Ontario Land Tribunal
Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire
ISSUE DATE:
June 5, 2025
CASE NO(S).:
OLT-22-002219
(Formerly PL210040)
OLT-22-002483
(Formerly PL200150)
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 17(36) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Appellant:
1085 Clearview Limited Partnership
Appellant:
1246235 Ontario Inc.
Appellant:
1602211 Ontario Ltd.
Appellant:
2084 Lakeshore Holdings Ltd. Et Al; and others
Description:
Proposed Official Plan Amendment for Burlington New Official Plan
Municipality:
City of Burlington
OLT Case No.:
OLT-22-002219
Legacy Case No.:
PL210040
OLT Lead Case No.:
OLT-22-002219
Legacy Lead Case No.:
PL210040
OLT Case Name:
1085 Clearview Limited Partnership v. Halton (Reg. Mun.)
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 17(24) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Appellant:
Sofina Foods Inc.
Appellant:
Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
Appellant:
Reserve Properties Ltd.
Appellant:
Vrancorp Group; and others
Description:
Proposed Official Plan Amendment No. 119
Municipality:
City of Burlington
OLT Case No.:
OLT-22-002483
Legacy Case No.:
PL200150
OLT Lead Case No.:
OLT-22-002483
Legacy Lead Case No.:
PL200150
OLT Case Name:
Sofina Foods Inc. v. Burlington (City)
PROCEEDING COMMENCED UNDER subsection 34(19) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended
Appellant:
Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
Appellant:
Burlington Healthcare Centre Inc.
Appellant:
Better Life Development
Appellant:
Emshih Developments Inc.; and others
Description:
By-law No. 2020.418
Municipality:
City of Burlington
OLT Case No.:
OLT-22-002484
Legacy Case No.
PL200151
OLT Lead Case No.:
OLT-22-002483
Legacy Lead Case No.
PL200150
Heard:
May 8, 2025 by Telephone Conference Call
APPEARANCES:
Parties
Counsel
Region of Halton
Kelly Yerxa
City of Burlington
Andrew Biggart
Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association
Marc Kemerer
United Burlington Retail Portfolio Inc.
Katryna Vergis-Mayo Aaron Platt (in absentia) Mandy Ng (in absentia)
Crystal Homes
Alex Lusty
Landform Development Group Inc. and 2413350 Ontario Inc.
Narmada Gunawardana Denise Baker (in absentia) Chantal deSereville (in absentia)
West End Home Builders Association
Narmada Gunawardana Denise Baker (in absentia) Chantal deSereville (in absentia)
440 Elizabeth Street Holdings Ltd.
Narmada Gunawardana Denise Baker (in absentia) Chantal deSereville (in absentia)
The Rosseau Development Group Inc.
Narmada Gunawardana Denise Baker (in absentia) Chantal deSereville (in absentia)
Emshih Developments Inc.
Meredith Baker Nancy Smith (in absentia)
Carriage Gate Homes Inc., Lakeshore (Burlington) Inc. and Old Lakeshore (Burlington) Inc.
Shelley Kaufman Scott Snider (in absentia)
1820473 Ontario Inc. and Molinaro Group of Companies
Shelley Kaufman Scott Snider (in absentia)
Renimmob Properties Ltd.
Shelley Kaufman Scott Snider (in absentia)
Penta Properties Inc., Paletta International Corporation and P&L Livestock Ltd.
Shelley Kaufman Scott Snider (in absentia)
New Horizon Development Group
Patrick Harrington Meaghan Barrett (in absentia)
Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
Roslyn Houser
Millcroft Greens Corporation
Patrick Harrington Meaghan Barrett (in absentia)
RK (Burlington Mall) Inc.
Matthew Rutledge James Marino (articling student) Joel Farber (in absentia)
Adi Developments (Masonry) Inc.
Narmada Gunawardana Denise Baker (in absentia) Chantal deSereville (in absentia)
RioCan Holdings Inc.
Matthew Rutledge James Marino (articling student) Joel Farber (in absentia)
5135 Fairview Holdings Inc.
Narmada Gunawardana Denise Baker (in absentia) Chantal deSereville (in absentia)
S & G Consulting Inc., Branthaven 735 Oval Inc., and Branthaven Development Corp.
Narmada Gunawardana Denise Baker (in absentia) Chantal deSereville (in absentia)
1602211 Ontario Ltd.
Narmada Gunawardana Denise Baker (in absentia) Chantal deSereville (in absentia)
Nelson Aggregate Co.
Marc Kemerer
Core FSC Lakeshore GP Incorporated
David Bronskill
Vrancorp Group
David Bronskill
Reserve Properties Ltd.
David Bronskill
2584979 Ontario Inc.
David Bronskill
Burlington Healthcare Centre Inc.
Andrew Jeanrie
Mattamy James Street Limited Partnership
Shelley Kaufman Scott Snider (in absentia)
Sofina Foods
Patrick Duffy
Welwyn Interests Inc.
Narmada Gunawardana Denise Baker (in absentia) Chantal deSereville (in absentia)
Douglas Roy Leggat and 850 Brant Street Properties Inc.
Shelley Kaufman Scott Snider (in absentia)
Fairview GO Ltd.
Shelley Kaufman Scott Snider (in absentia)
Metrolinx
Peter Voltsinis Jennifer Evola (in absentia) Signe Leisk (in absentia)
Brookfield Properties, InteRent REIT and CLV Group Inc. (Fairview Limited Partnership)
Shelley Kaufman Scott Snider (in absentia)
MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED BY C.I. MOLINARI ON may 8, 2025 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1This Decision and Order arises from a status hearing held on May 8, 2025, regarding appeals filed under section 17(36) of the Planning Act (“Act”) against the approval by the Region of Halton (“Region”) of the new City of Burlington (“City”) Official Plan (“New OP”) under Case No. OLT-22-002219 (“OLT-22-002219”).
2The appeals under OLT-22-002219 are being heard together with appeals filed under sections 17(24) and 34(19) of the Act, against the City’s Official Plan Amendment (“OPA”) No. 119 (“OPA 119”) and Zoning By-law Amendment No. 2020-418 (“ZBL 418”) under Case No. OLT-22-002483 (“OLT-22-002483”). OPA 119 and ZBL 418 establish the Burlington GO Station on Fairview Street and the downtown bus terminal as Major Transit Station Areas (“MTSAs”).
3The New OP was adopted by the City on April 26, 2018, and subsequently approved with modifications by the Region on November 30, 2020. The Tribunal received 48 appeals under OLT-22-002219 and 21 appeals under OLT-22-002483. To date, eleven appeals to these proceedings have been withdrawn.
4On January 4, 2023, the Tribunal issued an Order confirming that certain portions of the New OP, not subject to appeal, are in full force and effect by operation of the Act.
5On February 16, 2024, the Tribunal issued a further Order approving an additional subset of policies and one definition, with modifications, following an uncontested settlement between the City and Appellants 1 and 40, being Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (“OSSGA”) and Nelson Aggregate Co. (“Nelson”). Both OSSGA and Nelson have remaining issues not resolved by the settlement.
6On April 02, 2024, the Tribunal issued a further Decision and Order granting partial approval of certain policies of the New OP as listed in paragraph [23] of that Decision.
7This hearing was scheduled to provide the Tribunal with an update on the appeals and to determine next steps.
8An agenda, with an accompanying table providing an update on several of the appeals (“Appeal Table”), was provided by the City to the Tribunal in advance of the hearing.
9Schedule 1 to this Decision lists the Appellants, Parties and Participants to these proceedings and the current status of each appeal.
PARTY STATUS REQUEST
10Canadian National Railway Company (“CN”) filed a Party Status request in relation to Appeal No. 16 filed by Penta Properties Inc., Paletta International Corporation and P&L Livestock Ltd. (“Paletta”) regarding the property at 1200 King Road (“1200 King”).
11The Tribunal advised CN that, if granted, it would have to shelter under Appeal No. 16 as per Rule 8.3 of the Tribunal’s Rules of Practice and Procedure.
12Counsel for CN advised the Tribunal that CN recently became aware that Paletta may be seeking revisions to the New OP through Appeal No. 16 that would facilitate the redevelopment of the property with sensitive uses. As 1200 King shares a property line with CN’s Aldershot Yard, where industrial and railway operations and associated emissions take place, CN is seeking Party Status to ensure that land use compatibility concerns are appropriately considered and to protect CN’s ability to participate in the land use planning process for the property.
13Counsel for CN added that the request is reasonable, it was submitted 10 days in advance of the hearing, CN has a direct interest in the proceeding given the shared property line and land use compatibility concerns, there is a direct public interest, and it would avoid a multiplicity of proceedings.
14Counsel for the City requested that the Party Status request be deferred to a subsequent Case Management Conference (“CMC”), which the City will be requesting to be set in July 2025, as Counsel has not yet received City Council instructions on its position related to the request. He added that this would also give the Parties involved in Appeal No. 16 the opportunity to discuss the request, that nothing is proposed to be presented to the Tribunal for approval at this hearing, or at a subsequent CMC in July regarding Appeal No. 16 without notifying CN, and that there is therefore no prejudice to CN to defer the request.
15Counsel for Paletta indicated that she has not received instructions to oppose the Party Status request but, given the City’s request for a deferral, she had nothing further to add at this time.
16Counsel for the Region supported the City’s request for a deferral.
17The Tribunal ordered that the Party Status request from CN would be deferred to the next CMC to be scheduled in July 2025, as addressed in paragraph [24] below, in order to provide Counsel for Paletta to obtain instructions and for the City and the Region sufficient time to obtain instruction from their respective councils on the request.
OTHER MATTERS
18The Tribunal received confirmation ahead of the hearing that Appeal Nos. 5, 25, 30 and 35 had been withdrawn and that there was a change in counsel for Appeal Nos. 31, 32, 33 and 34, as reflected in Schedule 1 of this Decision. Ms. Gunawardana confirmed that Appeal Nos. 25 and 35 were withdrawn from both OLT-22-002219 and OLT-22-002483.
19Counsel for the City provided an update on the New OP and the appeals, including:
the City’s recent actions since the approval of the New OP, including:
the April 8, 2024 Targeted Realignment Exercise to bring the New OP into conformity with recent changes to the Act and policy changes at the Region and Province;
the adoption of OPA No. 2 (“OPA 2”) on June 20, 2024 (awaiting ministerial approval), related to the City’s urban growth centre and MTSAs; and
the adoption of OPA No. 3 on January 30, 2025 (approved by the Minister with no appeals), related to the City’s housing strategy and residential policies in the New OP;
the City’s efforts to settle site-specific and broad appeals; and
the current status of appeals as laid out in the Appeal Table.
20Counsel for the City advised that OPA 2 will have an impact on many of the issues raised by the various Parties and surmised that it may result in the resolution of issues, and/or the scoping of appeals.
21Counsel for the City further advised that the Appeal Table was provided for discussion purposes and that the City was open to discussing changes to the ‘Notes’ column at the request of a Party. In addition to considering settlements of any site-specific appeals, the City is now looking to focus on the broad appeals to the New OP and for the applicable Appellants to be able to scope their appeals to site-specific and/or scope their issues in advance of the July 2025 CMC.
22The Tribunal requested the City to submit an updated Schedule 1, in the same format as the schedule attached to the decision issued on April 2, 2024, but with the list of non-appellant Parties to be amended to include the appeal number that each Party is sheltering under.
23Counsel for the City endeavoured to provide an updated Schedule 1 to the Tribunal by Friday, May 16, 2025. The Tribunal has since received the updated Schedule 1, as appended to this Decision.
NEXT CMC
24The City requested that a further CMC be scheduled in July 2025 to provide the Tribunal with additional updates and/or advise on potential settlements. As such, the Tribunal has scheduled a subsequent CMC to be held via video hearing on Wednesday, July 16, 2025 at 10 a.m.
25Parties 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/656004293
Access code: 656-004-293
26Parties 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 GoTo Meeting or a web application is available at:
https://app.gotomeeting.com/home.html
27Persons 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 as noted above.
28Individuals 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
29THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS that a further CMC will be held by video hearing on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, as directed above.
“C.I. Molinari”
C.I. MOLINARI
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.
SCHEDULE 1