Ontario Land Tribunal
Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire
ISSUE DATE: January 13, 2023
CASE NO(S).: OLT-22-001937 (Formerly PL170782)
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 34(11) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Applicant and Appellant: 2147925 Ontario Inc.
Subject: Application to amend Zoning By-law No. 74-51 – Refusal or neglect of Town of Halton Hills to make a decision
Existing Zoning: Rural (RU) Zone
Proposed Zoning: Site Specific – General Residential RG Special (RG-1) Zone and Recreation (OS1) Zone.
Purpose: To permit the development of a 32 lot single detached residential subdivision
Property Address/Description: W ½ 21, Concession 9
Municipality: Town of Halton Hills
Municipality File No.: D14ZBA09.006
OLT Case No.: OLT-22-001937
Legacy Case No.: PL170782
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-22-001937
Legacy Lead Case No.: PL170782
OLT Case Name: 2147925 Ontario Inc. v. Halton Hills (Town)
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 51(34) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Applicant and Appellant: 2147925 Ontario Inc.
Subject: Proposed Plan of Subdivision – Failure of the Town of Halton Hills to make a decision
Purpose: To permit the development of a 32 lot single detached residential subdivision
Property Address/Description: W ½ 21, Concession 9
Municipality: Town of Halton Hills
Municipality File No.: D12SUB09.001
OLT Case No.: OLT-22-001954
Legacy Case No.: PL170783
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-22-001937
Legacy Lead Case No.: PL170782
Heard: January 12, 2023 by Telephone Conference Call
APPEARANCES:
Parties Counsel/Representative*
2147925 Ontario Inc. (“Applicant”) John Alati Andy Margaritis
Town of Halton Hills (“Town”) Jeffrey Wilker Al Burton
Regional Municipality of Halton (“Region”) Jeffrey Wilker Al Burton
Hamlet of Glen Williams Residents Association Inc. (the “Association”) Donald J. Robinson*
MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED BY DAVID L. LANTHIER ON JANUARY 12, 2023 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL
1This third Case Management Conference (“CMC”) was scheduled at the last CMC held on March 1, 2022, when the hearing dates and Procedural Order were set in place. This CMC was for the purposes of considering a first draft of a Hearing Plan and addressing any other case and hearing management matters that might arise for the upcoming 13-day Video Hearing to commence on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.
2The preliminary draft Hearing Plan was received prior to the CMC. The Tribunal was also copied on various email communications between the Parties in relation to various matters to be addressed at the CMC.
AMENDMENTS TO PRE-HEARING FILING DATES
3The Tribunal received the request for the agreed-upon amendment of certain pre-hearing filing deadlines as set out in the Procedural Order governing the proceedings. This is due primarily to the ongoing discussions and exchange of materials and information between the Parties in relation to the proposed development, which will be the subject matter of the hearing.
4The following amended dates will govern but in the event counsel, as between themselves, consent to the further amendment of any remaining pre-hearing filing deadlines, they may be confirmed in writing between them without the necessity of further approval by the Tribunal. The deadline for the filing of the Joint Document Book will, however, remain in place unless approved by the Tribunal.
DATE EVENT
January 19, 2023 Experts Agreed Statement of Facts
January 26, 2023 Exchange of Expert Witness Statements, Witness Statements, summoned witness outlines, Expert Reports and Participant Statements
January 30, 2023 Final Work Plan filed with the Tribunal
February 7, 2023 Exchange of Reply Witness Statements (if any)
February 9, 2023 Exchange of visual evidence (if any)
February 14, 2023 Finalize Joint Document Book
ADJOURNMENT REQUEST
5In the course of submissions, the Region and the Town requested an adjournment of the hearing to a date two months later. The basis for the request was: the timing of final pre-hearing exchange of documentation and information; issues arising from changes to the proposed development requiring the attention of the experts and the Parties; and the interest of the Town and Region to explore mediation. The Applicant objected to the request for the adjournment.
6The request for the adjournment is denied. The Applicant is not agreeable to postponing the hearing for mediation at this point. This hearing was scheduled over ten months ago, and the usual “eleventh-hour” flurry of exchanged material and information prior to the imminent hearing and the expected final focus upon the issues and hearing preparation is not sufficient reason to adjourn the hearing. The Applicant is of the view that the Town and the Region are conflating and overly-complicating the current status of the proposed development. The Tribunal would not, in any event, be able to accommodate the rescheduling of this 13-day hearing only two months later, on the calendar.
7If the Region and the Town wish to adjourn the hearing, they will have to bring a Motion with sufficient or other information to support such a significant request, at this point in time.
8Ensuring that the Association receives the benefit of receiving all distributed documentation and communications in a timely manner, the Parties may continue ongoing discussions with a view to resolving issues in dispute. If there are any further developments which result in a reduction in the issues or the required number of hearing dates, this can be addressed in the final revised draft of the Hearing Plan and the Tribunal may be spoken to.
ADDENDUM – HEARING ORGANIZATION
9Appended to this CMC Decision as Attachment 1, is an Addendum of Hearing Organizational Directives to assist the Tribunal and the Parties in the conduct of the hearing.
10The Tribunal so orders and provides these CMC directives for the purposes of the case management of this Appeal.
“David L. Lanthier”
DAVID L. LANTHIER VICE-CHAIR
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.
ATTACHMENT 1
ADDENDUM OF HEARING ORGANIZATIONAL DIRECTIVES
To assist in the efficient and effective conduct of the scheduled Video Hearing, the following directions, guidance and reminders are provided to the Parties, witnesses, observers and Participants (if applicable):
The Panel will be accessing and viewing the electronic PDF version of documents and exhibits filed during the hearing. As the multiple PDF documents for use in the hearing are anticipated to be sizeable, with many pages containing multiple pagination references, or no sequential pagination, counsel and witnesses are directed to utilize a consistent referencing to documents during the hearing. Although counsel or witnesses may be referring to hard copies of documents in a Joint Document Book, Visuals or other exhibits, the Panel will require all references to page numbers within the electronic document. When guiding the Panel to documents during the hearing, reference should accordingly be made to the PDF page reference (e.g. “Page 224 of 441 of Volume 2 of the Joint Document Book, Tab 59”). Sufficient time should be allowed for the Panel to locate and acknowledge access to each document referenced in testimony or submission/argument.
Anticipating that the collective volume of data of PDF documentation in the Joint Document Book or an exhibit may be sizeable, the Parties should consider dividing PDF documents into smaller sized documents as necessary while still retaining the benefit of organized compendiums of multiple documents.
File names for all PDF or Word Documents should be reduced to minimal length and basic reference wording to avoid difficulties in accessing and copying document files within the directories utilized by the Tribunal.
Requests can be made to the Panel during the hearing to permit a witness or counsel to be made a Presenter, allowing for screen-sharing of documents contained in the Joint Document Book or added Exhibits. Please note that although documents may be on screen for reference during examination of a witness, the Panel may concurrently view the Exhibit document on a separate screen for easier viewing.
All counsel and witnesses are urged to begin logging in to the GoToMeeting hearing platform not later than 9:45 a.m. each day in order to ensure that there is sufficient time for sound and video checks, and to assist with the correct identification of all attendees in the hearing. Before the start of the hearing each day, the assistance of counsel/Parties is/are requested to pre-test their audio and video amongst themselves, as well as their respective witnesses who will be testifying that day. The Video Hearing room may be locked until approximately 20 minutes before the start of the hearing each day.
Cameras on witnesses and counsel should be: positioned for focused portrait-style views of all persons; located not more than four or five feet from the camera to ensure clarity of headshot view; and properly positioned and illuminated to avoid back lighting and provide clear focus upon persons speaking. Audio for all attendees should be set to a moderate level. Extraneous background noise should be minimized/eliminated and all programs on an attendee’s computers used for the hearing which utilize any type of audio notification should be closed, or the notifications disabled during the hearing to avoid interruptions.
All observers to the hearing, including witnesses who are not testifying, should turn their microphones and cameras off in order to avoid audio interference and minimize band-width. The hearing event is not ordinarily locked after the hearing commences to enable persons to re-enter the hearing in the event of technical difficulties.
Counsel should be aware, and should advise all witnesses, that cameras and microphones are to be turned off during all daily breaks in the hearing. A failure to turn off microphones during breaks may result in discussions being audible to the Panel and observers to the hearing.
Counsel are requested to remind all witnesses who choose to be sworn, rather than affirmed, to have a bible available for the administration of the oath. In the event the use of an interpreter will be required for any witness, the Tribunal is to be advised the day prior to the attendance of that witness.