Ontario Land Tribunal
Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire
ISSUE DATE: September 18, 2023
CASE NO(S).: OLT-23-000498
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 22(7) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Applicant/Appellant: Brock Road Duffins Forest Inc.
Subject: Request to amend the Official Plan – Refusal of request
Description: To permit a total of 372 residential units comprising of a 20 and 6-storey building connected by a 4-storey podium and townhouse units
Reference Number: OPA 20-001/P
Property Address: 2055 Brock Road
Municipality/UT: Pickering/Durham
OLT Case No.: OLT-23-000498
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-23-000498
OLT Case Name: Brock Road Duffins Forest Inc. v Pickering (City)
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 34(11) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Applicant/Appellant: Brock Road Duffins Forest Inc.
Subject: Application to amend the Zoning By-law – Refusal of application
Description: To permit a total of 372 residential units comprising of a 20 and 6-storey building connected by a 4-storey podium and townhouse units
Reference Number: A 05/20
Property Address: 2055 Brock Road
Municipality/UT: Pickering/Durham
OLT Case No.: OLT-23-000499
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-23-000498
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 51(34) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Applicant/Appellant: Brock Road Duffins Forest Inc.
Subject: Proposed Plan of Subdivision - Refusal by Approval Authority
Description: To permit a total of 372 residential units comprising of a 20 and 6-storey building connected by a 4-storey podium and townhouse units
Reference Number: SP-2020-01
Property Address: 2055 Brock Road
Municipality/UT: Pickering/Durham
OLT Case No.: OLT-23-000501
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-23-000498
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 41(12) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Applicant/Appellant: Brock Road Duffins Forest Inc.
Subject: Site Plan
Description: To permit a total of 372 residential units comprising of a 20 and 6-storey building connected by a 4-storey podium and townhouse units
Reference Number: S07/23
Property Address: 2055 Brock Road
Municipality/UT: Pickering/Durham
OLT Case No.: OLT-23-000613
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-23-000498
Heard: August 31, 2023 by Video Hearing
APPEARANCES:
| Parties | Counsel |
|---|---|
| Brock Road Duffins Park Inc. | L. Longo |
| City of Pickering | Q. Annibale J. Mark Joblin |
MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION delivered BY STEVEN T. MASTORAS ON AUGUST 31, 2023 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL
INTRODUCTION
1The matter before the Tribunal is a first Case Management Conference (“CMC”) for Appeals to an Official Plan Amendment (“OPA”), a Zoning By-law Amendment (“ZBA”), a Draft Plan of Subdivision (“DPS”), and a Site Plan Amendment (“SPA”) pursuant to Sections 22(7), 34(11), 51(39) and 41(12) of the Planning Act (“Act”), respectively (together the “Appeals”).
2The Appeals are the result of a decision by the City of Pickering (“City”), in the Region of Durham (“Region”), refusing approval of the Applications. The property address is known as 2055 Brock Road (“Subject Property”), now owned by Brock Road Duffins Park Inc. (“Appellant”).
3The Appellant is seeking approval to develop the Subject Property, consisting of a 20-storey building for a total of 328 units, 10 townhouse units and 34 back-to-back townhouse units totalling 372 residential units.
4The City Council decision was made on April 24, 2023, with an issuance date of May 29, 2023, denying the OPA, ZBA, and DPS, noting that the proposed density and scale is inappropriate for the location and will result in adverse impacts regarding increased traffic within the established neighbourhood immediately to the north and along Brock Road.
5The City's Planning staff report dated April 3, 2023, recommended approval of the proposed OPA, ZBA, and DPS applications increasing the residential density and supported the proposed design and built form. The associated SPA application was submitted to the City on March 13, 2023. The SPA Appeal was subsequently filed with the Tribunal on June 28, 2023, pursuant to s. 41(12) of the Act and has been administratively consolidated with the three Appeals previously referenced, under the lead case file OLT-23-000498.
6The Affidavit of Service for Notice of the CMC, sworn on August 2, 2023, was properly circulated by Natalie Hickey, and is marked as Exhibit 1.
PARTY AND PARTICIPANT STATUS REQUESTS
7There are a total of five (5) written Party Status Requests received from Maureen Schorn, Muhammad Naeem, Shafiq Patel, Syed Rasheed and Nur Zaman. These individuals expressed concern with a range of issues including but not limited to, traffic congestion, parking and related noise, incompatibility of the proposed density in relation to the neighbourhood, environmental impacts to adjacent valley lands, community safety and emergency services.
8The first four (4) persons who were seeking Party Status and were present at the Hearing, carefully assessed their requests for Party Status in accordance with Rule 8.1 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Practice and Procedures. Each of them determined that they preferred to change their Status requests at the hearing, and instead sought Participant Status with the Tribunal. There were no concerns or objections from either Counsel to these requested changes in Status, and the Tribunal conferred Participant Status on Maureen Schorn, Muhammad Naeem, Shafiq Patel and Syed Rasheed.
9The fifth written Party Status Request was received from Nur Zaman, expressing similar concerns as noted in paragraph [8] above. Nur Zaman did not appear at the Hearing and while the Tribunal could have simply rejected this Party Status Request, instead the Tribunal directed that Participant Status be conferred on Nur Zaman in absentia, noting there were no concerns or objections to this from either Counsel present.
10There are also a total of eleven (11) written Participant Status Requests, from area residents and interested persons. These written Participant Status Requests were submitted by the following interested persons and their comments and issues of concern were similar or identical to those noted in paragraph [8] above. Those that were present at the Hearing included the following names:
The Pickering Islamic Centre, as represented by its Chair, Karim Qureshi;
Nasir Gondal;
Shihab Zaman-Apu;
Ishtiaq Ahmed;
Rafia Tazeen; and
Those persons who were not present at the Hearing included:
MD Abu Faisal Abedin;
Rubana Chowdhury;
Attiya Naeem;
Zakir Siddiqui;
Rabia Ismail
Awais Mohammed
11Neither Counsel had any concerns or objections to these Participant Status requests and although a number of individuals were not able to appear in person, the Tribunal was satisfied that they had fulfilled their responsibilities to provide written requests for Participant Status. Therefore, all were conferred Participant Status by the Tribunal.
12There were no other Party or Participant Status requests received.
PROCEDURAL ORDER, ISSUES LIST AND HEARING DATE
13On consent, Counsel for the Appellant, submitted a draft Procedural Order (“PO”) and Issues List (“IL”) two days prior to the CMC, and the City submitted its additional draft IL the day of the Hearing. Both Parties agreed to scope issues further and committed to providing the Tribunal with a final PO/IL on or before December 15, 2023.
14There was also consent requesting a ten (10) day Hearing event to be scheduled at the discretion of the Tribunal in the Spring of 2024. Based on a careful review of the availability of Parties and their respective witnesses, the Tribunal has scheduled a Hearing by Video Conference to commence on Monday, April 29, 2024 at 10 a.m. to Friday May 10, 2024 for a total of ten (10) days.
15Parties 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.
16The hearing is scheduled to proceed by video as follows:
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/996288525
Access Code: 996-288-525
17Persons 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 1-888-455-1389 or +1 (647) 497-9391. The Access Code is as indicated above.
18Parties 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
19Individuals 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.
20The Parties also indicated that should the need arise for a second CMC, that they would notify the Case Coordinator in this respect.
21Finally, the Tribunal thanked the Parties, and all interested persons for their participation and cooperation, and encouraged the Parties to seek Tribunal assisted mediation, if mutually agreeable, to assist in expediting consideration of the matter.
ORDER
22THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS that Participant Status is conferred on:
Maureen Schorn,
Muhammad Naeem,
Shafiq Patel,
Syed Rasheed,
Nur Zaman,
Pickering Islamic Centre, as represented by Karim Qureshi (Chair),
Nasir Gondal,
Shihab Zaman-Apu,
Ishtiaq Ahmed,
Rafia Tazeen,
MD Abu Faisal Abedin,
Rubana Chowdhury,
Attiya Naeem,
Zakir Siddiqui,
Rabia Ismail, and
Awais Mohammed.
23THE TRIBUNAL FURTHER ORDERS that the Hearing is scheduled by Video Conference to commence on Monday, April 29, 2024 at 10 a.m. to Friday, May 10, 2024 for a total of ten (10) days.
24THE TRIBUNAL FURTHER ORDERS that the Parties shall provide the Tribunal with a final Procedural Order and Issues List on or before December 15, 2023 which will serve to guide the Hearing event.
25There will be no further notice provided.
26The Member is not seized but remains available should the need arise for some direction in the finalization of the Procedural Order and Issues List.
“Steven T. Mastoras”
STEVEN T. MASTORAS
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.