Replacing OMB with development tribunal empowers communities: groups

yorkregion.com
May 18, 2017
By Lisa Queen

Pretty much everyone is applauding the provincial government’s plans to kill the Ontario Municipal Board and replace it with a tribunal Queen’s Park promises will be more responsive to local communities.

Everyone but the development industry, that is.

The province announced May 16 that the reforms, if passed, will replace the OMB with a new Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.

The development industry fears the new system would make it much more difficult to bring new housing to communities across Ontario, said Joe Vaccaro, CEO of the Ontario Home Builders’ Association.

“If this new tribunal puts local politics ahead of Smart Growth planning, it will only serve to empower NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) councils to make planning decisions to get re-elected,” he said in a statement.

“The role of the OMB has always been to take the politics out of local planning and ensure that decisions are made based on evidence, ‘good planning,’ and conformity to provincial policy.”

An independent, third-party land use appeals process is essential to ensure the provincial government’s intensification targets are implemented, Vaccaro said.

“To give more weight to local politics will detract from provincial goals. For more than 10 years, the provincial government has been demanding the increase of density and intensification in existing communities across Ontario. It is difficult to understand how the province hopes to achieve Smart Growth goals by weakening the OMB when councillors are pushing back on intensification,” he said.

“If this new Local Planning Appeal Tribunal is simply going to be a rubber stamp for obstructionist councils, then the province’s demand to optimize housing supply and provide diverse housing options will fail.”

Others disagree.

The province appears to have listened to cries from residents, municipal councillors and even the development industry to bring meaningful reform to the appeals process, Aurora Coun. Tom Mrakas said.

Mrakas and Aurora Coun. Michael Thompson led a provincewide campaign to overhaul the OMB, including hosting a summit on the issue a year ago in Markham.

Rather than the sweeping powers of the OMB, the new tribunal would be limited in its power, meaning it could only overturn municipal development decisions if they don’t follow local or provincial plans, Mrakas said.

“It is especially gratifying that all our hard work brought real results (and) effected real and meaningful change,” Mrakas said.

“Our collaborative efforts have resulted in the return of authority to local municipalities to determine how they want to see their communities grow within the context of provincial policy. That our Official Plans will actually mean something now, this is truly wonderful news.”

As a former Liberal MPP, Vaughan councillor and now president of the Brownridge Ratepayers’ Association, Mario Racco has seen the development process from many sides.

He is impressed with the reforms.

“There’s no question residents, not only in the region of York but all over Ontario, have been asking (for this),” he said.

“The OMB has always been perceived, and it’s probably real, that it is on the side of developers. They have often gotten what they wanted and more.”

Residents have had no way to battle developers who have the resources to hire top lawyers and planners at OMB hearings, Racco said.

He also recalls councillors throwing up their arms, asking why would they would bother to fight development plans when developers would simply appeal local decisions to the OMB and likely get even larger developments than initially pitched at councils.

Under the reforms, it appears developers would be forced to follow the “planning bibles” of provincial guidelines and municipal Official Plans, Racco said.

An independent appeals body is critical in the development process but it must be fair, Newmarket Taxpayers Advocacy Group president Teena Bogner said.

“Citizens must have direct access to this quasi-judicial body without incurring significant costs. Inherently, government and developers have benefitted from the current model, and citizens are the least served by this body due to the substantial costs involved,” she said in an email.

“The mere suggestion by developers, or at times local government, that ‘we’ll take it to the OMB’ is enough for citizens to drop the issue due to the major cost constraints involved.”

The new system should be modelled on the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, which allows anyone regardless of financial status or legal experience to apply and have support without incurring debt, Bogner said.

The province is establishing the Local Planning Appeal Support Centre, a new agency that would provide free information and support, including possible representation at the tribunal, for residents who want to participate in the appeals process, Newmarket-Aurora MPP Chris Ballard said.

“We have heard over the years loud and clear, and I heard as a town councillor, that our communities, our residents, have a stronger voice in development,” said Ballard, who is also Ontario’s housing minister and a former Aurora councillor.