Ontario Land Tribunal

Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire

ISSUE DATE: March 26, 2026

CASE NO(S).: OLT-25-001001

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

Applicant/Appellant: Sanders Garden Inc.

Approval Authority: City of Hamilton

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

Description: To permit the development of a 12-storey mixed use building with four-storey extension

Reference Number: UHOPA-24-011

Property Address: 1630 Main Street W

Municipality/UT: Hamilton/Hamilton

OLT Case No: OLT-25-001001

OLT Lead Case No: OLT-25-001001

OLT Case Name: Sanders Garden Inc. v. Hamilton (City)

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

Subject: Application to amend the Zoning By-law – Refusal or neglect to make a decision

Description: To permit the development of a 12-storey mixed use building with four-storey extension

Reference Number: ZAC-24-034

Property Address: 1630 Main Street W

Municipality/UT: Hamilton/Hamilton

OLT Case No: OLT-25-001008

OLT Lead Case No: OLT-25-001001

OLT Case Name: Sanders Garden Inc. v. Hamilton (City)

Heard: March 20, 2026, by Video Hearing

APPEARANCES:

Parties	Counsel
Sanders Garden Inc.	R. Cheeseman, S. A. Fleming
City of Hamilton	Melanie Benedict

MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED BY S. deBOER ON MARCH 20, 2026 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL

INTRODUCTION

1This Decision arises from the first Case Management Conference (“CMC”) held in preparation for the appeals by the Sanders Garden Inc. pursuant to s. 22(7) and s. 34(11) of the Planning Act (“Act”) due to the City of Hamilton’s failure to make a decision on the applications within the Act’s statutory timelines. The applications pertain to the lands municipally known as 1630 Main Street West in the City of Hamilton (“Subject Lands”).

2The purpose of the CMC was to review any further Party or Participant status requests with the Appellants, review the proposed Procedural Order (“PO”) and Issues List (“IL”), and set the next hearing event.

BACKGROUND

3The purpose of the applications would permit the redevelopment of the Subject Lands to build a 12-storey mixed-use building with a four-storey building extension. The proposed planning instruments would provide for a total of 291 residential dwelling units along with 72 underground vehicular parking spaces, 27 outdoor vehicular parking spaces, 785 square metres of outdoor amenity space on the fifth and tenth storeys, and 296 long-term bicycle parking spaces.

AFFIDAVIT OF SERVICE

4The Tribunal reviewed the Affidavit of Service of Notice by Darlene Horsby dated February 26, 2026, with the Parties. After review, the Tribunal ruled that the Affidavit was satisfactory and that no further Notice would be necessary.

PARTY OR PARTICIPANT STATUS

5The Tribunal did not receive any Party requests before or during the CMC. The Tribunal received one Participant request from Rosemary Lukosius prior to the CMC. The Tribunal reviewed the Participant request with the Parties and the Tribunal ruled that it would accept the Participant Statement of Ms. Lukosius and this statement would be used by the Tribunal in any final Decision pertaining to the applications in this matter.

PROCEDURAL ORDER AND ISSUES LIST

6The Tribunal reviewed the PO and IL with the Parties. After review, the Tribunal approved the PO and IL, and the dates listed in the PO attached to this Decision as Attachment 1 will govern the proceedings up to and including the upcoming Hearing events.

TRIBUNAL-LED MEDIATION AND HEARING DATES

7The Parties notified the Tribunal that a Tribunal-led mediation assessment was scheduled for Thursday, March 26, 2026. Even though there is a scheduling of a Tribunal-led mediation assessment and the potential for mediation to occur, the Parties requested that the Tribunal set a hearing date to hear the merits of the appeals. After further review of this request by the Parties, and due to the number of witnesses proposed by the Parties, the Tribunal agreed to schedule a seven-day Hearing to commence starting on Monday, September 21, 2026, by video conference. If mediation results in issues being resolved prior to the next hearing event, the Tribunal directs the Parties to notify the Tribunal at the earliest opportunity as to the number of hearing dates to be released for the next hearing event or notify the Tribunal if a settlement has been reached.

8Parties and/or Participants and/or Observers are asked to log in to the event at least 15 minutes before it begins to test their video and audio connections:

GoTo Meeting: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/914098901

Access code: 914-098-901

9Parties and/or 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: https://app.gotomeeting.com/home.html

10Persons who experience technical difficulties accessing the GoTo Meeting application or who only wish to listen to the event can connect to it by calling in to an audio-only telephone line: +1 (647) 497-9373 or (Toll Free) 1-888-299-1889. The access code is: 914-098-901.

11Individuals 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 event to ensure that they are properly connected at the correct time. Questions prior to the event may be directed to the Tribunal’s Case Coordinator.

12As of March 30, 2026, all hearing events are governed by the Tribunal’s Artificial Intelligence Practice Direction. This Practice Direction requires a party, participant, or witness to include a declaration within each submitted document if generative AI was used to create or generate content.

ORDER

13THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS THAT there will be no further Notice, and orders its directions listed above. The Member is not seized but may be spoken to if procedural issues arise, schedule permitting.

“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.

Attachment 1

ISSUE DATE: March 26, 2026 CASE NO(S).: OLT-25-001001; OLT-25-001008

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

Applicant/Appellant: Sanders Garden Inc.

Approval Authority: City of Hamilton

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

Description: To permit the development of a 12-storey mixed use building with four-storey extension

Reference Number: UHOPA-24-011

Property Address: 1630 Main Street W

Municipality/UT: Hamilton/Hamilton

OLT Case No: OLT-25-001001

OLT Lead Case No: OLT-25-001001

OLT Case Name: Sanders Garden Inc. v. Hamilton (City)

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

Subject: Application to amend the Zoning By-law – Refusal or neglect to make a decision

Description: To permit the development of a 12-storey mixed use building with four-storey extension

Reference Number: ZAC-24-034

Property Address: 1630 Main Street W

Municipality/UT: Hamilton/Hamilton

OLT Case No: OLT-25-001008

OLT Lead Case No: OLT-25-001001

OLT Case Name: Sanders Garden Inc. v. Hamilton (City)

PROCEDURAL ORDER

1. 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

2. The video hearing will begin on Monday, September 21, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. via videoconference.

3. The parties’ initial estimation for the length of the hearing is 7 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.

4. The parties and participants identified at the case management conference are set out in Attachment 2 (see the sample procedural order for the meaning of these terms).

5. 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.

6. 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 the parties’ consent, subject to the Tribunal’s approval, or by Order of the Tribunal.

7. Any person intending to participate in the hearing should provide a mailing address, email address and a telephone number to the Tribunal as soon as possible – ideally before the case management conference. Any person who will be retaining a representative should advise the other parties and the Tribunal of the representative’s name, address, email address and the phone number as soon as possible.

8. 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.

9. A party, participant, or witness who intends to submit document(s) to the Tribunal must include a declaration within each submitted document if generative AI was used to create or generate content. A declaration is not required if AI was used to merely suggest changes, provide recommendations, or critique content already created by a human who then considered and manually implemented the changes.

Requirements Before the Hearing

10. If the Applicant intends to seek approval of a revised proposal at the hearing, the Applicant shall provide copies of the revised proposal, including all revised plans, drawings, proposed instruments, updated supporting documents and reports which it intends to rely upon, to all the Parties on or before Friday, April 24, 2026. The Applicant acknowledges that any revisions to the proposal before or after that date without consent of the parties or which do not seek to scope or resolve concerns expressed in the Witness Statement(s) filed by another party, may be grounds for a request to adjourn the hearing.

11. 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 and the order in which they will be called. This list must be delivered on or before Friday, July 10, 2026, and in accordance with paragraph 24 below. A party who intends to call an expert witness must include a copy of the witness’ Curriculum Vitae and the area of expertise in which the witness is prepared to be qualified. Any challenge by a Party to the qualifications or expertise of a witness must be filed with the Tribunal with supporting reasons within 30 days.

12. Expert witnesses in the same field shall have a meeting on or before Friday July 24, 2026, and use best efforts to try to resolve or reduce the issues for the hearing. Following the experts’ meeting, the parties must prepare and file a Statement of Agreed Facts and Issues with the OLT case co-ordinator on or before Friday, July 31, 2026.

13. 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 below. 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.

14. 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 below. 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 below.

15. On or before Friday, August 14, 2026, the parties shall provide copies of their witness and expert witness statements to the other parties and to the OLT case co-ordinator and in accordance with paragraph 24 below.

16. On or before Friday, August 14, 2026, a participant shall provide copies of their written participant statement to the other parties in accordance with paragraph 24 below. A participant cannot present oral submissions at the hearing on the content of their written statement, unless ordered by the Tribunal.

17. On or before Monday, August 17, 2026, (a) the parties shall confirm with the Tribunal if all the reserved hearing dates are still required; and (b) a party seeking to limit or exclude any written or oral evidence must deliver a written motion under Rule 10 seeking such an Order.

18. On or before Friday, September 11, 2026, the parties shall provide copies of their visual evidence to all of the other parties in accordance with paragraph 24 below. If a model will be used, all parties must have a reasonable opportunity to view it before the hearing.

19. Parties may provide to all other parties and the OLT case co-ordinator a written response to any written evidence within ten (10) days after the evidence is received and in accordance with paragraph 24 below.

20. The parties shall cooperate to prepare a joint document book which shall be shared with the OLT case co-ordinator on or before Friday, September 11, 2026.

21. A person wishing to change written evidence, including witness statements, must make a written motion to the Tribunal. See Rule 10 of the Tribunal’s Rules with respect to Motions, which requires that the moving party provide copies of the motion to all other parties 15 days before the Tribunal hears the motion.

22. 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.

23. The parties shall prepare and file a preliminary hearing plan with the Tribunal on or before Friday, September 11, 2026 with a proposed schedule for the hearing that identifies, as a minimum, the parties participating in the hearing, the preliminary matters (if any to be addressed), the anticipated order of evidence, the date each witness is expected to attend, the anticipated length of time for evidence to be presented by each witness in chief, cross-examination and re-examination (if any) and the expected length of time for final submissions. The parties are expected to ensure that the hearing proceeds in an efficient manner and in accordance with the hearing plan. The Tribunal may, at its discretion, change or alter the hearing plan at any time in the course of the hearing.

24. All filings shall be submitted electronically unless otherwise directed. 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.

25. No adjournments or delays will be granted before or during the hearing except for serious hardship or illness, and except as contemplated in paragraph 10 of this Order. The Tribunal’s Rule 17 applies to such requests.

This Member is not seized.

So orders the Tribunal.

BEFORE:

Name of Member:

Date:

TRIBUNAL REGISTRAR

Attachment 1

Summary of Procedural Dates

Date	Event
Friday, April 24, 2026	Applicant’s deadline to submit revised proposal
Friday, July 10, 2026	Witness List
Friday July 24, 2026	Final day for expert witness meeting
Friday, July 31, 2026	Statement of Agreed Facts and Issues filed
Friday, August 14, 2026	Expert witness and witness statements due
Friday, August 14, 2026	Written participant statement due
Friday, August 21, 2026	Response to written evidence due
Monday, August 17, 2026	Hearing date confirmation
Friday, September 11, 2026	Visual evidence due
Friday, September 11, 2026	Joint Document Book due
Friday, September 11, 2026	Preliminary hearing plan due
Monday, September 21, 2026	Hearing

Attachment 2

List of Parties and Participants

1. Sanders Garden Inc. Russell D. Cheeseman & Stephanie Fleming Municipal Law Chambers rdcheese@aol.com sfleming@mlawc.com

2. City of Hamilton Melanie Benedict Melanie.Benedict@hamilton.ca

Participants

3. Rosemary Lukosius

Attachment 3

Issues of the City of Hamilton

1. Does the proposal have appropriate regard for matters of provincial interest as specified in Section 2 of the Planning Act, including, but not limited to, (h), (j), (p), (q), and (r)?

2. Is the proposal consistent with the Provincial Planning Statement (2024), including, but not limited to, policies 2.9.1 d), 3.5.1, 3.5.2, and 2.8.1.3?

3. Does the proposal conform to the residential intensification policies of the Urban Hamilton Official Plan Volume 1, including, but not limited to, policy B.2.4.1.4?

4. Does the proposal conform to the urban design policies of the Urban Hamilton Official Plan Volume 1, including, but not limited to, policies B.3.3.2.2 to B.3.3.2.10, B.3.3.3.2, E.2.4.14, E.2.4.16, E.3.2.7, E.4.6.16, E.4.6.17, and E.4.6.24?

5. Does the proposal conform to the urban design policies of the Urban Hamilton Official Plan Volume 2, Ainslie Wood Westdale Secondary Plan, including, but not limited to, policy B.6.2.13.1?

6. Does the proposal conform to the noise policies of the Urban Hamilton Official Plan Volume 1, including, but not limited to, policy B.3.6.3.1?

7. Does the proposal conform to the tree protection policies of the Urban Hamilton Official Plan Volume 1, including, but not limited to, policy C.2.11.1, C.2.11.4 and C.2.11.5?

8. Does the proposal conform to the “Mixed Use – Medium Density” designation policies of the Urban Hamilton Official Plan Volume 1, including, but not limited to, policies E.4.6.7 and E.4.6.8 and Urban Hamilton Official Plan Volume 2 Ainslie Wood Westdale Secondary Plan, including, but not limited to, policy B.6.2.7.2?

9. Is the scale, density, and height of the proposed development appropriate for this location?

10. Are the proposed site-specific performance standards compatible and in keeping with the intent of the Zoning By-law?

11. Does the proposed development represent good planning and is it in the public interest?

Attachment 4

Order of Evidence

1. Sanders Gardens Inc.
2. City of Hamilton
3. Sanders Gardens, in Reply