Richmond Hill councillors cautiously optimistic about OMB reform

4 councillors attended weekend meeting in Markham

Yorkregion.com
May 19, 2016
By Kim Zarzour

Two Richmond Hill councillors, members of the OMB reform working group, are expressing optimism after a province wide summit held in Markham last weekend.

Ward 4 Councillor David West and Ward 5 Councillor Karen Cilevitz said the meeting reflected a rare consensus among GTA politicians that the OMB is not helping Ontario communities.

With so many different perspectives and needs among diverse municipalities, consensus at the local level doesn’t happen often, West said, but when it comes to the Ontario Municipal Board, there was a solid agreement among participants that reform is needed now.

The OMB is a provincial tribunal that makes rulings on land use disputes between developers and municipalities.

West presented a motion to Richmond Hill council in February, seconded by Cilevitz, calling on the province to thoroughly review the appeals process and develop a better one that recognizes and supports the rights of municipalities to make their own decisions.

That motion was approved by all but one councillor, Ward 2 Councillor Tom Muench. (Councillor Greg Beros was not present.)

The Richmond Hill motion was one of the first to follow on the heels of a Town of Aurora motion to reform the OMB; more than 80 other municipalities across the province passed similar motions this spring.

Last weekend’s summit, organized by Aurora Councillor Tom Mrakas, gathered together 100 delegates from across Ontario - mostly elected officials - to make recommendations for an upcoming provincial review of the OMB.

While he is “under no illusions the work is done”, West said, “it was a good meeting. We had a lot of good, honest discussion amongst a wide range of municipal representatives.

“Concern was expressed that the characteristics that make individual communities unique and proud are the very things that the OMB is eroding, because the OMB takes such a one-size-fits-all approach.”

The summit was “remarkable”, Cilevitz agreed, because “in less than five months we were able to assemble elected officials from nearly one quarter of Ontario representing over 60 per cent of our province’s population, speaking from one shared perspective”.

That perspective, she said, is that municipalities and their elected councils can better manage their own land-use planning mandates according to their own official plans.

Richmond Hill councillors Godwin Chan and Muench also attended the summit.

Chan said the meeting made a strong statement to the provincial government that local decision-making ought to be respected and not to be “trumped” or over-ruled by an unelected and unaccountable board with no knowledge of the local community.

Muench said the meeting is a good start for adjusting the OMB and he is optimistic “parties can work together for the betterment of all”.

He said he voted against Richmond Hill’s reform-OMB motion in February because the wording was vague and the meaning “open to interpretation”.