Stream Shen

The appellant sought a Final Order from the Ontario Land Tribunal to approve a Zoning By-law Amendment (ZBA) and Draft Plan of Subdivision (DPS) for a residential redevelopment, following an earlier Interim Order that approved them in principle.

The respondent municipality and a greenspace coalition opposed the final approval of the ZBA, arguing that unresolved issues regarding City-owned easements and overland flow routes made it premature.

The Tribunal found that it had the jurisdiction to issue a Final Order without the consent of all parties.

It held that the only prerequisites set out in the Interim Order were the receipt of the draft ZBA, DPS, and consolidated conditions, which had been satisfied.

The Tribunal concluded that easements and overland flows were not prerequisites for the Final Order and that it is common practice to approve a ZBA and DPS concurrently.

The Tribunal issued the Final Order approving both instruments.

The applicants brought motions under s. 22(6.2) of the Planning Act for directions to determine the completeness of their respective Official Plan Amendment applications seeking to expand the urban boundary.

The City of Ottawa had deemed the applications incomplete, citing the need for additional studies and reports under a newly enacted Development Application Study Policy By-law.

The Tribunal found that the City's Official Plan did not explicitly enumerate the additional requirements, failing the condition precedent in s. 22(5) of the Act.

Furthermore, the Tribunal held that the requested materials, including an Infrastructure Capacity Assessment to be completed by the City, were unreasonable requirements for the procedural step of deeming an application complete.

The Tribunal also applied the Clergy principle to find that the new requirements did not apply retroactively to the Caivan application.

Both motions were granted, and the applications were deemed complete as of their respective submission dates.