Toronto Local Appeal Body procedures: April 2018 comments from (among others) Leaside, Swansea, and Long Branch residents

For residents who may have an interest in such matters, here’s a recent message to south Etobicoke residents planning a TLAB appeal. The residents learned of an impending appeal deadline just recently. A July 10, 2018 message from TLAB reads:

Please note that as appeals must be submitted to the Committee of Adjustment, they may not be faxed to TLAB. Rather, forms must be filled out digitally or printed, completed, and scanned to PDF, and that document must be submitted to the Committee of Adjustment Customer Service Counter on CD or USB along with payment. If you do not have a scanner, free scanning services are available at certain Toronto Public Libraries.

The time frame for appeals is detailed in the Planning Act, and as such there is no latitude for extension.

[End]

Agenda: TLAB April 18, 2018 Business Meeting No.12: Public Consultation Meeting – Day One

I am pleased to bring attention to the PDF documents available at a TLAB notice of an April 18, 2018 Public Consultation Meeting.

As I understand, TLAB was set up as a body that was going to make it easier for residents to go about making appeals than had been the case with the Ontario Municipal Board.

Below is an April 2018 submission (from the above-noted link) from residents in Leaside:

Leaside Property Owners Association Incorporated – Submission to the Toronto Local Appeal Body

As well, below are some of the submissions from Long Branch:

TLAB Scarborough Civic Centre Presentation from Robert Davis

Re: Public Consultation on the Toronto Local Appeal Body – Ron Jamieson

TLAB Deputation – Comments from the Long Branch Neighbourhood Association

Additional submissions are available at the above-noted April 18, 2018 Toronto Local Appeal Body link.

Submission from Swansea Area Ratepayers Association

As well, another submission (submitted at about the same time as the ones mentioned earlier) regarding the same topic has been made by a residents’ association in Swansea:

975b-N.-Singh_TLAB-Comments

I do not know where the latter PDF file originates; it was sent to me by a Toronto resident.

The latter document, like the other submissions, warrant a close read. The opening paragraphs of the Swansea residents’ submission read:

Of great concern to the Swansea Area Ratepayers Association is the compressed schedule of fixed deadlines mandated by the Toronto Local Appeal Body (TLAB) Rules of Procedure.

In particular we are concerned about the effect they have on the ability of the general public to participate in the process.

As a matter of course cases that are appealed to the TLAB have already gone before the Committee of Adjustment (COA) and in our experience the parties opposing applications in the COA process are the neighbors of the subject properties and our Association. It is also our experience that nearly all of our objections and the objections of the public have been set aside by the COA decisions thus placing the onus for the majority of appeals on the public and on our community association, the Swansea Area Ratepayers’ Association. Given the City’s current uncertain position regarding its participation in matters going before the TLAB there can be no reliance on the city to appeal these decisions on behalf of itself or the public. It then falls to the general public and community associations to take up the burden and consider taking up the challenge of appealing matters of concern to the TLAB.

It is also our experience that the first time most members of the public are even aware of the COA is when a notice arrives in their mailbox some days before a hearing telling them that there is a hearing in which they can participate. These neighbors are suddenly faced with the understanding that they have rights in the matter, but, they do not know what those rights are, they do not know what the rights of applicants are, they do not understand the functioning of the COA hearing, or what matters are relevant to the COA, and they have no knowledge about the TLAB appeals process, no understanding of the Rules and Practices or the level of evidence that will be required to get through the system, and most people have never heard of the City’s Official Plan.

[End of excerpt]

Local Planning Appeal Tribunals

Elsewhere in Ontario, Local Planning Appeal Tribunals (LPATs) are (I’m assuming) doing the same work as done by the Toronto Local Appeal Body. I look forward to learning how they are working out. I don’t feel inclined to do a Google search for this topic – not today, anyway.

If you as a site visitor wish to bring us up to date concerning an LPAT where you live, please comment through this website (via Contact Us or vi a Comment) or by email at jpill@preservedstories.com

One thing that is different, as a consequence of new land-use decision-making legislation

Recordings of Etobicoke York COA hearings, and of TLAB hearings, are available to media and members of the public. This in my view is a big step forward. It means a definitive account is available of what was said at each meeting.

For people seeking to inform the public or to conduct research, regarding what goes on at such hearings, it’s most valuable to be able to access the raw data, rather than depending on the text of a decision, to determine what a given hearing actually entailed.