Do development permit systems inherently facilitate intensification objectives?

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether Development Permit Systems passively achieve policy-related intensification objectives in addition to explicit provisions. The methodology includes a brief history and review of applicable laws to explain how Development Permit Systems were created in Ontario. An overview of the Town of Gananoque policy documents is discussed and compared to Growth Plan intensification objectives. Development Permit System benefits and disadvantages are compared to Growth Plan intensification policies and Gananoque Official Plan residential policies to determine whether Development Permit Systems inherently achieve Growth Plan objectives. The key finding is that Development Permit Systems somewhat inherently achieve residential intensification policies, depending on whether the intensification provisions are included within the DPS to begin with and whether there are intensification policies included in the associated Official Plan policies.