Ontario Land Tribunal

Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire

ISSUE DATE: June 21, 2022

CASE NO(S).: OLT-21-001751

PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 34(11) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended

Applicant and Appellant: 1150 Centre Street GP Inc.

Subject: Application to amend Zoning By-law No. 1-88 - Refusal or neglect of the City of Vaughan to make a decision

Existing Zoning: C1 Restricted Commercial Zone

Proposed Zoning: RA3 Apartment Residential Zone

Purpose: To permit the development of a 12-storey mixed use building

Property Address/Description: 1150 Centre Street

Municipality: City of Vaughan

Municipality File No.: Z.21.028

OLT Case No.: OLT-21-001751

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-21-001751

OLT Case Name: 1150 Centre Street GP Inc. v. Vaughan (City)

Heard: June 10, 2022, by video hearing

APPEARANCES:

Parties 1150 Centre Street GP Inc. City of Vaughan

Counsel Christopher Tanzola Effie Lidakis

DECISION DELIVERED BY D. CHIPMAN AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL

1This was the first Case Management Conference (“CMC”) with respect to an appeal under s. 34(11) of the Planning Act (“Act”) brought by 1150 Centre Street GP Inc. (“Applicant/Appellant”) against the failure of the City of Vaughan (“City”) to make a decision within the prescribed statutory timeline.

2The subject property is municipally known as 1150 Centre Street, in the City of Vaughan and is located on the northeast corner of Centre Street and Vaughan Boulevard.

3The Applicant is proposing a Zoning By-law Amendment to rezone the subject lands from “C1 Restricted Commercial Zone” to “RA3 Apartment Residential Zone” with the site-specific exceptions to permit the development of a 12-storey mixed use building with 375 dwelling units and approximately 820 square meters of ground floor commercial/retail space, one 3-storey stacked back-to-back townhouse block containing 28 units, totaling a Floor Space Index of 4.18 times the area of the lot.

4The Tribunal received the Affidavit of Service dated May 25, 2021, which has been marked as Exhibit 1, confirming the Notice of this CMC was properly given.

PARTY/PARTICIPANT REQUESTS

5In accordance with the Act, the Tribunal received a written submission from Sarah Gersh requesting Participant Status.

6After consideration and without objection, Party Status was conferred to the following individuals:

a. Barry Crystal b. Brian Leibtog c. Brownridge Ratepayers Association d. Centre Street Properties Inc., Mark Flowers, counsel e. MCC Properties Corp., Christina Kapelos, counsel, Andrew Biggart, counsel (not in attendance) f. Yaroslav Zakrevsky

7Request for Party Status was not conferred to Rudy Bucciol as he was not in attendance at this CMC to speak to his request. Party Status was not granted to Adrian Schiller or David Schulman as their requests were withdrawn based on the Tribunal extending Party Status to the Brownridge Ratepayers Association.

8The Tribunal heard several common issues. Concerns relating to egress and access points to the subject lands, parking, shadow and overlook were a few of the concerns raised. Based on the diversity of the issues several of the Parties indicated to the Tribunal that they wished to provide their own case materials and expert witness to address their specific issues.

9The Tribunal reminded those wishing to present individual cases that in order to avoid duplication of materials and repetitive testimony, issues should be scoped, and discussions should take place prior to the next CMC focusing on how the hearing will proceed in the most expeditious manner.

MEDIATION AND SETTLEMENT

10The Parties indicated their awareness of the availability of Tribunal-assisted mediation and advised they would make a formal request for same at a later date, if necessary

NEXT HEARING EVENT

11Counsel to the Applicant requested a second CMC. The City concurred. Ms. Lidakis stated she required time to obtain direction from Council. With the addition of a number of Parties at this CMC, the Tribunal agreed that a second CMC would be warranted to ensure all issues are reviewed prior to the hearing of the merits.

12The Tribunal stressed the importance of ensuring that the next hearing event be productive, and, to that end, the Parties agreed to provide a draft Procedural Order and Issues List in advance of the second CMC.

13The Tribunal directs that the Parties work in a cooperative manner to identify the issues to be included in the draft Procedural Order which will be the basis for discussion at the next CMC.

14The Tribunal directs that the Parties submit their Issues List to Mr. Tanzola, counsel for the Applicant/Appellant, for inclusion in the draft Procedural Order which shall be submitted to the Case Coordinator, no later than 10 days prior to the date of the second CMC.

15A second CMC is scheduled for Monday, December 5, 2022, at 10a.m. by video conference. The Parties 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:

Go To Meeting: https://meet.goto.com/687587165

Audio-only telephone line: +1 (647) 497-9373 or (Toll-Free) 1(888) 299-1889

Access Code: 687-587-165

MERIT HEARING – MAY 1 TO MAY 12, 2023

16The Tribunal heard from the Applicant that in order to move this matter to a fair, just and expeditious resolution that a 10-day hearing of the merits should be scheduled to move this matter along. All Parties indicated they would be willing to set a hearing date based on the expected number of witnesses and issues each party has identified.

17The Tribunal in agreeing to schedule the 10-day hearing cautioned the Parties that it is the expectation of the Tribunal that fulsome discussions and the identification of witnesses should occur before the next CMC in order to assess whether the hearing of the merits should remain on the Tribunal schedule and to substantiate the number of days requested.

18The hearing of the merits of this matter will be held on Monday May 1, 2023, at 10a.m. by video conference. Parties 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:

Go To Meeting: https://meet.goto.com/442599157

Audio-only telephone line: +1 (647) 497-9391 or (Toll-Free) 1(888) 455-1389

Access Code: 442-599-157

19Parties 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

20Persons who experience technical difficulties accessing the GoToMeeting application or who only wish to listen to the event can connect to the event by calling into an audio-only telephone line provided above.

21Individuals are directed to connect to the event on the assigned date at the correct time. It is the responsibility of the persons participating in the hearing by video to ensure that they are properly connected to the event at the correct time. Questions prior to the hearing event may be directed to the Tribunal’s Case Coordinator having carriage of this case.

OTHER MATTERS

22The Tribunal inquired as to whether there were any other matters to be addressed which might assist in the fair, just and expeditious resolution of this matter. The Parties indicated there were none.

23There will be no further notice and this Member is not seized but may be available for case management, schedules permitting.

24It is so ordered.

“D. Chipman”

D. CHIPMAN

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.