A provincial bill that would legalize the construction of wood frame buildings up to 14 storeys is back for consideration in the Ontario Legislature.
Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli retabled his bill – the Ontario Forestry Revitalization Act, 2018 – for first reading on March 22. The bill had died on the order paper a week earlier after the government was prorogued by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.
The bill is now scheduled to be debated on second reading on April 26.
If approved, the act would allow for wood frame construction to be used in mid-rise buildings up to 14 storeys, instead of the current six storeys.
It was Fedeli’s 2012 bill that increased wood frame construction from a four-storey maximum to six. It was adopted in 2015.
The Nipissing MPP has argued increasing the legal number of storeys for wood frame buildings would create jobs and help revitalize the Northern Ontario forest industry.
