Conserving Long Branch June 2017 Update 3 – David Godley

The following photo and attached messages are from David. Any Word document, that David sends, I convert at once into a PDF:

38 36th St

938coa[2]

TLAB – Notice of Hearing

The following message for June 2017 is from David Godley. Sometimes I fall behind in the posting of David’s messages. Today I’m catching up.

David writes:

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Happy Solstice

1 First TLAB hearing
2 9 Meaford and 80 23rd
3 New member of the COA
4 38 36th Street COA Hearing
5 OMB Review
6 Political Quote

1 First TLAB hearing

A severance and variances at 9 38th Street were opposed by the Planning Department, Councillor, and Residents but were approved by the COA and appealed by the City.

The Toronto Local Appeal Board will hear the matter on October 13. Early disclosure is a new process it has adopted (see attached)

See also my questions back to TLAB and my comments to COA.

THIS IS A CRITICAL HEARING AS IT MAY SET THE TENOR FOR FUTURE SOLDIER HOUSE HEARINGS.

Unlike the OMB written submissions are invited to be part of the evidence and presumably given more weight although not as much as giving evidence at the hearing where cross examination can take place.

All those affected by splits in the past or threatened with severances in the future should either attend or send in written submissions.

Written submossions have to be on a form and submitted before August 8.

Any queries should be submitted to Hsing @ TLAB@toronto.ca.

Message from TLAB@TORONTO.CA

On 21/06/2017 11:20 AM, TLAB@TORONTO.CA wrote:
Toronto Local Appeal Body – TLAB – Notice of Hearing
RE: 17 165408 S45 06 TLAB, 9 THIRTY EIGHTH ST

The attached Notice of Hearing has been provided to you, as required by the Planning Act, to ensure that, as an interested person, you may make your views known by filing your submissions in accordance with Toronto Local Appeal Body’s Rules of Practice and Procedure.

To view plans and materials in the application file, please visit the Toronto Local Appeal Body Website at www.toronto.ca/tlab under the “Scheduled Hearings” tab and search by the scheduled hearing date or alphabetically by the property address.

You may also visit, the Application Information Centre (AIC) found at www.toronto.ca/aic and search by the property address and the TLAB Case File Number.

Hsing Yi Chao
Secretary Toronto Local Appeal Body
Supervisor, Court Services

David writes to Hsing Yi Chao

Hi Hsing,

I have looked over you material and visited your web site and found the forms for submission by participant witnesses.

This is the first TLAB hearing we have had in Long Branch and are therefore feeling our way.

First can you let is know how much weight will be given to written statements only where a submittee does not attend a hearing for whatever reason.

Fortunately I will be able to attend and be cross examined. However this issue of attending or not is key to who will attend and who not.

Due process would seem to be more generally met by giving weight to submissions of those who cannot attend or who do not want to attend.

I would also note that starting at 9am instead of 10am means traveling through rush hour to a more inconvenient place than 655 Bay.

So these two aspects together mean less customer oriented practices for residents.

I would urge consideration of future Long Branch and west end hearings to be in the Etobicoke Civic Centre.

I intend to submit my evidence based on the attached format which I prepared for the hearing at 24 33rd Street including maps.

Am I able to do this. Or do I have to submit a summary only without maps. While my testimony would be shorter than this I want to get the whole case on file.

I found Form 13 for participant statements, the fillable PDF but was unable to fill anything out. Help please!

I notice the next door neighbour was not on the list of people notified so have copied Carolyn Glenn.

There may be others who are interested. Are residents within 200 feet, 60 m, notified or is it up o residents to keep people informed.

I have also copied Lakeshore Planning Council and Long Branch Neighbourhood Association who may well wish to participate.

Due to the precedent setting nature of this case I expect a lot of interest.

The OMB have started to see the light and I am sure the 9 Meaford, 30 36th and 80 23rd cases will be used as grounding.

I notice that 1 day has been assigned to the hearing.

This does not seem to be enough time. The similar hearing I attended took 2 days and this was one of the few hearings where I have not been pressed to shorten my testimony.

At one hearing I was allowed 5 minutes after an 8 hour wait while the applicant’s planner took 4 hours.

Since the process is new to everybody I am afraid there are a lot of nuts and bolts questions.

Since there are deadlines it would be best to clear these matters up as soon as possible.

Naturally the community is pleased to have a fresh and better approach to planning appeals of Committee of Adjustment applications.

If we can be any help let is know.

Thanks, David Godley

401 Lake Promenade

Toronto, M8W 1C3

416-255-0492

[End]

2) 9 Meaford and 80 23rd

The OMB turns a corner

In a brilliant move by Brian and Catherine Bailey and Meaford area team, the OMB turned down the applications for soldier houses against the evidence of City Planner and Applicant Planner.

At 80 23rd the area residents wrested a turn down of the variances built approval of severance for soldier houses. The same hearing officer made the same decision previously on soldier houses at 30 36th Street.

I can forward decisions to anyone interested.

3) New member of the COA

Douglas Colbourne has been appointed to the Etobicoke York Committee of Adjustment. He was previously Chair and an OMB hearing officer.

4) 38 36th Street COA Hearing

Soldier Houses at 38 36th Street is the major item at 29 June COa. Any help that can be given would be appreciated by Robert at robert@robertdavis.ca. See attached submission.

5) OMB Review

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From MPP Peter Milczyn’s newsletter:

OMB Review – Transforming Ontario’s Land Use Appeal System

Ontario is taking action to overhaul the province’s land use planning appeal system to give communities a stronger voice and ensure people have access to faster, fairer and more affordable hearings.

On May 30, our government introduced legislation to create the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, which would, if passed, replace the Ontario Municipal Board. The new tribunal would be mandated to give greater weight to the decisions of local communities, while ensuring that development and growth occurs in a way that is good for Ontario and its future. This would be achieved by eliminating lengthy and costly “de novo” hearings for the majority of planning appeals.

Ontario would also make planning appeals more accessible to the public by creating the Local Planning Appeal Support Centre, a new agency that would provide free information and support, which may include representation at the tribunal for citizens who want to participate in the appeal process.

The new legislation would include additional measures to transform Ontario’s land use planning appeals system, including:

• Exempting a broader range of major land use planning decisions from appeal, including new Official Plans, major Official Plan updates and detailed plans to support growth in major transit areas.
• Establishing a mandatory case conference for complex hearings to encourage early settlements, which would help reduce the time and cost of appeals and create a less adversarial system.

The proposed changes follow extensive public consultations, beginning with the release of a consultation paper in October 2016. The government received more than 1,100 written submissions and held 12 town hall meetings across the province that were attended by more than 700 people.

Attached you will find the news release and backgrounder from the intent announcement, the introduction news release, media Q&As, tweets and a matte article. We hope these will assist you in informing your constituents about our proposed changes to the Ontario Municipal Board.

I will be hosting two Townhalls, one in ward 5 and one in Ward 6, in September, before the legislation goes to Committee, so that I can seek further input from constituents. Please look at my upcoming e-newsletters for more information.

[Extract from Peter Milczyn MPP’s Newsletter]

6) Political Quote

“Planning would be easy if it were not for cars, elevators or planners! ”