Municipal summit on OMB reform - speaking with one voice
NRU
Feb. 10, 2016
By Geordie Gordon
Determined to present a unified voice to the province on what municipalities think the jurisdiction of the Ontario Municipal Board should be, a group of councillors is organizing a summit to crystallize input to the provincial review later this year.
The group of Greater Golden Horseshoe councillors, which so far includes councillors from Markham, Kitchener, Cambridge, Brantford, Georgina, Newmarket and Welland, held its first pre-summit meeting at the Aurora Cultural Centre this past weekend. The meeting was co-hosted by Aurora councillors Tom Mrakas and Michael Thompson. While the original agenda was to address the issue of intensification of
former golf courses in areas not contemplated in local official plans, the question of the OMB’s jurisdiction quickly became the focal point of the meeting.
At its January 26 meeting Aurora council had unanimously agreed to a motion by Mrakas to ask the provincial government to restrict the jurisdiction of the OMB to questions of law or process.
Mrakas told NRU that the two issues are intertwined in that golf course redevelopment could be dealt through existing municipal official plans if the OMB’s jurisdiction was restricted. The OMB reform that Mrakas is seeking would prevent appeals to the OMB of official plan policies unless there was a point of law at issue. Hence, former golf course lands would remain as open space, or as otherwise deemed by
council in its official plan.
Mrakas said that the summit is a way to provide early input into the provincial review of the OMB that is anticipated to begin later this year. Mrakas wants to ensure that municipal feedback is taken into account by the province.
“This [summit] is taking that proactive step to say, let’s get the other municipalities, let’s figure out what we want as a group, and bring it forward after the summit to the province and say this is what we’ve discovered as a group... these are the changes we need, and at the end of the day will be happy with
if [the province] makes these changes,” he said.
Markham ward 4 councillor Karen Rea said during the
meeting that she would like to see the group expand to include more municipalities and thus broaden the input to the province.
“If we can get everyone together and slowly expand the group and have all the municipalities [involved], the province is going to have to listen to us,” she said.
