Land and development site brochure template

Zoning and planning terms in Canada and the US

In Ontario, land use is set by the official plan and the municipal zoning by-law under the Planning Act; a buyer will ask whether a zoning by-law amendment, minor variance, consent (severance) or plan of subdivision is needed. Other provinces use similar tools under their own acts. In the United States the equivalents are the comprehensive or general plan, the zoning ordinance, rezoning, variances and the subdivision plat, often grouped as entitlements.

Zone codes mean different things in different municipalities, so quote the permitted uses from the by-law or ordinance that applies and date the check. Density is expressed as FSI (floor space index) in much of Canada and FAR (floor area ratio) in the US; state which, and whether it applies to gross or net site area.

Servicing, studies and the questions engineers ask

Servicing often decides what land is worth. For each service say whether it is available at the lot line, the main size where known, any capacity constraint, and the source and date: municipal servicing maps, the vendor or a consultant’s report. If servicing depends on a future extension, say who plans it and when.

• Water: main size, pressure or fire flow if tested.
• Sanitary: main size and allocated or available capacity.
• Storm: outlet and stormwater management requirements.
• Power and gas: nearest infrastructure and available supply, especially for heavy users.
• Studies: functional servicing report, geotechnical, environmental (Phase I and II), traffic, archaeology where required.

Environmental site assessments follow CSA Z768 in Canada and ASTM E1527 in the US. List the reports you have and their dates; buyers will commission their own, but knowing what exists speeds up due diligence.

Costs buyers will add to the price

Land buyers underwrite the site, not just the price. Development charges in Ontario and impact fees in many US jurisdictions can be a large share of total cost, as can parkland dedication, road widenings and off-site servicing. A brochure doesn’t need to calculate them, but naming the ones you know of, with the municipality’s current schedule and its effective date, saves a round of questions.

Price per acre or hectare is the first comparison; for development land the second is price per buildable square foot, the price divided by the floor area the zoning or a concept plan allows. Show the basis of every density figure so buyers can test it.

Imagery that shows the land

Ground photos of a field rarely sell it. The imagery that works for land is an oblique drone photo with the parcel outlined, a top-down aerial at a scale that shows the frontage and neighbours, and a few ground shots of the entrance, the frontage road and any existing structures. Date every image, show north on plans and aerials, and keep the outline faithful to the survey: an outline that includes a neighbour’s yard or excludes a road widening will be found by the buyer’s surveyor.

If a concept plan exists, show it with its author and date and label it as a concept, not an approval. If none exists, a clear statement of the controls (FSI or FAR, height, setbacks) lets a buyer’s architect test the site quickly.

Building it in OfferingStack

Start from the address or coordinates. For land listings without a site plan or outlined aerial, OfferingStack adds a Site Overview page with parcel-scale satellite imagery and your site facts; with your own aerial, the Property Details page shows the outline and labels you draw yourself. The parcel identifier is labelled the way your jurisdiction names it, for example PIN in Ontario, PID in British Columbia and the Maritimes, or APN in the US.

Zoning, development program and servicing pages appear when you enter that information, with services and studies listed as rows, and location pages are built from sourced map and census data. Pages without data are left out, and you approve every page before it is distributed.