NEWS

Queen’s Park Report – October 2019

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The Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) is a consolidated statement of the government’s policies on land use planning. It applies province-wide and provides provincial policy direction on key land use planning issues that affect communities. The government held a 90 day consultation period which closed October 21 2019, during which they sought feedback on proposed changes to the Provincial Policy Statement. The Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods submitted comments as follows:

2019 Annual General Meeting Notice

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Saturday, May 25, 2019, 2 to 4 p.m.
Kensington Apartments
21 Dale Avenue
6th Floor Board Room
Toronto, Ontario M4W 1K3

AGENDA
Welcome
Approval of Minutes of AGM held October 27, 2018
President’s Report Treasurer’s Report Budget for 2019/2020
Ratification of Decisions taken by Executive Committee since last AGM
Appointment of an auditor for 2019
Confirmation of Membership Dues
Election of Officers and Executive Committee for 2019/2020

Local Planning Appeal Support Centre Has Been Closed

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The Ford government is closing a provincial agency that gives legal assistance to residents battling development changes in their local municipality.

The Local Planning Appeal Support Centre was created just last year as part of the Wynne government’s reforms to the former Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), a body long criticized for favouring developers in its decisions about zoning.

The High Costs of Sprawl

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Sprawl report

The Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH), Canada’s largest urban region, will undergo a profound change as it grows to accommodate an anticipated 4.4 million new residents by 2041, making it home to nearly 13.5 million people.

The decisions we make about how to accommodate this growth will determine what types of communities we live in, how much time we spend stuck in traffic, the quality of the air we breathe and whether our farmland and forests continue to provide us with food and habitat for our unique wildlife. There’s no question that new housing will be needed. The question is what form it will take.

Cancellation of the Local Planning Appeal Support Centre

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Nobleton development

Less than one year into its operation, the Province has announced that the Local Planning Appeal Support Centre (LPASC) is being shut.

LPASC was launched in April 2018 to help people understand and navigate the land use planning and appeal process in Ontario. The LPASC Act, 2017 mandated the establishment and administration of a cost-effective and efficient system for providing support services, and to establish criteria for determining the eligibility of persons to receive the support. The LPASC has until June 30, 2019 to wind down the business. Effective immediately, LPASC will no longer be accepting new requests for professional services from the public.

The Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods (Ontario) has sent the following letter to the Ontario Government protesting this action.

Queens Park Report – February 2019

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Land use planning primer

If you or members of your organization are looking to understand how land use planning works in Ontario, the following may help. The City of Ottawa has put together a series of classes covering the basics (called Primer I and II) and specific topics, such as development charges.

While these courses were developed with Ottawa in mind, most of the content is universal. You can use the material as is, or approach your Planning Department to create classes tailored to your municipality using the Ottawa material as a base.

Urban planning primer

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There is a strong provincial direction to limit urban sprawl, especially in the greater GTA, or any urban area surrounded by agricultural areas.

This forces urban centres to comply with the expectations of the Growth Plan 2017, including the determination of the designated targets for intensification and density within urban boundaries. In other words, neighbourhoods as we know them may be stable, but not static. We are seeing an increase in the number of minor variance applications.

The urban planning process can be daunting. It uses language that requires interpretation; it can involve multiple levels of review, beginning with the municipal Committee of Adjustment and possibly proceeding to a local appeal body (The Toronto Local Appeal Body for the City of Toronto and the Local Planning Appeal Committee outside of Toronto).

Queen’s Park Report February 3, 2019

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If you or members of your organization are looking to understand how land use planning works in Ontario, the following may help. The City of Ottawa has put together a series of classes covering the basics (called Primer I and II) and specific topics, such as development charges.

While these courses were developed with Ottawa in mind, most of the content is universal. You can use the material as is, or approach your Planning Department to create classes tailored to your municipality using the Ottawa material as a base.

FoNTRA Letter to Ontario Government re: Bill 66

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Since Bill 66, – it passed first reading on 06 December 2018 and is scheduled for second reading on 19 February 2019 – had been introduced without any public consultation, it is appropriate to comment on the underlying legislation before addressing the proposed Regulation which is to implement this new mechanism. FoNTRA sees the proposed planning tool as some sort of Trojan horse designed to undermine fundamental and carefully conceived public policies…

While FoNTRA supports the streamlining of planning approval processes and the removal of often redundant requirements and restrictions, it believes that Bill 66, as currently written, puts into question the fundamental validity of the Province’s own policy-driven planning system and signals to the world: Ontario has principles but if you don’t like them, we have others.

Queen’s Park Report – December 2018

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The government’s recently introduced Bill 66 has been met with widespread concern about the threat to Ontario’s framework for environmental protection. What the Bill does (in Schedule 10) is to allow municipalities to pass “Open for Business” bylaws that give developers permission to circumvent planning and environmental legislation that includes: The Provincial Policy Statement, The Planning Act, The Clean Water Act, The Great Lakes Protection Act, The Greenbelt Act, The Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, The Places to Grow Act, The Environmental Assessment Act, The Environmental Protection Act, The Nutrient Management Act, The Ontario Water Resources Act, and other less well-known legislation that was designed to protect the people of Ontario!