Whitby Green Standard

The Whitby Green Standard is a toolkit that has been developed to help encourage and enhance sustainable new development across the Town. The Whitby Green Standard will help ensure new developments in the Town are constructed with sustainability in mind and identifies ways in which developers can go above and beyond to exceed these criteria.

Sustainable development reference guides and checklists

All new developments are required to consider sustainability and we encourage developers to review and follow these reference guides and checklists:

Get involved

This program is new and evolving and we want your input and feedback to help make our community sustainable. Visit Connect Whitby to learn more about how you can get involved with Whitby Green Standard.

Program benefits

This program will help meet the Town's goal of being a healthy, sustainable, and complete community – with balanced residential and employment growth and high quality of life. The Whitby Green Standard is also a response to the Town's greenhouse gas reduction target of 80% by the year 2050.

Frequently asked questions

Review the frequently asked questions about the Whitby Green Standard.

What is the Whitby Green Standard?

The Whitby Green Standard is a planning tool used to help guide sustainable new development in Whitby.

What is the goal of the Whitby Green Standard?

The goal of the Whitby Green Standard is to increase the uptake of sustainability measures for new development in the community. This will help new developments improve environmental, social, and economic performance, increase community resiliency, and support the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate the effects of climate change.

How does the Whitby Green Standard Work?

The Whitby Green Standard provides a one-stop-shop for navigating municipal sustainability policies, plans & strategies in new development. The checklists found in the Whitby Green Standard will help developers and the Town ensure that minimum sustainability criteria are being met during a development application.

The Whitby Green Standard also highlights opportunities for developers to go above and beyond to incorporate sustainable practices into their design and developments. There are four tiers of the Whitby Green Standard:

Tier 1 of the checklists identifies mandatory criteria that need to be met by all new development applications
Tiers 2 to 4 identify ways in which developers can achieve high-performance sustainable development on a voluntary basis.

Are there incentives for meeting the Whitby Green Standard?

Incentives would typically be awarded to developers who achieve Tier 2 or higher in the Whitby

Green Standard. Incentives can be monetary or non-monetary. Examples of incentives include:

Servicing Allocation
Development Charge (DC) Full or Partial Exemptions
Recognition program, Sustainable Design Awards/Green Development Champion
Expedited approval process
Community Improvement Plan
Tax Increment Equivalent Grants (TIEG)
Stormwater Credit
External Grant Programs

Will the Whitby Green Standard delay the current development process?

No. It is anticipated that the Whitby Green Standard will not delay the current process unless minimum standards are not being met.