Ontario Land Tribunal
Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire
ISSUE DATE: March 11, 2022
CASE NO(S).: OLT-21-001133
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 34(19) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Appellant: Scott Fawcett
Applicant: Northwest Catholic District School Board
Subject: By-law No. 03/14
Municipality: Town of Fort Francis
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-21-001133
OLT Case No.: OLT-21-001133
OLT Case Name: Fawcett v. Fort Frances (Town)
Heard: By written submissions
APPEARANCES:
Parties
Counsel*/Representative
Scott Fawcett ("Appellant")
Self-represented
Town of Fort Frances ("Town")
A. McKitrick*/A.M. McKitrick*
DECISION DELIVERED BY BLAIR S. TAYLOR AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL
INTRODUCTION
1The Tribunal issued its Interim Decision on January 25, 2022, with regard to a Zoning By-law Amendment ("ZBA") that proposed the adaptive reuse of a former school building and site for: 13 units in the former school building and an Early ON Family Centre with play area, and up to 5 eightplex buildings at the rear of the property known municipally as 820 Fifth Street ("Subject Lands").
2The Interim Decision approved in principle the ZBA subject to the Town providing a fully dimensioned conceptual site plan to scale, and a revised draft site specific Zoning By-law deeming Fifth Street as the frontage.
3The Tribunal received communication from counsel for the Town dated February 17, 2022, which communication has been entered as Exhibit 12 (added to the exhibits previously filed at the Tribunal hearing of January 13-14, 2022).
4Attached to counsel's letter was a revised draft ZBA, and the revised conceptual site plan dated February 9, 2022.
ZBA
5Exhibit 12 highlights two minor corrections to Exhibit 5 (the January 6, 2022, draft of the site specific ZBA) being: firstly, to correct a typographical error in paragraph 2 (b) to reference s. 4.5 of the ZBA (and not s. 45); and secondly in paragraph 2 (e)(2) under Location of Uses, to delete "wall" after "building" as being redundant. so that the paragraph would now read:
All eightplex dwellings shall be located on the Easterly half of the Property and no wall of any such building shall be closer than 7.5 metres from a wall of any other main building.
6Next Exhibit 12 notes the deeming of Fifth Street as the frontage for the Subject Lands.
7And finally Exhibit 12 proposes to clarify that clause 4.5.4 of the ZBA applies to the eightplex dwellings.
CONCEPTUAL SITE PLAN
8The conceptual site plan attached to Exhibit 12 is to scale, is dimensioned, and provides the required setbacks for the Subject Lands, with frontage to Fifth Street.
COMMENTARY
9The proposed minor changes in Exhibit 12 assist with the wordsmithing of the ZBA, while Exhibit 12 does deem Fifth Street be the frontage and a clarification is provided for the zoning of the eightplexes. All are acceptable to the Tribunal.
10The Tribunal would point out that in s. 1 of the ZBA in Exhibit 12 (as it was in Exhibit 5) after providing the legal description of the Subject Lands, the ZBA then notes that they are removed from the Institutional (I) Zone and "designated" as part of the Residential Type Two (R2) Zone.
11In the ordinary course, the Planning Act speaks to Official Plan land use "designations" and the Tribunal observes that it might have been preferable for the ZBA to provide that the Subject Lands had been rezoned to use the language of s. 34 of the Planning Act.
12That notwithstanding, the Tribunal discerns no material impact arises and the Tribunal is content that the plain intention of the ZBA in Exhibit 12 is to change the zoning of the Subject Lands to the requested site specific zoning that will allow for the adaptive reuse of the school building and for the anticipated construction of the eightplexes.
13Thus, the Tribunal hereby issues its Final Order, allowing the appeal in part and approving the revised ZBA inter alia deeming Firth Street as the frontage, all as found in Exhibit 12 appended hereto as Attachment 1 and forming part of this decision.
14This is the Final Order of the Tribunal.
"Blair S. Taylor"
BLAIR S. TAYLOR
MEMBER
Ontario Land Tribunal
Website: olt.gov.on.ca Telephone: 416-212-6349 Toll Free: 1-866-448-2248
The Conservation Review Board, the Environmental Review Tribunal, the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal and the Mining and Lands Tribunal are amalgamated and continued as the Ontario Land Tribunal ("Tribunal"). Any reference to the preceding tribunals or the former Ontario Municipal Board is deemed to be a reference to the Tribunal.