Ontario Land Tribunal
Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire
ISSUE DATE: March 26, 2025
CASE NO(S).: OLT-24-000706
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 34(19) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P. 13, as amended.
Appellant: 611428 Ontario Limited Appellant: Augustinian Fathers (Ontario) Inc. Appellant: B&D Love Inc. Appellant: William A. Harris Subject: Zoning By-law Description: To permit a new township-wide zoning by-law Reference Number: Z-2024-01; By-law 2024-028 Property Address: Countryside Areas Municipality/UT: King/York OLT Case No: OLT-24-000706 OLT Lead Case No: OLT-24-000706 OLT Case Name: Harris v. King (Township)
Heard: February 27, 2025 by Video Hearing
APPEARANCES:
Parties
Counsel
611428 Ontario Limited, B&D Love Inc. and William A. Harris
Austin Ray, Steven Ferri (in absentia)
Augustinian Fathers (Ontario) Inc.
Jenna Morley
Township of King Concerned Citizens of King Township and Save The Oak Ridges Moraine
Tom Halinski David Donnelly (in absentia)
MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED ON FEBRUARY 27, 2025 BY S. DEBOER AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL
INTRODUCTION
1The matter before the Tribunal was the third Case Management Conference (“CMC”) with respect to the appeals (“Appeals”) filed by 611428 Ontario limited, B&D Love Inc., William A. Harris, Augustinian Fathers (Ontario) Inc. (“AFOI”), against the passing of the Township of King’s Zoning By-law Amendment No. 2024-028 (“ZBA”) under s. 34(19) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P. 13, as amended (“Act”).
2The purpose of the Township-initiated ZBA is to enact “housekeeping changes” to the parent Countryside Zoning By-Law No. 2022-053 (“Countryside By-law”) by making corrections, clarifying provisions, and introducing new provisions to ensure conformity with the King Official Plan, and is applicable over 80 percent of the geographic area of the Township including the Hamlets of Ansnorveldt, Graham Sideroad, Kettleby, Laskay, Lloydtown, Pottageville and Snowball. The ZBA also applies to the Township’s agricultural areas, including prime agricultural areas and the Holland Marsh Specialty Crop Area, the Protected Countryside of the Greenbelt, portions of the Natural Core, Linkage and Countryside areas of the Oak Ridges Moraine, and the Nobleton Village Reserve.
3A link to the first CMC Decision, issued November 7, 2024, is provided here for further background context: OLT-24-000706-NOV-07-2024.docx.
4Mr. Halinski advised the Tribunal that minutes of settlement have been completed with 611428 Ontario Limited, William A. Harris and B&D Love Inc. These partial settlements have now scoped the Appeals to the lands that are owned by the Parties and two specific policies of the ZBA. These two policies are s. 3(e) and s. 16(c) of the ZBA. Mr. Halinski continued and stated that all of the Appeals are now similar in nature, and it was the request of the Parties that the Tribunal use its powers under s. 34(23.1) of the Act to allow the rest of the ZBA that is not under appeal to come into full force and effect immediately. The Tribunal agreed with the Parties that this would be appropriate and ruled that the Tribunal would use its powers under this s. 34(23.1) to approve the non-appealed portions of the ZBA and that these portions of the ZBA are in full force and effect as of the date of this Oral Decision. This partial approval of the ZBA is without prejudice to the remaining appeals, which are now limited to the lands owned by the Appellants and the aforementioned s. 3(e) and s. 16(c) of the ZBA. For further clarification, the site-specific lands which remain under appeal are 4670 18th Sideroad (which is owned by 611428 Ontario Limited), 1265 and 1405 19th Sideroad (which is owned by B&D Love Inc.), 12740 and 12745 Mill Road (which is owned by William Harris), as well as 13760 Keele Street (which is owned by Augustinian Fathers (Ontario) Inc.). Section 3(e) and s. 16(c) remain under appeal by the Appellants for the entire area that is subject to the ZBA.
5Mr. Halinski stated that the remaining items in the Appeals include items that largely resemble the Pompilio Appeal (OLT-23-000213), which is currently the subject of a review application (“Pompilio Review”) under s. 23 of the Ontario Land Tribunal Act. The Parties agreed that the Appeals in this matter should continue to be deferred until the Pompilio Review has been determined, as this determination may further scope the issues of the remaining Appeals. The Tribunal agreed with this, and the Tribunal ruled that a fourth CMC should be held once the Pompilio Review has been determined. Even though the Tribunal does not have a crystal ball as to when the Pompilio Review might be completed, the Tribunal ruled it would be prudent to allow another approximate 90 days for the Pompilio Review to be issued.
PARTY STATUS
6Mr. Donnelly did not appear before the Tribunal due to a conflict of another previously scheduled Tribunal matter. It was the recommendation of the attending Parties that Mr. Donnelly’s Party Status request made on behalf of his clients Concerned Citizens of King Township and Save The Oak Ridges Moraine be deferred to the fourth CMC. The Tribunal agreed with this recommendation and ruled that this Party Status request would be best dealt with at the next CMC.
7No other Party or Participant requests were made prior to, nor at, the CMC.
FOURTH CMC
8The Tribunal has scheduled a fourth CMC, to be held by Video Conference on Wednesday May 21, 2025, commencing at 10 a.m.
9Parties are asked to log in to the event at least 15 minutes before it begins to test their video and audio connections:
GoToMeeting: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/979388733
Access Code: 979-388-733
10Individuals 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 GoTo Meeting or a web application is available: https://app.gotomeeting.com/home.html.
11Individuals who experience technical difficulties accessing the GoToMeeting application or who only wish to listen to the event can connect to the event by calling in to an audio-only telephone line: (Toll-Free) 1 888-299-1889 or +1 (647) 497-9393. The access code is as indicated in paragraph 9 above.
12Individuals 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
13THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS THAT the Township of King’s Zoning By-law No. 2024-028 is now in full force and effect as per s. 34(23.1) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P. 13, as amended, except for the site-specific Appeals of the Parties and the Appeals of section 3(e) and section 16(c) of Zoning By-law No. 2024-028 by said Parties.
14THE TRIBUNAL FURTHER ORDERS THAT the approval of the non-appealed portions of the Township of King’s Zoning By-law 2024-028 shall be without prejudice, and shall not have the effect of limiting the rights of a remaining Party to seek to modify, delete or add to the unapproved sections of By-law 2024-028, or the jurisdiction of the Tribunal to consider modifications to the unapproved sections of By-law 2024-028, provided that the Parties shall be bound by the commitments made by them to scope their issues to a site-specific or area-specific basis.
15THE TRIBUNAL FURTHER ORDERS THAT the scoping of appeals to a specific site or area is without prejudice to the positions taken by the Parties to those appeals so that if those appeals proceed to a subsequent hearing or motion, either on their own or as may be consolidated with other site-specific appeals, no Party shall be permitted to take the position that the Tribunal ought not to approve site-specific or area-specific modifications to the affected sections of By-law 2024-028 on the basis that they deviate from or are inconsistent with such sections on a Township-wide basis (or as approved in respect of other lands which are subject to the same sections). However, this does not affect the Township’s right to assert that the approved sections should be applied to the specific sites or areas without modification on the basis that doing so is consistent with the Act, provincial policies, conform to provincial plans, and/or constitutes good planning.
16THE TRIBUNAL FURTHER ORDERS THAT a fourth Case Management Conference is scheduled as described above.
17The Member may be spoken to if procedural issues arise, subject to the Tribunal’s calendar.
“S. deBoer”
S. deBOER
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.