The Canada Life Assurance Company v. Toronto (City), 2023 CanLII 36278

Ontario Land Tribunal / Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire

ISSUE DATE: April 26, 2023

CASE NO(S).: OLT-22-004800

PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 22(7) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended

Applicant and Appellant: The Canada Life Assurance Company

Subject: Request to amend the Official Plan – Failure to adopt the requested amendment

Description: To permit Application to Amend the Official Plan to allow for the construction of a mixed-use building with the retention of the existing building

Reference Number: 22 166819 STE OZ and 22 200875 STE 10 SA

Property Address: 200 University Avenue

Municipality: City of Toronto

OLT Case No.: OLT-22-004800

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-22-004800

OLT Case Name: The Canada Life Assurance Company v. Toronto (City)

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

Applicant and Appellant: The Canada Life Assurance Company

Subject: Application to amend the Zoning By-law – Refusal or neglect to make a decision

Description: To permit the construction of a mixed-use building with the retention of the existing building

Reference Number: 22 166819 STE OZ and 22 200875 STE 10 SA

Property Address: 200 University Avenue

Municipality: City of Toronto

OLT Case No.: OLT-22-004801

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-22-004800

OLT Case Name: The Canada Life Assurance Company v. Toronto (City)

PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 114(15) of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 11, Sched A.

Applicant and Appellant: The Canada Life Assurance Company

Subject: Site plan

Description: To facilitate the construction of a mixed-use building with the retention of the existing building (16-storey) containing office uses and retail at street level and a 35-storey addition above

Reference Number: 22 166819 STE OZ and 22 200875 STE 10 SA

Property Address: 200 University Avenue

Municipality: City of Toronto

OLT Case No.: OLT-22-004802

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-22-004800

OLT Case Name: The Canada Life Assurance Company v. Toronto (City)

Heard: April 12, 2023 video hearing

APPEARANCES:

Parties	Counsel
The Canada Life Assurance Company and GWL Realty Advisors Inc.	J. Park, A. Frank (in absentia)
City of Toronto	M. Longo, U. Gautam

MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED BY STEVEN T. MASTORAS AND T.F. NG ON APRIL 12, 2023 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL

INTRODUCTION

1The matter is before the Tribunal as a Case Management Conference (“CMC”) in respect of appeals filed by The Canada Life Assurance Company and GWL Realty Advisors Inc. (together the “Appellants”) pursuant to s. 22(7), and s. 34(11) of the Planning Act and s.114(15) of the City of Toronto Act against the City of Toronto (the “City”) for failure to make a decision on applications for a Zoning by-law Amendment (“ZBA”), an Official Plan Amendment (“OPA”), and a Site Plan Approval respectively, (together the “Applications”).

2The property subject to these Applications is 200 University Avenue (“Subject Property”). The Appellants are seeking approvals to allow for the construction of a mixed-use building with the retention of the existing building (16-stories) containing office uses and retail at street level, which also includes the addition of a 35-storey building above, containing a total of 478 residential units.

3The Affidavit of Service for the hearing, sworn by Fredric N. Cheng on March 22, 2023, and properly circulated by the Appellants, is marked as Exhibit 1.

4Gary Lee, a neighbouring resident, submitted a written request for Participant Status with the matter, however, was not present at the CMC. Despite this, the Parties had no objection to this status request and the Tribunal confers Participant Status on Mr. Lee.

HEARING SCHEDULING, AND SECOND CMC REQUEST

5Mr. Park informed the Tribunal that the Appellants were seeking the scheduling of a hearing date in February 2024, for the duration of two weeks, and, in the absence of a draft Procedural Order and Issues List (“DPO”) at this CMC, that a second CMC be scheduled as well, in early August 2023, with the expectation that the DPO will be confirmed by the Parties in advance of the second CMC.

6Mr. Longo confirmed that the City was agreeable to this, however raised the timing of the issue of a pending Heritage Designation (“HD”) relating to the Subject Property, from the City, along with the need to seek approval on the DPO on the appeals by City Council. Mr. Longo also submitted that in both circumstances, the City Council should be able to deal with these issues on or before July 21, 2023.

7Mr. Longo also submitted that in light of a possible appeal that may follow a City decision on the HD by the Appellants, this may result in some additional delay which could also conceivably impact the timing of a hearing event for the HD appeal or the OPA/ZBA appeals and Mr. Longo deferred to the discretion of the Tribunal on this question.

8The Panel Members considered these issues carefully, and the Tribunal proceeded to schedule a second CMC for Wednesday August 2, 2023, to commence at 10 am by video hearing. The purpose of the CMC will be to consider a Draft Procedural Order and Issues List, its finalization; the status of discussions, as well as some clarification as to the question of the HD, following which the Tribunal may schedule a hearing date.

MEDIATION

9The parties have had ongoing discussions which will continue. Counsels currently have no instructions to undertake Tribunal led mediation.

CASE MANAGEMENT

10The second CMC is scheduled to proceed by video hearing on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, at 10 am.

11Parties 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:

GoTo Meeting: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/692665589

Access code: 692-665-589

12Parties 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

13Persons 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: (Toll Free) 1-888-299-1889 or +1 (647) 497-9373. The access code is 692-665-589.

14Individuals 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.

ORDER

15THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS that:

1. Participant Status is conferred on Gary Lee.
2. A Case Management Conference (CMC) is scheduled to proceed by video hearing on Wednesday August 2, 2023, at 10 am.
3. The Draft Procedural Order with the Issues List is to be forwarded to the Case Coordinator at least seven days before the CMC.

16No further notice of these proceedings will be provided.

17The Panel is not seized of this matter.

“Steven T. Mastoras”

STEVEN T. MASTORAS

MEMBER

“T.F. Ng”

T.F. NG

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.