By Sara Rahgozar, M.Arch, OAA, Quadrant Architects
If your lot fronts a major street in Toronto, you can now build townhouses or a small apartment building of up to six storeys and 60 units with a building permit and no rezoning. The rule covers more than 31,000 lots across the city. It’s the largest expansion of residential building permissions in modern Toronto planning history.
The fourplex and sixplex rules changed what you can build on a typical residential street. Major Streets goes much further. This post covers how it came about, which lots qualify, and what building at this size involves.
City Council approved the Major Streets study in May 2024. It allowed townhouses and small apartment buildings on Neighbourhoods-designated lots along major streets. The original proposal capped them at 30 units, and Council raised that to 60.
The changes were appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal. On September 11, 2025, the OLT resolved the appeal, and both amendments came into force:
Major Streets is part of the City’s Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON) program, which also produced the multiplex by-law and the garden suite permissions.
A lot qualifies if it has direct frontage on a major street shown on Map 3 of Toronto’s Official Plan (“Right-of-Way Widths Associated with Existing Major Streets”). Major streets include arterial roads served by buses, streetcars, and subways.
Qualifying streets include Adelaide, Albion, Avenue Road, Bathurst, Bayview, Bloor, Brimley, Broadview, Burnhamthorpe, College, Coxwell, Danforth, Davenport, Don Mills, Dufferin, Dundas, Dupont, Eglinton, Ellesmere, Finch, Gerrard, Jane, Jarvis, Keele, Kennedy, King, Kingston Road, Kipling, Lake Shore Boulevard, Lansdowne, Lawrence, Leslie, Main, Markham, McCowan, Midland, Morningside, Mount Pleasant, Ossington, Pape, Parliament, Queen, Roncesvalles, Royal York, St. Clair, Scarlett, Sheppard, Spadina, Steeles, Victoria Park, Warden, Weston, Wilson, Woodbine, Yonge, and many others. Check Map 3 for your address.
The frontage rule is strict. A lot on a side street one block behind a major street doesn’t qualify, however close it is.
Townhouses, or a small apartment building of up to six storeys and 60 units. These are mid-rise buildings sized for an arterial street, not towers. In many configurations no FSI limit applies, similar to the multiplex exemption. The buildings are meant to act as a transition between the busy major street and the quieter neighbourhood blocks behind it.
| Feature | Interior lot multiplex | Major Streets |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum units | 4 city-wide, or 6 in nine wards | Up to 60 |
| Maximum height | 10 to 12 metres (about 3 storeys) | 6 storeys |
| Building form | House-form (detached houseplex) | Townhouse or apartment building |
| Building Code | Part 9 | Part 3 |
| Approval path | Building permit only | Building permit only (as-of-right) |
Yes, for some lots that aren’t on a major street. In Neighbourhoods-designated land inside a Major Transit Station Area (MTSA) or Protected Major Transit Station Area (PMTSA):
On August 15, 2025, the Province approved six Official Plan Amendments that set out 25 MTSAs and 95 PMTSAs across Toronto. In Mixed Use Areas, Apartment Neighbourhoods, and Regeneration Areas inside those station areas, permitted FSI can reach 6 to 8 or more, depending on how close the site is to the station.
Building Code. A six-storey residential building falls under Part 3 of the Ontario Building Code, not Part 9. Part 3 requires engineered structural design, fire-resistance-rated assemblies, a full egress analysis, mechanical engineering, and in many configurations a sprinkler system. You need a licensed architect and professional engineers. A BCIN designer alone can’t do it.
Construction type. Since 2015 the Ontario Building Code has allowed five- and six-storey wood-frame buildings, with added requirements beyond those for four storeys. Concrete and steel are still common at six storeys, but engineered wood, including mass timber, is becoming a realistic option for mid-rise housing.
Fire safety. Sprinklers are typically required. Fire department access, firefighter elevator provisions (depending on height), and fire separations between units all add complexity and cost compared with a low-rise multiplex.
Accessibility. Part 3 buildings need barrier-free paths of travel, accessible units, and elevators. Part 9 residential buildings don’t.
Cost. A six-storey building costs much more per square foot than a multiplex because of the structural, mechanical, and fire protection work. Spreading the land cost over many more units, though, can make the per-unit numbers very attractive on expensive Toronto land.
A multiplex of four to six units suits homeowners, small investors, and renovation contractors. The capital needed is modest, and construction is conventional residential.
A Major Streets mid-rise of up to 60 units needs a development team: architect, structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers, a landscape architect, and usually a planning consultant. Capital runs into the millions and construction is commercial-grade. These projects are for developers, development partnerships, and well-capitalized investors.
What the rule removes is the rezoning. A six-storey apartment building on a residential lot on a major street used to mean years of approvals, public meetings, and legal costs, with no guarantee it would be approved. Now it’s a building permit application.
The City wants more “missing middle” housing, which means buildings between a single-family home and a high-rise tower. Putting that density along transit corridors, instead of inside neighbourhood blocks, puts more homes where transit, shops, and services already are.
Thousands of lots across the city, many of them now holding a single-family home or a small commercial building, can take a mid-rise residential building without a rezoning.
A six-storey building is Part 3 work, so it needs a licensed architect from the start. Quadrant Architects is an OAA-licensed firm in Toronto. Send us the address and we’ll check it against Map 3, the zoning, and heritage status, and tell you what could realistically fit before you buy or start design.
Call 416-835-0053 or see our residential architecture services. For the full picture on what you can build on a Toronto residential lot, start with our multiplex architect guide for Toronto.
Sara Rahgozar, M.Arch, OAA, Principal, Quadrant Architects
Current as of 2026, reflecting the Ontario Land Tribunal decision of September 11, 2025 that brought the Major Streets Official Plan and zoning amendments into force. Check your property’s eligibility on the City of Toronto’s Official Plan Map 3 and Interactive Zoning By-law Map before making design or investment decisions.