Brandon Duewel

The applicant, a residents' association, sought judicial review of a municipal council decision approving a site plan application and heritage impact assessment for a large warehouse development in a heritage conservation district.

The applicant argued the council breached its procedural by-law by reconsidering the application without notice and acted in bad faith.

The Divisional Court granted the applicant public interest standing and found the application was not moot.

However, the court dismissed the application, holding that the city did not owe the applicant a duty of procedural fairness.

While the council did breach its procedural by-law regarding notice for the reconsideration motion, the breach did not amount to illegality or bad faith sufficient to quash the decision.

Following a case management teleconference, the court issued directions regarding two related applications brought by the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association and the City of Toronto against Ontario concerning the demolition of heritage buildings.

Toronto sought an order requiring Ontario to produce a 'record of decision' prior to the hearing, arguing that the demolition involved a statutory power of decision.

The case management judge deferred this issue to the panel hearing the applications, noting that the panel could draw appropriate inferences or order further disclosure if necessary.

The applicant brought an urgent motion to stop the demolition of four industrial buildings with heritage designations under the Ontario Heritage Act.

The court found that the respondents likely began demolition by mistake, failing to comply with the Heritage Act and a subdivision agreement with the City of Toronto.

The court granted an interim order of prohibition under s. 4 of the Judicial Review Procedure Act to prevent the destruction of the buildings pending the final determination of the application by a panel of the Divisional Court.