Ontario Land Tribunal
Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire
ISSUE DATE:
April 06, 2022
CASE NO(S).:
OLT-21-001318
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 34(11) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P. 13, as amended
Applicant and Appellant:
2715649 Ontario Ltd.
Subject:
Application to amend Zoning By-law No. 7625, as amended, of the former City of North York, and to amend Zoning By-law No. 569-2013, as amended, of the City of Toronto – Neglect of application by the City of Toronto
Existing Zoning:
“General Commercial CI” under Zoning By-law No. 7625, as amended, of the former City of North York, and “Commercial Residential CR1.0 (c1.0; r1.0)SS3” under Zoning By-law No. 569-2013, as amended, of the City of Toronto
Proposed Zoning:
Site Specific (to be determined)
Purpose:
To permit the development of a 12-storey mixed-use residential building with 206 dwelling units
Property Address/Description:
630-686 Finch Avenue East
Municipality:
City of Toronto
Municipal File No.:
20 188104 NNY 17 OZ
OLT Case No.:
OLT-21-001318
OLT File No.:
OLT-21-001318
OLT Case Name:
2715649 Ontario Inc. v. Toronto (City)
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 114(15) of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 11, Sched. A
Subject:
Site Plan
Referred by:
2715649 Ontario Inc.
Property Address/Description:
630-686 Finch Avenue East
Municipality:
City of Toronto
OLT Case No.:
OLT-21-001318
OLT File No.:
OLT-21-001319
Heard:
March 28, 2022 by video hearing
APPEARANCES:
Parties
Counsel
2715649 Ontario Ltd. (“Applicant/Appellant”)
Jason Park Adrian Frank
City of Toronto (“City”) Yi Zhou Michael Lancefield
Kasia Czajkowski Self-represented Self-represented
MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED BY T.F. NG ON MARCH 28, 2022 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL
INTRODUCTION
1This is the first Case Management Conference (“CMC”) for these appeals held as a video hearing.
22715649 Ontario Ltd. (“the Applicant”) owner of lands municipally known as 630-686 Finch Avenue East (“subject lands”) applied for Zoning By-law amendment to the City of Toronto (“the City”) which the City failed to make a decision within the statutory time frame. The Applicant made site plans application to permit the development of a 12-storey mixed-use residential building with 206 dwelling units, which the City also failed to approve within the statutory time frame.
3Since filing the appeals, the Appellant and the City have achieved a settlement and the City now supports the proposed development. Nevertheless, the proposal is opposed by a number of residents in the neighbourhood, from the time of public meetings and the several Applicant initiated meetings with the community. The present settlement proposal is similarly opposed.
4The Affidavit of Service and Notice of CMC is on the Tribunal’s file and now marked as Exhibit 1.
PARTY/PARTICIPANT STATUS
5There were two party status requests and twenty six (26) participant status requests made on the Tribunal file. The Applicant and the City have no objections to party status being granted to Yi Zhou and Michael Lancefield, which the Tribunal granted. All 26 participants requests were also granted without objections. The Tribunal reminded the new parties of their obligations with respect to full participation in the hearing process in accordance with the Tribunal’s Rules, to which they acknowledged.
MEDIATION
6Counsel concur that there were discussions and negotiations but did not get results from the parties who were just granted status. Counsel’s respective clients have no plans for a Tribunal led mediation at this point. Counsel also reiterated that the Applicant and the City have resolved matters which would have resulted in a s. 37 Agreement relating to the development.
DRAFT ISSUES LIST AND DRAFT PROCEDURAL ORDER
7Counsel for the Applicant, Mr. Park, referred to the Draft Procedural Order and the Draft Issues List that were filed with the Tribunal. There was a list filed by the new parties granted status, to which the Applicant had extracted issues, as an alternative list. This alternative list, was, after much discussions by the parties, directed by the Tribunal to be attached as the Issues List in the Procedural Order, without the conditional notes, since the new parties have confirmed that they will engage experts with respect to those stated issues. The new parties undertake to call a common set of experts (expected to be four) and will jointly present their case. The Applicant expects to call six experts.
8The parties requested that a 7-day hearing be scheduled, since if the matter goes for hearing, there will be a total of about ten expert witnesses. All parties are aware that a hearing will likely be fixed in 2023, given the Tribunal’s tight schedule.
9After much back and forth on the practicalities of appointment and engagement of expert witnesses, the Tribunal will fix a 7-day hearing for the appeals and a CMC for the parties to report on any settlement efforts (if any) and the status of respective appeals.
10Parties are directed to forward the Procedural Order with all timelines filled in together with the list of issues which shall be provided to the Case Coordinator on or before Monday, April 11, 2022.
HEARING DETAILS
11A one-day CMC hearing will commence on Monday, January 9, 2023 at 10 a.m. by video hearing:
GoTo Meeting: https://meet.goto.com/519389173
Audio-only telephone line: Toll Free 1-888-299-1889 or +1 (647) 497-9373
Access Code: 519-389-173
12A seven-day Hearing will commence at 10 a.m. on Monday, March 20, 2023 to Tuesday March 28, 2023 by video hearing:
GoTo Meeting: https://meet.goto.com/519389173
Audio-only telephone line: Toll Free 1-888-299-1889 or +1 (647) 497-9373
Access Code: 519-389-173
13Parties and participants are asked to log into the video hearing at least 15 minutes before the start of the event to test their video and audio connections:
14Parties and participants are asked to access and set up the application well in advance of the event to avoid unnecessary delay. The desktop application can be downloaded at GoToMeeting or a web application is available: https://app.gotomeeting.com/home.html.
15Persons who experience technical difficulties accessing the GoToMeeting application or who only wish to listen to the event can connect to the events by calling into the audio-only telephone line with the Access Code(s) indicated above.
16Individuals are directed to connect to the events on the assigned dates at the correct time. It is the responsibility of the persons participating in the video hearings to ensure that they are properly connected to the events at the correct time. Questions prior to the hearing events may be directed to the Tribunal’s Case Coordinator having carriage of this case.
ORDER
17The Tribunal orders as follows:
a. The CMC is scheduled to proceed by video on Monday, January 9, 2023 at 10 a.m.
b. The Hearing is scheduled for seven days by video from Monday, March 20, 2023 to Tuesday, March 28, 2023.
c. The parties shall provide the Procedural Order to the Case Coordinator on or before Monday, April 11, 2022.
d. The Procedural Order shall govern the proceedings.
18There will be no further notice.
19The Member is not seized.
20The Tribunal so orders.
“T.F. Ng”
T.F. ng
MEMBER
Ontario Land Tribunal
Website: www.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.