Concen Development Limited v. Vaughan (City), 2024 CanLII 97539

ISSUE DATE: October 4, 2024

CASE NO(S).: OLT-23-000924

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

Applicant and Appellant: Concen Development Limited

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

Description: To permit the development of two 12-storey mixed-use residential buildings consisting of 700 dwelling units, 1,080 square metres of ground floor commercial space fronting on to Centre Street, a 1,205 square metre Privately Owned Public Space (POPS) and a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 4.08 times the area of the lot

Reference Number: OP.22.023

Property Address: 1260, 1272, 1282, 1294, 1304 and 1314 Centre Street

Municipality/UT: City of Vaughan

OLT Case No.: OLT-23-000924

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-23-000924

OLT Case Name: Concern Development Limited v. Vaughan (City)

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

Applicant/Appellant: Concen Development Limited

Subject: Application to amend the Zoning By-law – Neglect to make a decision

Description: To permit the development of a two 12-storey mixed-use residential buildings consisting of 700 dwelling units, 1,080 square metres of ground floor commercial space fronting on to Centre Street, a 1,205 square metre Privately Owned Public Space (POP) and a Floor Space Index (FSI) of 4.08 times the area of the lot

Reference Number: Z.22.045

Property Address: 1260, 1272, 1282, 1294, 1304 and 1314 Centre Street

Municipality/UT: City of Vaughan

OLT Case No.: OLT-23-000925

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-23-000924

PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 41(12) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P. 13, as amended

Referred by: Concen Development Limited

Subject: Site Plan

Reference Number: DA.22.077

Property Address: 1260, 1272, 1282, 1294, 1304 and 1314 Centre Street

Municipality/UT: City of Vaughan

OLT Case No.: OLT-23-000926

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-23-000924

Heard: September 20, 2024 by Video Hearing

Parties and Counsel/Representative*

Concen Development Limited Rodney Gill

City of Vaughan Raj Kehar Zaynab Al-Waadh.

Protect Thornhill Ajay Kapur*

Robert Burko Self-represented

MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED BY MICHAEL MEnezes and Hugh S. Wilkins ON September 20, 2024 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL

BACKGROUND

1This is the fourth Case Management Conference (‘CMC”) for appeals filed by Concen Development Limited (“Applicant” or “Appellant”) regarding the failure of the Council of the City of Vaughan (“City”) to make a decision within the timeframe prescribed in the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, on applications for an Official Plan Amendment (“OPA”), Zoning By-law Amendment (“ZBA”) and a Site Plan Approval concerning 1260, 1272, 1282, 1294, 1304, 1314 Centre Street (the “Subject Site”).

2The Appellant proposes to redevelop the Subject Site with a mixed-use project, including two 12-storey residential buildings with step backs (reducing in height from south to east), 700 dwelling units, 1,080 square metres (“m²”) of ground-floor commercial space fronting Centre Street, 1,205 m² of privately owned public space (“POPS”), a floor space index of 4.08 times the area of the Subject Site, 562 vehicle parking spaces, and 733 bicycle spaces.

3The first three CMCs dealt with requests for Party and Participant status from the neighbourhood community and the preparation of al Draft Procedural Order (“DPO”) and Issues List (“IL”). A 12-day Merit Hearing was scheduled for January 28, 2025.

4No DPO and IL was submitted to the Tribunal for this CMC.

STATUS UPDATE

5Mr. Gill, Counsel for the Appellant, updated the Tribunal, confirming that the Appellant had been engaged in constructive discussions with the City and is now working with its consultants to address the City’s feedback. A revised development application, including updated architect drawings and the studies, will be resubmitted to the City and other Parties by October 4, 2024. Review and discussions with the Parties should take several weeks, after which he is hopeful to resolve or narrow down the issues significantly.

6Mr. Kehar, Counsel for the City, confirmed the update. City staff will review the full resubmissions and make their recommendations to City Council for their November or December meeting. The City’s updated IL will be ready by early January 2025.

7Mr. Kapur, representing Protect Thornhill, noted that although they had submitted their Issues List earlier, he was disappointed that there had been no recent communication with the Appellant. However, he is hopeful that further discussions will address the community’s concerns, and that compromises will be made and lead to resolving or narrowing down the issues.

8Mr. Burko was supportive of delaying the timetable to give the Parties time to amicably resolve issues.

9Mr. Gill requested an adjournment of the 12-day Hearing of the Merits scheduled to commence on January 28, 2025 to allow time for the review of the resubmissions and for settlement discussions. He confirmed the DPO and IL would be ready by mid-January 2025 and requested a shorter seven-day Hearing of the Merits in March 2025. The Parties were supportive of this timetable.

10Mr. Gill indicated that Tribunal-assisted mediation is not necessary at this stage as discussions are progressing well and there is good faith amongst the Parties to find common ground.

DIRECTION AND NEXT STEPS

11The Tribunal noted that for the proposed timetable to hold, the Appellant should aim to complete the resubmission of the development proposal and share it with all Parties by October 4, 2024. Active communication amongst all the Parties is crucial to finalize the DPO and IL.

12A fifth CMC is scheduled for Thursday, January 30, 2025, with the DPO and IL to be submitted to the Case Coordinator on or before January 22, 2025.

13If a settlement is reached before this date, the Case Coordinator should be informed, and the CMC will be converted to a Settlement Hearing.

14The Tribunal is cancelling the 12-day Merit Hearing that was scheduled to start from January 28, 2025. If a Merit Hearing is required, it will be scheduled at the CMC on January 30, 2025

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:

GoTo Meeting: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/979388733

Access Code: 979-388-733

16Parties 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

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) 1-888-299-1889 or +1 (647) 497-9373. The access code is as indicated above.

18Individuals 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

19THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS that:

a Draft Procedural Order and Issues List be submitted to the Case Coordinator on or before Wednesday, January 22, 2025;
a fifth Case Management Conference is scheduled to commence on Thursday, January 30, 2025;
the 12-day Merit Hearing that was scheduled to start from January 28, 2025 is cancelled.

“Michael Menezes”

MICHAEL MENEZES MEMBER

“Hugh Wilkins”

HUGH WILKINS 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.