Decision provides clarity for condo arbitration appeals

Decision provides clarity for condo arbitration appeals

December 31, 2007

The City of Toronto has created a local appeal body (LAB), which will hear appeals from the Committee of Adjustments on minor variance and consent applications, thereby avoiding appeals to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), Toronto condominium lawyer Armand Conant writes in Lawyers Weekly."

"The city was granted the power to establish a LAB for local land use planning (minor variances and consents) pursuant to the City of Toronto Act, 2006. Section 115 of the act allows council to appoint one such body to be made up of such persons as the city decides,"" Conant, partner at Shibley Righton LLP, writes in the publication. ""Bylaws and procedures still have to be established, along with prescribed terms and qualifications of the persons who will sit on the LAB, including eligibility and restrictions."

"While the LAB was approved by council in July, some practices and procedures are yet to be established, Conant writes in the legal publication, and adds ""the debate will centre on whether the LAB is to be completely self-funding through these fees, or if that is prohibitively expensive, partially funded by the filing fees with the balance being funded by the city (through property taxes)."

"One city report indicates that to make the LAB self-funding, fees would have to be in the range of $6,700 per application,"" he continues. ""At this time the city anticipates that the LAB would consist of five members — four part-time, and a full-time chairperson — and it is expected that it will hear in the range of 300 appeals per year."

"The city, in establishing the LAB, passed a motion requesting the provincial government amend various provincial legislation ""to abolish the OMB’s jurisdiction over the City of Toronto’s zoning bylaw amendment, official plan amendments, site plan, condominium plan approvals, and more,"" Conant writes in Lawyers Weekly. ""In addition, it requested that the government amend the Planning Act to clearly define what is a 'minor variance' and the four minor variance tests set out in section 45(1) of the Planning Act."

"While city council has approved eight guiding principles for implementing the LAB, he writes there is still much to be done before it starts hearing appeals commenced after September 2015."

"It remains to be seen whether the establishment of an LAB in Toronto will achieve its planned objective of reducing the OMB’s influence over Toronto’s planning matters, making the appeal process more accessible, more user-friendly, and less expensive for appellants and participants, and decision-making that is more responsive to Toronto’s neighbourhood planning process,"" he writes in the publication.