Vaughan uses mediation to tackle appeals to OMB

CanadianLawyersMag.com
Sept. 8, 2016
Mallory Hendry

The Vaughan Metropolitan Centre is the new downtown core for the City of Vaughan, one of the fastest-growing municipalities in Canada.

The VMC comprises more than 179 hectares located around the intersection of Hwy. 7 and Jane Street. The completed development will offer a vibrant urban centre. The VMC will also contain the northernmost subway station in the Greater Toronto Area.

Claudia Storto, deputy city manager, legal and human resources, is responsible for seeking approval from the Ontario Municipal Board of the VMC Secondary Plan (among other official plans and secondary plans), which outlines and defines the elements that will make up the VMC.

The VMC Secondary Plan was the result of a planning process related to city council’s adoption of the Vaughan Official Plan 2010 in September 2010. The VMC Secondary Plan was adopted by Vaughan’s city council in 2010 and modified in 2012.

In response, 26 appeals were filed by landowners with the OMB. Other parties to the litigation include the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Region of York, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the York Region District School Board, the York Region Catholic School Board and CN Rail.

Recognizing that the sheer number of appeals and litigants could significantly hamper progress in developing the VMC, Storto sought a new approach to manage litigation on this scale. Working with Michael Toshakovski, legal counsel, and a city staff team of about 40 professionals from various other departments, she embarked on a plan to use mediation to come to a resolution.

“We decided mediation was the way to go with this particular project because we wanted as much agreement and support from all of the stakeholders in the area. We used it as a tool to bring everyone to the table and discuss all the outstanding issues in a collaborative way resulting in as much buy-in for the plan,” says Storto.

The VMC Secondary Plan is a critical element of the city’s new plan as the province has identified the area as an urban growth centre, with ambitious density targets. Litigation-related delays would result in significant tax dollars having been invested in a subway line and a bus rapid transit system without the necessary influx of development to support them.

Storto selected mediation, a form of assisted negotiation involving a third party skilled in dispute resolution.

“Litigation is a very lengthy and costly process. We selected mediation to move matters along as quickly as we possibly could and to limit the costs and resources used to pursue litigation in the traditional sense,” she says.

After a year and a half of formal mediation, the city was able to present a settlement to the OMB in Dec. 2015 and achieved a partial approval of its plan. “That was very significant — it was a huge milestone in having the VMC Secondary Plan come to life,” she says.

Mediation presented the opportunity to resolve the appeals before the matter escalated to an expensive and lengthy hearing before the OMB.

Numerous informal meetings were held with the appellants between formal mediation sessions, with both the large group and smaller groups based on common issues.

Under Storto’s direction, the city undertook several negotiations without the assistance of the OMB mediator. Storto led all meetings, along with external counsel Lynda Townsend, partner at WeirFoulds LLP, whom Storto says was “instrumental” in assisting the city with the process.

While the city had undertaken mediation related to OMB appeals in the past, it was limited to small matters with only one or two parties. Negotiations will continue in 2016 with hearings to be scheduled in late 2016 and into 2017.

Vaughan’s experience with mediation speaks to the benefits of ADR, and as a high-profile success, may help reduce the need to reform the OMB.