Province-wide pitch for OMB reform in Markham today

Yorkregion.com
May 14, 2016
By Simon Martin

Municipal politicians from across the province were in Markham Saturday for a summit on Ontario Municipal Board Reform.

The pending provincial review of the OMB has spurred local municipalities to voice their hope for change in the process. More than 80 municipalities across the province have passed motions on OMB reform.

“Many of us are frustrated by the lack of predictability in land use planning,” organizer and Aurora Councillor Tom Mrakas said. “We never know if a municipal council decision will stand or be appealed and overturned at the OMB.”

A spirited roundtable discussion at the event included former Mayor of Kingston and Chair of the OMB Helen Cooper,  Author of A Law unto Itself, John Chipman, York Region chief planner, Valerie Shuttleworth, Aird and Berlis municipal and land use planning lawyer Leo Longo, Keith West from the Preserve Glenway Association and CEO of Ontario Home Builders Association Joe Vacarro.

For local planning purposes, the board can be very difficult for municipalities and regions to navigate, Shuttleworth said.

“We always have this OMB threat that the big bad developer is holding over our head,” she said. “There is no such thing as a friendly appeal to the board.”

The reality facing municipalities is Ontario’s growth plan, with its ambitious intensification targets, is going to dramatically change the community, Vacarro said.

“Communties are changing. That’s the mandate,” he said. “(The OMB is needed because of) the inability of politicians to make tough decisions.”

He said there are many examples of when local councils go against its own planning staff’s recommendations because it’s unpopular.

It was an unpopular opinion in the room full of elected officials.

While there was much debate at the event, one thing people were able to agree on was that the current form of the OMB is not a palatable solution moving forward. “We are trying to advocate to improve the process,” King Mayor Steve Pellegrini said.

Municipal representatives continually talked about making changes at the OMB so the scales weren’t so tilted in the developers’ favour. “It’s not on a level playing field right now,” Markham Ward 4 Councillor Karen Rea said.

Shuttleworth talked about the frustration from a planner’s perspective, especially in regards to a municipality’s Official Plan. So much consultation and work goes into forming an official plan, yet even after it’s passed by the province, it’s constantly appealed to OMB by developers.

There was broad support from the assembled crowd to bring back the sanctity of the Official Plan. For Pellegrini it was the most important issue moving forward. “If there is an approved Official Plan it should not be appealable to OMB,” he said.

If developers want to make changes they should have to make them in the consultation phases, Pellegrini said. “Once it’s passed then it’s done.”

This would bring more predictability to the process for residents and local council, he said. The high density housing area in town wouldn’t all of sudden change.

Other suggestions from the group included enhancing mediation before a hearing occurs, having more qualified board members and recognizing the need for a different process for large and small municipalities.

A working group is taking all the suggestions from today’s summit to work towards recommendations for the province to try and change the system. “We are elected official that all feel passion about this issue,” Mrakas said.