Schemool v. Richmond Hill (City), 2025 CanLII 542

Ontario Land Tribunal

Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire

ISSUE DATE: January 2, 2025

CASE NO(S).: OLT-24-000741

PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 29(11) of the Ontario Heritage Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. O.18. as amended

Appellants: Oren and Lily Schemool

Subject: Objection to designation By-law No. 29-24

Property Address: 111 Richmond Street

Municipality/Upper Tier: City of Richmond Hill, York Region

OLT Case No.: OLT-24-000741

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-24-000741

OLT Case Name: Schemool v. Richmond Hill (City)

Heard: December 9, 2024 by Video Hearing

APPEARANCES:

Parties

Oren and Lily Schemool

Counsel

Carly Emmett Sarah Hahn (in absentia) Alison Firth (articling student)

Parties

City of Richmond Hill

Counsel

Carleton Thorne

DECISION DELIVERED BY JENNIFER CAMPBELL AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL

1. This Decision arises from a case management conference (the “CMC”) brought before the Ontario Land Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) regarding the Appeal brought by Oren and Lily Schemool (the “Appellants”) concerning an objection to By-Law 29-24 passed by the City of Richmond Hill (the “Respondent”) authorizing the designation of the property located at 111 Richmond Street, Richmond Hill, Ontario (the “Property”) under the Ontario Heritage Act (the “Act”).

2. At the CMC, the Parties discussed the issues to be adjudicated at a hearing and reviewed a draft Procedural Order and Issues List.

BACKGROUND

3. At a meeting of the Council of the Respondent held on June 5, 2024, By-Law 29-24 was approved pursuant to which the Property was designated under Part IV, Section 29 of the Act in recognition of its cultural heritage significance, and in accordance with the Statement of Significance: 111 Richmond Street included as Attachment A to the Respondent’s Staff Report SRPBS.24.025.

4. The Appellants subsequently appealed By-Law 29-24 on July 11, 2024 on the basis that the Property does not meet the requisite criteria for designation under the Act in accordance with subsection 1(2) of Ontario Regulation 9/06.

5. After discussion, the Parties confirmed that they were generally in agreement with respect to the draft Procedural Order, however, counsel to the Appellants requested additional time before being able to confirm the Issues List. The Parties agreed that the issues were substantially settled and they would likely be able to conclude the Issues List in the near term and without further assistance of the Tribunal. Accordingly, the Tribunal directed that the Parties submit a final Issues List to the Tribunal’s Case Coordinator by December 17, 2024, in the absence of which a further CMC would be scheduled to finalize any outstanding issues.

6. Following the CMC, the Parties submitted a final Procedural Order and Issues List setting forth the final issue to be adjudicated at a hearing as follows:

(i) Does the subject Property meet two or more of the criteria for determining whether it is of cultural heritage value or interest set out in paragraphs 1 to 9 of subsection 1(2) of Ontario Regulation 9/06 so as to permit designation of the subject Property under section 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act?

CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE

7 At the request of the Parties, the Tribunal then proceeded to set hearing dates in respect of this matter and confirmed that the hearing will be held by video hearing from Tuesday, July 8, 2025, to Wednesday, July 9, 2025, commencing at 10 a.m.

8 Parties 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/709076365

Access Code: 709-076-365

9 Parties 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

10 Persons 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.

11 Individuals 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 OF THE TRIBUNAL

12 THE TRIBUNALS ORDERS THAT the final Procedural Order and Issues List shall be in the form appended to this Order as Appendix “I”.

13 There will be no further notice and the Member is not seized.

“Jennifer Campbell”

JENNIFER CAMPBELL

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.

Appendix I