Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods
Communities Count. Civic Matters.
September 30, 2016 Submission Re: The Ontario Municipal Board Should the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) be abolished? The Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods (FUN) believes that it should be retained, as alternatives would be more expensive and difficult to use. What is needed are major reforms that address the concerns of the community. The OMB was … Read more
Community groups are rightly flummoxed when a development they are opposed to is pushed to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) for a decision.
Should the group start raising $20,000 or more to retain a lawyer to fight on its behalf? Is there any chance the board will be influenced by community concerns? Does it matter what city planners say about the development? Can the group win at the OMB?
I’m often approached by groups facing these questions, and my advice is that it’s difficult to create enough sympathy to raise the money and retain a lawyer. In any case, having a lawyer at the hearing on its own rarely gives a group much chance for success.
The Federation of North Toronto Residents Associations (FoNTRA) provides its comments on the proposed changes to the four provincial Land Use Plans:
The Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe,
The Greenbelt Plan,
The Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan, and
The Niagara Escarpment Plan.
The proposed changes follow a provincial review aimed at improving the laws passed to permanently protect agricultural and natural lands, and promote smart development in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. They are intended to allow communities to continue to grow while minimizing impacts of urban growth on productive farmland, heritage buildings and landscapes, archeological resources, green spaces, and important natural areas.
Municipalities across Ontario have reason to celebrate as a recent landmark decision by the Divisional Court may generate millions of dollars for parkland at the cost of the development industry.
In Richmond Hill (Town) v. Elginbay Corporation,1 the Divisional Court considered whether the Ontario Municipal Board (the “OMB”) has the authority to set the alternative rate for the conveyance of parkland in a municipality’s official plan. The Court concluded that the OMB did not. By imposing a cap on the alternative rate in the Town of Richmond Hill’s official plan, the Court held that the OMB overstepped its jurisdiction and unnecessarily fettered the discretion of the Town to make its own decisions, contrary to the intent of the Legislature.
The Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods (Ontario) is an umbrella organization of community associations in Ontario which was founded in 2001. Over the past 15 years we have lobbied the provincial and federal governments for more sustainable policies with respect to land use planning, transportation, and the protection of environmentally sensitive areas such as the Oak Ridge Moraine.
We’ve also supported efforts by organizations such as the Canadian Environmental Law Association to protect the great rivers and lakes we are blessed with in Ontario.
On March 2, 2016 you received a petition signed by 110 advocacy groups supporting nomination of radionuclides as a Chemical of Mutual Concern under Annex 3, Part B, Section 2 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement 2012.
March 2, 2016 Hon. Steven Del Duca, MPP Vaughan Minister of Transportation Dear Minister, The Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods (FUN) Ontario welcomes your announcement https://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2015/12/ontario-to-review-greater-toronto-area-west- corridor-project.html that the Ministry has suspended its work on the environmental assessment of the Greater Toronto Area West Highway Corridor (GTA West). Your announcement goes on to say that this … Read more
A controversial townhouse development proposed for 62 Mill Street in Uxbridge is slated to go to the Ontario Municipal Board for a decision. When council turned Monday to a report by township planning consultant Elizabeth Howson regarding the proposed development, Mayor Gerri Lynn O’Connor announced that the applicant has already taken the application to the OMB. “It’s out of our hands,” the mayor said.
I am writing in my capacity as President of the Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods (FUN Ontario), with regard to the proposal to construct a “Memorial to the Victims of Communism” adjacent to the Supreme Court of Canada building in Ottawa.
We wish to add our voice to the groundswell of opinion questioning the plans for the Memorial, including the Globe and Mail (Mar. 29 editorial), the Ontario Association of Architects, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Mayor Jim Watson of Ottawa and a majority of his Council, the present and former MPs for this area Ottawa Citizen (Oct 20).
2011-2015 Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods advocacy positions on provincial and municipal policies, planning and legislation.
We are writing in support of Bill 52, Protection of Public Participation Act, 2014 which you introduced in the Ontario Legislature on December 1, 2014. The Bill, which is substantively the same as former Bill 83, was debated for Second Reading on December 10, 2014, and received supportive comments from members of all Parties at that time.
Bill 52 provides an effective response to the problem of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) in Ontario and would prevent the misuse of the courts from SLAPP suits without depriving anyone of appropriate remedies for expression that causes significant harm. It reflects the recommendations of the Anti-SLAPP Advisory Panel that was established four years ago to provide advice on the content of legislation to target SLAPPs.