Ontario Land Tribunal
Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire
ISSUE DATE: April 10, 2025
CASE NO.: OLT-24-000837
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 17(24) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Appellant: 2856973 Ontario Inc.
Subject: Proposed Official Plan Amendment No. 727
Description: OPA 727 – Townhouses and small-scale apartment buildings
Reference Number: 24 122626 STE 10 OZ
Property Address: Specific lands within the boundaries of the Major Street Zoning By-law
Municipality/UT: City of Toronto
OLT Case No.: OLT-24-000837
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-24-000837
OLT Case Name: 2856973 Ontario Inc. v. Toronto
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 34(19) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Appellant: 2856973 Ontario Inc.
Subject: By-law 608-2024
Description: ZBA 608-2024 – Townhouses and small-scale apartment buildings
Reference Number: 20 175353 STE 10 TM
Property Address: Specific lands within the boundaries of the Major Street Zoning By-law
Municipality/UT: City of Toronto
OLT Case No.: OLT-24-000838
OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-24-000837
BEFORE:
Eric S. Crowe
Thursday, the 10th
MEMBER ERIC S. CROWE
day of April, 2025
PROCEDURAL ORDER
The Tribunal may vary or add to the directions in this procedural order at any time by an oral ruling or by another written order, either on the Parties’ request or its own motion.
Organization of the Hearing
The video hearing will begin on November 3, 2025 at 10:00 a.m.
The length of the hearing will be 5 days. The Parties are expected to cooperate to reduce the length of the hearing by eliminating redundant evidence and attempting to reach settlements on issues, where possible. The procedural order deadlines are generally found in Attachment 1.
The Parties and Participants identified at the Case Management Conference are listed in Attachment 2 to this Order.
The Issues are set out in the Issues List attached as Attachment 3. There will be no changes to this list unless the Tribunal permits, and a Party who asks for changes may have costs awarded against it.
The order of evidence shall be as set out in Attachment 4 to this Order. The Tribunal may limit the amount of time allocated for opening statements, evidence in chief (including the qualification of witnesses), cross-examination, evidence in reply and final argument. The length of written argument, if any, may be limited either on consent, subject to the Tribunal’s approval, or by Order of the Tribunal.
Any person intending to participate in the hearing shall provide a mailing address, email address and a telephone number to the Tribunal. Any such person who retains a representative must advise the other Parties and the Tribunal of the representative’s name, address, email address and the phone number.
If the hearing is to proceed electronically, any person who intends to participate in the hearing, including Parties, counsel and witnesses, is expected to review the Tribunal’s Video Hearing Guide, available on the Tribunal’s website (https://olt.gov.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/OLT-Video-Hearing-Guide.pdf ).
Requirements Before the Hearing
If one or more Appellant(s) wishes to propose any modification(s) to the portion(s) of the Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments that are under appeal, any such modification(s) shall be delivered to the Parties at least one hundred and twenty (120) calendar days before the hearing (on or before June 30, 2025). The Parties acknowledge that if a Party seeks approval for modifications, after that date, without the consent of the Parties, there may be grounds to request an adjournment of the hearing.
A party who intends to call witnesses, whether by summons or not, shall provide to the Tribunal, and the other Parties a list of the witnesses, curriculum vitae, and the order in which they will likely be called. This list must be delivered on or before (on or before July 16, 2025), [110 days before first day of the hearing]. For expert witnesses, a party is to include the area of expertise in which the witness is proposed to be qualified. Any challenges to the qualifications of a witness to give opinion evidence, in the area of expertise proposed, should be made by motion in accordance with the Tribunal’s Rules and notice of same must be served on the other Parties on or before (on or before July 31, 2025), [95 days before the hearing is scheduled to commence].
Expert witnesses in the same discipline(s) shall have at least one meeting ninety (90) days before the hearing (on or before August 5, 2025) to try to resolve or reduce the issues for the hearing. Following the experts’ meeting(s), the experts shall prepare a list of any agreed facts and the remaining issues to be addressed at the hearing, and provide this list to the Parties and the Tribunal at least 75 days prior to date the hearing (on or before August 20, 2025), if this meeting takes place and if agreement is reached.
An expert witness shall prepare an expert witness statement, which shall list any reports prepared by the expert, or any other reports or documents to be relied on at the hearing. Copies of this must be provided as in paragraph 15. Instead of a witness statement, the expert may file his or her entire report if it contains the required information. If this is not done, the Tribunal may refuse to hear the expert’s testimony. For greater certainty, each expert witness statement must comply with the minimum content requirements specified in the Tribunal’s Rules of Practice and Procedure. If the expert witness has prepared any report(s) that he/she intends to rely on at the hearing, and which did not form part of the submissions made to the City, such report(s) shall be provided to the Parties at the same time as the delivery of expert witness statements, as in paragraph 15.
Expert witnesses who are under summons but not paid to produce a report do not have to file an expert witness statement; but the party calling them must file a brief outline of the expert’s evidence as in paragraph 15. A party who intends to call a witness who is not an expert must file a brief outline of the witness’ evidence, as in paragraph 15.
At least sixty (60) days prior to the scheduled commencement of the hearing (on or before September 4, 2025), a Participant shall provide copies of their written participant statement to the Parties and to the Tribunal in accordance with paragraph 23. A Participant cannot present oral submissions at the hearing on the content of their written statement, unless ordered by the Tribunal.
At least sixty (60) days prior to the scheduled commencement of the hearing (on or before September 4, 2025), the Parties shall provide copies of their witness statements and expert witness statements to the other Parties and to the Tribunal, including an executed Acknowledgement of Expert’s Duty.
At least thirty (30) calendar days prior to the scheduled commencement of the hearing (on or before October 3, 2025), the Parties may provide to all other Parties and file with the Tribunal a written response to any written evidence.
At least thirty (30) calendar days prior to the scheduled commencement of the hearing (on or before October 3, 2025), the Parties shall provide copies of their visual evidence to all of the other Parties and the Tribunal. The Tribunal and all Parties shall be notified if a model will be used, in which case all Parties must have a reasonable opportunity to view it before the scheduled commencement of the hearing.
A person wishing to change written evidence, including witness statements, must make a written motion to the Tribunal in accordance with Rule 10 of the Tribunal’s Rules.
At least forty (40) calendar days prior to the scheduled commencement of the hearing (on or before September 24, 2025), the Parties shall advise the Tribunal of whether any hearings dates scheduled for this matter may be released from the Tribunal's calendar. This request may only be made on consent of all of the Parties. If no hearing dates are intended to be released from the Tribunal's calendar, no Party is required to advise the Tribunal anything further in that regard.
At least twenty (20) calendar days prior to the scheduled commencement of the hearing (on or before October 14, 2025), the Parties shall prepare and file a detailed Work Plan that identifies the following, at a minimum: the identified Parties participating in the Hearing Event, preliminary matters (if any to be addressed), the date a witness is intended to attend the Tribunal, the identified witness name/expertise, and the approximate time allotted for Examination in Chief, Cross Examination and any re-examination (if any) (the “Work Plan”). The Work Plan will be adhered to guide the Hearing Event to the best ability of all the Parties, and any and all witnesses shall be available on the identified date(s), unless otherwise directed by the Tribunal. The Tribunal may, at its discretion, change or alter the Work Plan throughout the Hearing Event.
At least twenty (20) calendar days prior to the scheduled commencement of the hearing (on or before October 14, 2025), the Parties shall cooperate to prepare a Joint Document Book and which one (1) hard copy will be filed with the Tribunal as soon as practicable in advance of the Hearing. All parties must be served with the Joint Document Book in paper or an accessible electronic format in accordance with paragraph 23.
A party who provides written evidence of a witness to the other Parties must have the witness attend the hearing to give oral evidence, unless the party notifies the Tribunal at least 7 days before the hearing that the written evidence is not part of their record.
All filing of documents and materials shall be electronic to the Tribunal, the Parties and Participants (if any). The Tribunal will be provided a hard copy of documents and materials in advance of the hearing event as soon as practicable. Electronic copies may be filed by email, an electronic file sharing service for documents that exceed 10MB in size, or as otherwise directed by the Tribunal. The delivery of documents by email shall be governed by the Rule 7. All documents to be filed with the Tribunal shall be organized, tabbed and digitally searchable and such materials will be filed in accordance with directions contained in the Tribunal’s Video Hearing Guide, dated July 2, 2020, or as may be amended. paragraph 23 applies regardless if the hearing event is in-person or electronic.
No adjournments or delays will be granted before or during the hearing except for serious hardship or illness. The Tribunal’s Rule 17 applies to such requests.
The Tribunal may conduct mediation on consent of all Parties, on consent of those Parties who wish to participate in mediation, or if the Tribunal sees fit.
The purpose of this Procedural Order and the meaning of the terms used in this Procedural Order are set out in Attachment 5.
This Member is [not] seized.
So orders the Tribunal.
BEFORE:
Name of Member
Date:
TRIBUNAL REGISTRAR
ATTACHMENT 1 SUMMARY OF DATES
DATE
EVENT
June 30, 2025
Last day to propose modifications
July 16, 2025
Exchange of witness lists (names, disciplines, CVs, and order to be called)
July 31, 2025
Last date to challenge identification of expert witness
August 5, 2025
Experts meeting prior to this date
August 20, 2025
Agreed Statement of Facts
September 4, 2025
Exchange of Witness Statements, summoned witness outlines, Expert Reports and Participant Statements
September 24, 2025
Parties to Advise Tribunal if any hearing dates are to be released from the hearing calendar (if any)
October 3, 2025
Exchange of Reply Witness Statements (if any)
October 3, 2025
Exchange of visual evidence (if any)
October 14, 2025
Final Work Plan filed with the Tribunal
October 14, 2025
Finalize Joint Document Book
November 3, 2025
Hearing commences
ATTACHMENT 2 LIST OF PARTIES AND PARTICIPANTS
PARTIES:
City of Toronto
City Solicitor’s Office 26th Floor, Metro Hall 55 John Street Toronto, Ontario M5V 3C6
Laura K. Bisset tel: 416.392.8782 email: laura.bisset@toronto.ca
Gabe Szobel tel: 416.338.1889 email: gabe.szobel@toronto.ca
2856973 Ontario Inc.
Bennett Jones LLP 3400 One First Canadian Place, P.O. Box 130 Toronto, ON M5X 1A4
Andrew Jeanrie tel: 416.777.4814 email: jeanriea@bennettjones.com
Stephanie Brazzell tel: 416.777.7819 email: brazzells@bennettjones.com
Amnon Fisch and Gabor Koltai
Loopstra Nixon LLP 130 Adelaide Street West Suite 2800 Toronto, ON M5H 3P5
Aaron Platt tel: 289.904.2370 email: aplatt@ln.law
Katryna Vergis-Mayo tel: 416.769.1264 email: kvergismayo@ln.law
KMK Trading Company Limited
Amber Stewart Law 62 Sunvale Drive Toronto, ON M9R 1Z3
Amber Stewart tel: 416.436.8355 email: amber@amberstewartlaw.com
1000632814 Ontario Limited
Goodmans LLP Bay Adelaide Centre 333 Bay Street, Suite 3400 Toronto, ON M5H 2S7
David Bronskill tel: 416.597.4299 email: dbronskill@goodmans.ca
3925 BWW Inc., 3927 BSW Inc., 4668 DW Inc. and 4670 DW Inc.
Goodmans LLP Bay Adelaide Centre 333 Bay Street, Suite 3400 Toronto, ON M5H 2S7
Joe Hoffman tel: 416.597.5168 email: jhoffman@goodmans.ca
Ramon Virk tel: 416.264.3282 email: rray1514@yahoo.com
PARTICIPANTS
Craig Race tel: 647.823.6877 email: craig@craigrace.com
Junction Heritage Conservation District Board Marilyn Miller tel: 647.519.1872 email: marilynmiller789@gmail.com email: JunctionHCD24@gmail.com
ATTACHMENT 3 ISSUES LIST
NOTE: The identification of an issue on the Issues List is intended to provide notice to all parties that a party will lead evidence and/or argument on the matter. This identification does not serve as an acknowledgment of relevancy or jurisdiction of the Tribunal on such matters; merely notice that a party may seek to establish the issue’s relevancy. The identification of a change to the Issues List does not constitute an admission by the opposing party that the revised issue is relevant, it is only an indication that the identifying party will seek to demonstrate the relevance of the revised issue to the matters before the Tribunal.
Consistency With the Provincial Planning Statement (2024)
Are the Major Streets Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment 608-2024 (hereinafter the “Major Streets Instruments”) consistent with the Provincial Planning Statement (2024), including but not limited to matters relating to encouraging an increase in the mix and supply of housing:
o Policy 2.2 1. b)
o Policy 2.2 1. c)
o Policy 2.2 1. d)
o Policy 2.3.1.2
o Policy 2.3.1.3
o Policy 2.4.1.2
o Policy 2.4.1.3
City of Toronto Official Plan Amendments
Do the Major Streets Instruments expand housing options in the “Neighbourhoods” designation in the most efficient and effective manner reasonably possible? If not, how could they be improved?
Do the Major Streets Instruments appropriately recognize that major streets can support opportunities for additional as of right height and density along the boundaries of the neighbourhoods?
Do proposed policies 4.1.12(c), (f) and (i) and 4.1.13(b) and (c) stifle the level of intensification contemplated by the goals of the Major Streets Instruments?
Is it counterproductive to require the City’s desired intensification to “meet” the criteria set out in Sections 4.1.12(c) and (f) and 4.1.13(b) and (c)?
Do the Major Streets Instruments create unnecessary obstacles to intensification by only allowing “minor variances to setbacks if it is demonstrated to be necessary to accommodate tree preservation”? Should other performance standards, in addition to setbacks, be considered to address additional obstacles to intensification through minor variances? Should factors other than tree preservation also be taken into account when evaluating such minor variances?
City of Toronto Zoning By-law Amendments
Is it necessary to set specifically defined building lengths if other performance standards are met and the lot can accommodate more building length for townhouses in the RT Zones and for Apartment Buildings?
What is the justification to have as onerous performance standards for a three-storey apartment building in comparison to a six storey apartment building?
Is it appropriate to tie front yard setbacks of apartment buildings to lot depth? What should the appropriate front yard setbacks be?
Are the proposed minimum side yard setbacks for apartment buildings, including the increased side yard setbacks for walls with primary windows not facing a street, appropriate? Do the proposed setback requirements unnecessarily inhibit the construction of apartment buildings, particularly on narrower lots?
Is it counterproductive to achieving the City’s desired intensification targets by limiting townhouses in the RT Zone and apartment buildings to 50 percent lot coverage?
Is it necessary to limit the height of townhouses to 13.0 metres and apartment buildings 19.0 metres (and six stories)?
Is it appropriate to increase the side yard setback of an apartment building where it exceeds 25m in length?
Are the distances between residential buildings on the same lot appropriate?
General
Do the Major Streets Instruments, as currently drafted, represent good planning?
ATTACHMENT 4 PROPOSED ORDER OF EVIDENCE
Parties Opposed to Appeal (in chief)
City of Toronto
Amnon Fisch and Gabor Koltai
1000632814 Ontario Limited
3925 BWW Inc., 3927 BSW Inc., 4668 DW Inc. and 4670 DW Inc.
Ramon Virk
Parties in Support of Appeal (in chief)
2856973 Ontario Inc.
KMK Trading Company Limited
Reply
City of Toronto (if any)
ATTACHMENT 5 Purpose of the Procedural Order and Meaning of Terms
Party is an individual or corporation permitted by the Tribunal to participate fully in the hearing by receiving copies of written evidence, presenting witnesses, cross-examining the witnesses of the other parties, and making submissions on all of the evidence. If an unincorporated group wishes to become a party, it must appoint one person to speak for it, and that person must accept the other responsibilities of a party as set out in the Order. Parties do not have to be represented by a lawyer, and may have an agent speak for them. The agent must have written authorization from the party.
NOTE that a person who wishes to become a party before or at the hearing, and who did not request this at the Case Management Conference, must ask the Tribunal to permit this.
Participant is an individual, group or corporation, whether represented by a lawyer or not, who may attend only part of the proceeding but who makes a written statement to the Tribunal on all or some of the issues in the hearing in accordance with Rule 7.7 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Practice and Procedure.
NOTE that such persons will likely not receive notice of a mediation or conference calls on procedural issues. They also cannot ask for costs, or review of a decision as parties can.
Written and Visual Evidence:
Written evidence includes all written material, reports, studies, documents, letters and witness statements which a party intends to present as evidence at the hearing. These must have pages numbered consecutively throughout the entire document, even if there are tabs or dividers in the material.
Visual evidence includes photographs, maps, videos, models, and overlays which a party intends to present as evidence at the hearing.
Witness Statements:
A witness statement is a short written outline of the person’s background, experience and interest in the matter; a list of the issues which the witness will discuss and the witness’ opinions on those issues; and a list of reports that the witness will rely on at the hearing.
An expert witness statement should include the expert’s (1) name and address, (2) qualifications, (3) a list of the issues he or she will address, (4) the witness’ opinions on those issues and the complete reasons for the opinions and (5) a list of reports that the witness will rely on at the hearing.
A participant statement is a short written outline of the person’s or group’s background, experience and interest in the matter; a list of the issues which the participant will address and a short outline of the evidence on those issues; and a list of reports, relied upon, if any, which the participant will provide to the Tribunal for consideration of the written statement at the hearing.
Additional Information:
Summons: A party must ask a Tribunal Member or the senior staff of the Tribunal to issue a summons. This request must be made before the time that the list of witnesses is provided to the Tribunal and the parties (see Rule 13 on the summons procedure). If the Tribunal requests it, an affidavit must be provided indicating how the witness’ evidence is relevant to the hearing. If the Tribunal is not satisfied from the affidavit, it will require that a motion be heard to decide whether the witness should be summoned.
The order of examination of witnesses: is usually direct examination, cross-examination and re-examination in the following way:
- direct examination by the party presenting the witness;
- direct examination by any party of similar interest, in the manner determined by the Tribunal;
- cross-examination by parties of opposite interest;
- re-examination by the party presenting the witness; or
- another order of examination mutually agreed among the parties or directed by the Tribunal.
THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS that March 12, 2025 the Procedural Order, as agreed to between the Parties and attached hereto as Schedule “A”, shall be in force and effect for the purpose of governing the required procedures leading up to and including the hearing, which is scheduled to commence on November 3rd, 2025. The Tribunal has set aside 5 day3 for the hearing.
“Euken Lui”
EUKEN LUI
ACTING REGISTRAR
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.