Ontario Land Tribunal
ISSUE DATE: January 12, 2024
CASE NO(S).: OLT-22-002465 (Formerly PL130592)
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 34(19) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Appellant(s): Multiple Appellants
Subject: By-law No. 569-2013
Municipality: City of Toronto
OLT Case No.: OLT-22-002465
Legacy Case No.: PL130592
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-22-002465
Legacy Lead Case No.: PL130592
OLT Case Name: Bahardoust v. Toronto (City)
Heard: November 6, 2023 by Video Hearing
APPEARANCES
| Parties | Counsel/Representative* |
|---|---|
| City of Toronto | Marc Hardiejowski Gabe Szobel Caroline Samuel |
| Atlantic Packaging Products Ltd., The | Jonathan Cheng |
| International Group Inc., Irving Tissue Corporation, and Canadian Propane Association | Calvin Lantz (in absentia) |
| RioCan Holdings Inc. | Matt Rutledge Joel Farber (in absentia) |
| Morguard Corporation, Suncor Energy Products, Torgan Management Inc., and Crown Realty II Limited Partnership | Mary Flynn-Guglietti |
| Morguard Investments Limited, 60 Bloor Equities Inc., and Revenue Properties Co. Ltd. | Eugenia Bashura (in absentia) Johanna Shapira (in absentia) |
| Samper Developments Ltd., Deltera Inc., Silvercore Inc., Minto Properties Inc., Ed Mirvish Enterprises Inc., 180 University Holding Inc., and Rogers Communications Inc. | Jamie Cole Cynthia MacDougall (in absentia) |
| D. Crupi | David White (in absentia) |
| The Governing Council of the Salvation Army and Christian Horizons | Max Reedijk Joseph Debono (in absentia) |
| Toronto Catholic District School Board, and Catholic Cemeteries & Funeral Services – Archdiocese of Toronto | Steven O’Melia Thomas Sanderson |
| Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation for the Diocese of Toronto in Canada, Triumphant Church of God in Canada, and Toronto Faith Coalition, Inc. | Thomas Sanderson Noah Gordon David Tang (in absentia) Jesse White (in absentia) |
| Greenhill Community Association | Linda Hong* |
| Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries | Stephen D’Agostino |
| Mondelez Canada Inc. | Mithea Murugesu |
| Toronto District School Board | Bruce Engell (in absentia) |
MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED BY C.I. MOLINARI and D.S. COLBOURNE ON November 6, 2023 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL
INTRODUCTION
1This Decision and Order arises from a Case Management Conference ("CMC") held on November 6, 2023, to provide the Tribunal with a further update on the remaining appeals to the City of Toronto ("City") comprehensive Zoning By-law No. 569-2013, on both a topic-specific basis and a site-specific basis, and to determine next steps following this CMC.
2An agenda containing brief updates on several appeals was provided by the City to the Tribunal in advance of the CMC.
STATUS UPDATES
Phases
3As determined in prior CMCs, the hearing in this matter has been divided into phases, although Mr. Szobel advised that the phasing is based on an old numbering system.
Phase 3 and 4 Appeals
4At the CMC held on June 20, 2023, the City advised the Tribunal that they had reached a settlement with the respective Parties related to the Phase 3 and 4 appeals, and on September 15, 2023, the Tribunal considered the Settlement Motion and approved the settlement of the Phase 3 and 4 appeals through a Written Hearing.
Phase 7 / Parking Regulations Appeals
5The City advised the Tribunal that the Phase 7 appeals pertain to parking regulations found at either Chapters 5, 10, 15, 30, 40, 50, 60, 200, 230, as well as the Section 200.15 regulations regarding accessible parking spaces, which was adopted by City Council as By-law No. 579-2017 (cumulatively "Parking Regulations"). The Parking Regulations appeals specifically found at Chapter 200, are commonly referred to by the Tribunal as the Phase 7 appeals, while the Parking Regulations found outside of Chapter 200 are not part of Phase 7.
6The City advised that some of the numerous Phase 7 appeals are impacted by the new City-wide parking standards by-law ("Parking By-law"), some of which are site-specific and others topic-specific, and as such, a number of the appeals are no longer necessary.
7In this respect, the City requested the various Phase 7 Appellants to provide status updates regarding their appeal(s) to the Parking Regulations and to indicate which site-specific and/or topic-specific appeals to the Parking Regulations can be withdrawn, and which require a further CMC to address outstanding issues germane to the Phase 7 appeals.
8Further, The City advised that it has received several responses from the various Appellants confirming that their appeals will be withdrawn. At a future date, the City will be advancing a motion for a written hearing to address the appeals which remain outstanding, to request the Tribunal to dismiss any appeals to which the City does not receive a response, and to consolidate all outstanding Parking Regulations appeals into the Phase 7 appeals.
9Depending on the responses received from the Phase 7 Appellants, the City may request a separate CMC for the Phase 7 appeals, or combine them with the next scheduled CMC. The City undertook to send a follow-up request to the various outstanding Phase 7 Appellants.
Topic-Specific Appeals
Cemeteries
10The City advised that some of the cemetery-related appeals are associated with standards specific to the cemetery use, while others relate to parking standards. Mr. Szobel indicated that the latter appeals will likely be resolved through the Parking By-law. He advised that the City and the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries ("MPGC") are continuing their resolution discussions. Mr. D’Agostino added that the MPGC issues have narrowed significantly, and although parking remains at issue, he is hopeful that the MPGC appeal can be resolved.
Multi-Tenant Housing
11Mr. Szobel advised that City Council adopted new multi-tenant housing By-laws 155-2023 and 156-2023, which resulted in the withdrawal of both Appellants (Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario regarding Appeal No. 35 and Rupert Community Residential Services of Toronto Inc. regarding Appeal No. 55). Further, no appeals were made to By-laws 155-2023 or 156-2023; therefore, the appeals related to multi-tenant housing are now fully resolved.
Places of Worship
12The City advised that there is some overlap between the places of worship appeals and the cemetery appeals with respect to parking standards. The City is awaiting confirmation from the relevant Appellants as to whether certain appeals can be withdrawn, although it was noted that there will likely need to be more discussions. Mr. Sanderson advised that he concurs with Mr. Szobel in this regard.
Propane Storage
13The City and the Canadian Propane Association ("CPA") continue to have ongoing discussions related to their appeals. Mr. Szobel advised that the City and CPA have exchanged draft regulations to resolve some, or all, of the appeals. Mr. Cheng advised that he concurs with Mr. Szobel in this regard.
School Boards
14Mr. Szobel advised that the discussions with the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Catholic District School Board ("School Boards") have progressed, and the City has circulated zoning by-law instruments ("Instruments"), on a without prejudice basis, to the School Boards with respect to what is referred to as the ‘Bucket 1 Sites’.
15Mr. Szobel explained that, with the large number of the School Boards’ sites involved, the City has divided them into categories, referred to as ‘Buckets’. The numerous Instruments related to the ‘Bucket 1 Sites’ will be forwarded to the Tribunal once the outstanding technical matters related to the Instruments are resolved. Mr. Szobel noted that the School Boards have yet to comment on the Instruments, but he was optimistic that the City and the School Boards will be able to implement a resolution to the ‘Bucket 1 Sites’.
16Mr. O’Melia advised that he concurs with Mr. Szobel in this regard and added that the respective planners of the City and the School Boards are in agreement with respect to the ‘Bucket 1 Sites’.
Site-Specific Appeals
Appeal No. 62 – 65-67 Shuter Street and 159-177 Queen Street East
17The City and the Appellant reached a resolution of this matter, and the Tribunal issued an Order approving the settlement on October 16, 2023.
Appeal No. 70 – 700 Lawrence Avenue West
18City staff and the Appellant, RioCan Holdings Inc., continue to be engaged in ongoing discussions regarding this appeal and the Parties are hopeful to have a resolution to the appeal. Mr. Rutledge advised that he concurs with Mr. Szobel in this regard.
Appeal No. 84 – Greenhill Community Association
19Ms. Hong advised the Tribunal that the Greenhill Community Association ("GCA") is seeking a hearing date for its appeal, and her requests of the City in that regard have remained unanswered.
20Mr. Szobel advised the Tribunal that the GCA appeal is related to a specific use on a specific industrial site, the owner of which is not involved, nor an appellant. ZBL 569 made no changes to the use permissions on the industrial site, which is the basis for the GCA appeal.
21Mr. Szobel suggested that, without an Issues List ("IL"), which the City has requested from GCA, and without a list of witnesses, a hearing date is premature.
22The Tribunal advised Ms. Hong that in order to advance a hearing of this matter, it is required for GCA to submit an IL and a list of witnesses to the City and the Tribunal.
Appeal No. 233 – 311-325 Bay Street
23The City and the Tribunal received correspondence from Counsel for the Appellant withdrawing Appeal No. 233.
Remaining Appeals
24The City noted in its agenda for the CMC that the City is reviewing the remaining site-specific appeals to determine if any can be resolved through the withdrawal of the appeals due to site-specific approvals or the issuance of building permits since the appeals were filed, and that, since the last CMC, one further site-specific appeal has been resolved in this regard.
OTHER MATTERS
25Further to the proposed resolution of some of the remaining appeals through the withdrawal of the appeals as noted above, Counsel for the City advised that, at a future date, the City will be advancing a motion for a hearing in writing, to dismiss all appeals that have not responded to the City’s requests to scope and/or identify issues for the purpose of scheduling a merit hearing.
26Mr. Szobel noted that there are a large number of ‘rights preservation appeals’ for site-specific properties, which remain under appeal yet have since had development applications approved and building permits issued, and hence, are on the list of Appellants in name only. The City is moving forward to put the Appellants on notice to either withdraw their appeals or the City will move to have the appeals dismissed.
NEXT CMC
27The City suggested that a further CMC be scheduled in May, 2024 to provide the Tribunal with additional updates and/or potential settlements. As such, the Tribunal has scheduled a subsequent CMC to be held via Video Hearing on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 10 a.m.
28Parties 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/687587165
Access code: 687-587-165
29Parties 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
30Persons 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: +1 (647) 497-9373 or (Toll Free): 1-888-299-1889. The access code is the same as the access code noted above.
31Individuals 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 Video Hearing 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
32THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS that a further CMC will be held by Video Hearing on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, commencing at 10 a.m.
33There will be no further notice.
34This Panel is not seized of this matter.
"C.I. Molinari"
C.I. MOLINARI
MEMBER
"D.S. Colbourne"
D.S. COLBOURNE
VICE CHAIR
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.