Vaughan adds its voice to those calling for Ontario Land Tribunal to be replaced

Vaughan joins dozens of GTA municipalities seeking to reclaim their urban planning clout ahead of elections

Yorkregion.com
March 28, 2022
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Vaughan joins dozens of Greater Toronto Area municipalities in wanting to reclaim their urban planning power as the province gradually trims municipal clout amid the affordable housing crisis and ahead of elections, a councillor said.

On March 22, Vaughan councillors approved a resolution by Coun. Alan Shefman and Coun. Marilyn Iafrate calling on the province to replace the Ontario Land Tribunal as the appeal body for municipal official plans.

The two are asking the province to establish a fair and efficient process for such appeals.

“I can tell you that about 23 municipalities have endorsed replacing the Ontario Land Tribunal as it currently only serves the development community,” Iafrate said, alluding that the figure could balloon especially since Toronto is speculated to be passing a similar resolution.

Iafrate dubbed the current system as “broken and not serving the public good.”

“Councillors from all municipalities are talking about this issue and are very motivated to send a message to Queen’s Park that we want changes,” Iafrate added.

The request to the province aims to protect the interests of any municipality’s decision-making process and that of local communities, which are “completely disadvantaged at fighting the developers at the Tribunal.”

“We simply ask for a level playing field,” Iafrate summarized the resolution’s ethos.

While municipalities are creatures of the province and only have the powers the province grants them, cities such as Vaughan argue that they spend millions in taxpayers' money and other municipal resources to develop their official plans.

And Vaughan is already on point with meeting its official plans’ requirements and its councillors and staff are expressing their support for growth.

Not only that, Vaughan councillors also have a problem with the province’s housing affordability task force they say is further eroding their power.

Haiqing Xu, deputy city manager, expressed alarm in his March 22 report over the province’s encroachment, saying there are complex causes behind the housing crisis, and at times the province’s complicated process makes it hard to expediently plan.

“Municipalities have a significant role to play to help increase the supply of new homes through expediting planning approvals, infrastructure developments and issuance of building permits,” Xu wrote.

Xu also flagged parts of the 55 recommendations Ontario had in its housing affordability task force’s draft report published on Jan. 25 that could significantly impact land-use planning at the municipal level.

Xu is alarmed over these "as-of-right" developments and approvals:

1 - Up to four units and up to four storeys on a single residential lot

2 - Secondary suits, multi-tenant housing, conversion of underutilized or redundant commercial properties to residential or mixed residential and commercial use

3 - Zoning up to unlimited height and unlimited density in the immediate proximity of individual major transit stations within two years if municipal zoning remains insufficient to meet provincial density targets

4 - Zoning of six to 11 storeys with no minimum parking requirements on any streets utilized by public transit, including streets on bus and streetcar routes

“These recommendations would lower design standards and allow intensification to spread to existing neighbours where there is no major infrastructure to support such growth,” Xu said.

If these recommendations go through, municipal councils will no longer have the authority to decide on these developments, he added.

“Instead, they will receive all complaints about the reduced quality of life, e.g. lowered water pressure, excessive street parking and shadowed backyards.”

The resolution and Xu’s report come after regional and local councillor Mario Ferri alongside his colleagues questioned what was the city’s communication strategy as a response to these recommendations.

“People out there need to understand and know what is being proposed so that they can address that as the election comes closer,” he said.

These recommendations will “basically obliterate any role that we have” as well as that of the public, Ferri added, echoing other councillors’ sentiments.