Vaughan rejects Ontario’s bill on housing, wants ‘fulsome consultation’

Coun. Marilyn Iafrate was inundated with emails from residents saying ‘no’ to the bill that gives developers more clout

Yorkregion.com
June 7, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

After a public hearing on June 4, the City of Vaughan says it doesn’t “support Bill 108,” proposed legislation to “encourage” housing construction and reduce red tape amid a surge of demand especially for affordable dwellings.

Bill 108 or “The More Homes, More Choice Act,” includes changes to 13 pieces of legislation. The biggest change would take power away from municipalities by allowing developers to appeal their decisions.

In a nutshell, it’s a U-turn to the old Ontario Municipal Board which has allowed developers more clout.

Instead, the city “recommends that the Province does not proceed with Bill 108 until fulsome consultation with municipalities has taken place and that feedback from the municipal consultations be used to revise the draft legislation.”

In a report sent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Premier Doug Ford, the city said Bill 108 which, “significantly alters the financial tools which have been available to municipalities” will also affect its ability to secure parkland, provide community facilities, evaluate development applications, hold public consultations, preserve heritage resources, and administer the development process.

It also said substantive changes to sections 37 and 42 of the Planning Act propose a new Community Benefits Charge (CBC) which would replace existing provisions for density bonuses, dedicating parkland, and soft services from the Development Charges Act.

The Province argues that the bill will reduce bureaucracy and “create conditions that make it easier to build housing and introduce policies that encourage densification.”

Some Vaughan residents have sent emails to the city saying that they vote “no” to the proposed bill.

York Region Media has read some of the emails made public in a thick agenda booklet pertaining the loaded June 4 meeting.

“I am against changes to the current LPAT (The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal) system and I vote NO to the new proposed legislation called Housing Supply Action Plan,” Marion Ford said in an email to Coun. Marilyn Iafrate.

LPAT was formerly known as the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), which was highly criticized and seen being as a bedfellow to the developers. But in 2017, the OMB was abolished and the scaled-down LPAT was in its place.

“The public deserves to be heard and it’s your responsibility to ensure that we are heard.”

Theresa Molle's email to Iafrate, Ford and the Culture Minister Michael Tibollo stated, “This Province is a democracy whereby all participants must be acknowledged and the environment respected, and the decision rendered a benefit to all.”

Brian Pittman, a Kleinburg resident since 1963, told Iafrate in an email that the bill “would put development decisions back into the hands of a body resembling the old OMB, which essentially ignored local concerns.”

“This Provincial Government seems to give little thought to esthetic or environmental values,” he added.

Iafrate said she indeed has “received extensive correspondence opposing Bill 108.”

“Most importantly, the proposed legislation no longer gives priority to a municipality’s approved Official Plan which has gone through a thorough public engagement process,” she told York Region Media, in reference to the many public hearings that the city is used to whenever there is a need to decide on a hot issue.

“There is no shortage of land available for development,” she said.

The councillor said even the Building Industry and Land Development Association, which is advocating for the bill, has “admitted that repeatedly in the past.”

“All our recently approved secondary plans provide for various housing types that can accommodate all income levels,” she added. “The only barrier to speeding up the construction of new homes is the lack of funds to service those lands so that homes can be built, and not the availability of lands or the approval process to develop those lands.”