Damas Developments Inc. v London (City), 2026 CanLII 38563

Ontario Land Tribunal

Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire

ISSUE DATE: April 21, 2026

CASE NO(S).: OLT-26-000082

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

Applicant/Appellant: Damas Development Inc.

Subject: Request to amend the Official Plan – Refusal of request

Description: Application for a housing development comprised of 7 three-storey townhouse blocks

Reference Number: OZ-25118

Property Address: 129 Meadowlily Road

Municipality/UT: London/Middlesex

OLT Case No.: OLT-26-000082

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-26-000082

OLT Case Name: Damas Developments Inc. v London (City)

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

Subject: Application to amend the Zoning By-law – Refusal of application

Description: Application for a housing development comprised of 7 three-storey townhouse blocks

Reference Number: OZ-25118

Property Address: 129 Meadowlily Road

Municipality/UT: London/Middlesex

OLT Case No.: OLT-26-000083

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-26-000082

Heard: April 9, 2026, by video hearing

APPEARANCES:

Parties

Counsel

Damas Development Inc.

Analee Baroudi

City of London

Aynsley Hovious Laura McFalls

MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED BY Kurtis SMITH ON April 9, 2026 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL

INTRODUCTION

1The Tribunal convened the first Case Management Conference (“CMC”) related to the appeals filed by Damas Development Inc. (“Applicant”) pertaining to the refusal of their applications to amend the City of London (“City”) Zoning By-law and Official Plan to permit the proposed development of seven three-storey townhouse blocks on the Subject Lands municipality known as 129 Meadowlily Road, which is northwest of the interchange of Commissioners Road East and Highbury Avenue South.

2The Tribunal received and marked the Affidavit of Service of the Notice of CMC sworn by Hesham Baroudi as Exhibit 1 (“Notice”). There were no issues with the service of the Notice, and as such, no further notice is required.

3No status requests were received.

PROCEDURAL ORDER

4Prior to the commencement of the CMC, the Tribunal received and reviewed the draft Procedural Order (“PO”) and Issues List (“IL”). Counsel for the Parties communicated that the IL was not in final form and requested additional time to finalize the IL and to update the PO to include the merit hearing dates and deadlines, in accordance with the dates outlined below.

5After the CMC, the Tribunal received and reviewed the updated PO and IL on consent of the Parties. The Tribunal finds the PO and IL are acceptable and attaches the PO, including the IL, to this Order as Schedule A.

MERIT HEARING SCHEDULED

6Counsel advised that a total of six witnesses are planned to be called during the course of the Merit Hearing and requested that six days be scheduled. The Tribunal advised that six days are available for the Merit Hearing in October of 2026.

7The Merit Hearing is scheduled to proceed by video on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at 10 a.m., concluding on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

8Parties 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://meet.goto.com/680885805

Access code: 680-885-805

9Parties 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: 680-885-805.

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 a Merit Hearing has been scheduled for six days, as set out above in this Decision.

14THE TRIBUNAL FURTHER ORDERS that the Procedural Order, included as Schedule A of this Decision, shall govern the proceedings leading up to and including the Merit Hearing on this matter.

“Kurtis Smith”

Kurtis Smith

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 A

CASE NO(S).: OLT-26-000082

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

Applicant/Appellant: Damas Development Inc.

Subject: Request to amend the Official Plan – Refusal of request

Description: Application for a housing development comprised of 7 three-storey townhouse blocks

Reference Number: OZ-25118

Property Address: 129 Meadowlily Road

Municipality/UT: London/Middlesex

OLT Case No.: OLT-26-000082

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-26-000082

OLT Case Name: Damas Developments Inc. v London (City)

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

Subject: Application to amend the Zoning By-law – Refusal of application

Description: Application for a housing development comprised of 7 three-storey townhouse blocks

Reference Number: OZ-25118

Property Address: 129 Meadowlily Road

Municipality/UT: London/Middlesex

OLT Case No.: OLT-26-000083

OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-26-000082

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 October 20, 2026 at 10:00am.

3. The parties’ initial estimation for the length of the hearing is 6 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.

4. The parties and participants identified at the case management conference are set out in Attachment 1 (see the sample procedural order for the meaning of these terms).

5. The issues are set out in the Issues List attached as Attachment 2. 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 3 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. 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 July 17, 2026 and in accordance with paragraph 22 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.

11. Expert witnesses in the same field shall have a meeting on or before July 31, 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 August 6, 2026

12. 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 14 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.

13. 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 14 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 13 below.

14. On or before September 3, 2026, the parties shall provide copies of their [witness and] expert witness statements and visual evidence to the other parties and to the OLT case co-ordinator and in accordance with paragraph 22 below.

15. On or before September 15 the parties shall confirm with the Tribunal if all the reserved hearing dates are still required.

16. On or September 3, 2026, the parties shall provide copies of their visual evidence to all of the other parties in accordance with paragraph 22 below. If a model will be used, all parties must have a reasonable opportunity to view it before the hearing.

17. Parties may provide to all other parties and the OLT case co-ordinator a written response to any written evidence on or before September 18, 2026 and in accordance with paragraph 22 below.

18. The parties shall cooperate to prepare a joint document book which shall be shared with the OLT case co-ordinator on or before October 12, 2026.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. The parties shall prepare and file a preliminary hearing plan with the Tribunal on or before October 12, 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

This Member is not seized.

So orders the Tribunal.

SUMMARY OF DATES

DATE

EVENT

July 17th, 2026 (95 days prior to hearing)

Exchange of witness lists (names, disciplines and order to be called)

July 31st, 2026 (81 days prior to hearing)

Experts meeting prior to this date, if such meeting occurs

August 6th, 2026 (75 days prior to hearing)

Agreed Statement of Facts, if meeting occurs and matters agreed to

September 3rd, 2026 (47 days prior to hearing)

Exchange of Witness Statements, summoned witness outlines, Expert Reports and Participant Statements

September 18th, 2026 (15) days after the evidence is received) *anticipated date for deadline (32 days prior to hearing)

Exchange of written response to written evidence (if any)

September 15th, 2026 (35 days prior to hearing)

Parties shall confirm with the Tribunal if all the reserved hearing dates are still required

September 3rd, 2026 (47 days prior to hearing)

Exchange of visual evidence (if any)

October 12th, 2026 (8 days prior to hearing)

Final Hearing Plan filed with the Tribunal

October 12th, 2026 (8 days prior to hearing)

Finalize Joint Document Book

October 20th, 2026

Hearing commences (6 days)

ATTACHMENT 1 – PARTIES AND PARTICIPANTS

PARTIES

1. Appellant – Damas Development Inc.

2. Municipality – City of London

ATTACHMENT 2 – ISSUES LIST

NOTE: The identification of an issue on the Issues List does not constitute an acknowledgement by the Tribunal or any Party that the issue is relevant or appropriate, or that the Tribunal has jurisdiction over it. The identification of an issue by a Party indicates that Party’s intent to tender evidence and/or make submissions on it, for the purpose of fairly identifying to the other Parties the case they need to meet. No Party shall make submissions or tender evidence on an issue not identified on the Issues List without leave of the Tribunal.

Servicing

1. Is there municipal sanitary servicing capacity for this site?

2. Does the proposed sanitary sewer connection align with the intended outlet identified in the municipal servicing strategy or approved drainage area?

3. If servicing capacity exists, is a private pumping station and force main appropriate?

4. Is the proposed development premature given that a municipal servicing solution is being planned?

5. Is it in the public interest to permit private solutions when a municipal solution is planned?

6. If a holding provision is appropriate, what is the appropriate language for the holding provision and its removal?

Planning

7. Will the proposed amendments facilitate an appropriate form of residential intensification?

8. Are the proposed amendments consistent with the following sections of the Provincial Planning Statement, 2024:

   1. 2.1.4
   2. 2.2.1
   3. 2.4.1
   4. 3.6

9. Do the proposed amendments conform to the following policies of the London Official Plan?

   1. 51
   2. 55
   3. 60
   4. 61_3,_5
   5. 62_1, _6, _9
   6. 91
   7. 169-173
   8. 193_2
   9. 284
   10. 452,453,459,460
   11. 473,476
   12. 565
   13. Table 10
   14. 917, 919_2,_3, _6
   15. 921
   16. 936-937
   17. 1573
   18. 1577-1579
   19. 1729-1734

ATTACHMENT 3 – ORDER OF EVIDENCE

1. Appellant – Damas Development Inc.

2. Municipality – City of London