread that loss over a wider frontage.

Does a small apartment building on a Major Street need amenity space?

A small apartment building on a Toronto Major Street needs no amenity space if it holds 30 dwelling units or fewer, under By-law 1062-2025. Above that size, an apartment building with 20 or more units must provide 4.0 square metres of amenity space per unit, at least 2.0 square metres of it indoors, plus at least 40.0 square metres outdoors next to the indoor space.

Do Major Streets projects need a water and sewer capacity check?

A Toronto Major Streets project needs the City's water mains and sewers to have enough capacity, to the satisfaction of the General Manager of Toronto Water, before a townhouse or apartment building is erected. By-law 1062-2025 exempts a lot that will hold 10 or fewer dwelling units, dwelling rooms or bed-sitting rooms. A builder planning more homes than that should ask Toronto Water early.

How much of a Major Streets lot must stay landscaped?

A lot with an apartment building of 60 units or fewer on a Toronto Major Street must keep at least 30 percent of its area for landscaping, and half of that must be soft landscaping such as grass or planting, under By-law 1062-2025. Other apartment buildings in residential zones need 50 percent of the lot for landscaping, also with half of it soft.

How much of an RD lot can a Major Streets building cover?

A townhouse or apartment building on an RD-zoned lot that abuts a Toronto Major Street may cover up to 50 percent of the lot area, under By-law 1062-2025. That figure replaces the Lot Coverage Overlay value for these building types. The building depth limit is lifted for them, and the floor space index limit is waived for buildings of 60 units or fewer.

What setbacks apply to an apartment building on a Toronto Major Street?

An apartment building on a Toronto Major Street needs a 7.5 metre rear yard and side yards of 1.8 metres for walls without primary windows and 5.5 metres for walls with them, under By-law 1062-2025. Any part of a wall past 25.0 metres of building length needs 7.5 metres. On a lot deeper than 36.0 metres, the front yard setback is 6.0 metres.

Sources

1. Major Streets Study. City of Toronto. Updated August 21, 2026. Accessed November 1, 2026.
2. By-law 1062-2025(OLT), low-rise residential intensification on major streets. City of Toronto, under Ontario Land Tribunal order. Order issued September 11, 2025. Accessed November 1, 2026.
3. By-law 1061-2025(OLT), Official Plan Amendment 727. City of Toronto, under Ontario Land Tribunal order. Order issued September 11, 2025. Accessed November 1, 2026.
4. Order, OLT-24-000837, 2856973 Ontario Inc. v. Toronto. Ontario Land Tribunal. Issued September 11, 2025. Accessed November 1, 2026.
5. Official Plan Map 3, Right-of-Way Widths Associated with Existing Major Streets. City of Toronto, City Planning. Accessed November 1, 2026.
6. Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13. Government of Ontario, e-Laws. Current version from July 1, 2026. Accessed November 1, 2026.

Planning and development potential is property-specific and subject to zoning, approvals, site conditions, municipal review and other due diligence. This guide gives general information. For legal, tax or financial advice, ask your own lawyer and accountant.