Ontario Land Tribunal

Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire

ISSUE DATE: May 20, 2026

CASE NO(S).: OLT-26-000055

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

Appellant: Spencer Leptick

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

Description: ZBA to Re-zone the subject property from Waterfront Residential (RW) to a Site-Specific Waterfront Exception (RW-X7-H) Zone with a Holding Symbol

Reference Number: Z04/25

Property Address: 1230 D Austris Rd

Municipality/UT: North Frontenac/Frontenac

OLT Case No: OLT-26-000055

OLT Case Name: Leptick v. North Frontenac (Township)

Heard: May 8, 2026, by Video Hearing

APPEARANCES:

Parties	Counsel/Representative*
Spencer and Julie Leptick ("Applicants")	Self-represented*
Township of North Frontenac ("City")	Spencer Putnam

MEMORANDUM OF ORAL DECISION DELIVERED BY JEAN-PIERRE BLAIS ON May 8, 2026 AND ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL

INTRODUCTION

1The Applicants seek to develop a site municipally known as 1230D Austris Road in the Township by constructing a residential dwelling within the influence area of the Ardoch Waste Disposal Site, which is temporarily closed. To this end, the Applicant filed a Zoning By-law amendment ("ZBA"). The Appeal is brought before the Tribunal pursuant to section 34(11) of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13, as amended ("Act"), following the refusal of the ZBA by the Township.

2On May 8, 2026, the Tribunal held a Case a Management Conference ("CMC") to organize the appeal, address status requests, and establish next steps in this proceeding.

NOTICE

3There were no issues raised with service of Notice of the CMC and as such, no further notice is required. The Tribunal was in receipt of two Affidavits of Service of Notice of the CMC sworn respectively on March 4 and 25, 2026, which were marked together as Exhibit 1 to this CMC.

STATUS REQUEST

4The Tribunal received no written requests for Party or Participant status.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR SETTLEMENT

5The Parties advised that they are aware of Tribunal assisted mediation.

6The Parties are directed to advise the Tribunal, as soon as possible, of any settlement, and are encouraged to narrow the issues.

NEXT STEPS

7A draft Procedural Order was provided by the Township prior to the CMC.

8At the CMC, the Tribunal noted that Issues 3, 4 and 5 were more relevant if this appeal related to a minor variance application pursuant to section 45(1) of the Act. Given that the appeal relates to a ZBA, the Tribunal directed that the Issues 3 and 4 be replaced by issues grounded on section 24(1) of the Act, namely whether the proposed ZBA conforms to the County of Frontenac Official and conforms to the North Frontenac Official Plan, and that former Issue 5 be deleted. Former Issue 6 has been renumbered. Moreover, the Tribunal directed that the word "appropriate" be deleted from Issue 1. Section 2 of the Act requires the Tribunal to have regard to matters of provincial interest, but the word "appropriate" is not part of the statutory test.

9The Tribunal also indicated to the Applicants that, under Rule 13 of the Tribunal's Rules of Practice and Procedure, they may seek to compel the appearance of an individual as a witness by summons, including the individual who prepared the Staff Report considered by the Township's Council before refusing the ZBA application.

10The Parties indicated that they each intended to call three witnesses. Accordingly, the Tribunal directed that a four-day Hearing be scheduled to proceed by video at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. The Parties undertook to file with the Tribunal by Friday, May 15, 2026, a new draft Procedural Order, including an Issues List consistent with the Tribunal's above direction.

11Individuals are asked to log in to the event at least 15 minutes before the it begins to test their video and audio connections.

GoTo Meeting: https://meet.goto.com/278736685

Access code: 278-736-685

12Individuals 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.

13Individuals who experience technical difficulties accessing the GoTo Meeting application or who only wish to listen to the event can connect to the event by calling in to an audio-only telephone line: +1-(647)-497-9391 or (toll-free) +1-888-455-1389. The access code is: 278-736-685.

14Individuals 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.

15As 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

16THE TRIBUNAL ORDERS:

a. Its directions in this Decision; and

b. The Procedural Order appended as Attachment A hereto, shall govern the future conduct of this proceeding.

"Jean-Pierre Blais"

JEAN-PIERRE BLAIS VICE CHAIR

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.

Attachment A

PROCEDURAL ORDER

CASE NO(S).: OLT-26-000055

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

Appellant: Spencer Leptick

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

Description: ZBA to Re-zone the subject property from Waterfront Residential (RW) to a Site-Specific Waterfront Exception (RW-X7-H) Zone with a Holding Symbol

Reference Number: Z04/25

Property Address: 1230 D Austris Rd

Municipality/UT: North Frontenac/Frontenac

OLT Case No: OLT-26-000055

OLT Case Name: Leptick v. North Frontenac (Township)

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 September 15, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. via videoconference using the link as follows:

https://meet.goto.com/278736685

Access Code: 278-736-685

3. The parties' initial estimation for the length of the hearing is 4 days and shall run on the following dates: September 15, 16, 17, and 18, 2026. 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.

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

Witness Lists

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 before Friday, July 24, 2026, and in accordance with paragraph 23 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.

Witnesses and Evidence

11. Expert witnesses in the same field shall have a meeting on or before Friday, August 7, 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 Monday, August 24, 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 23 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 23 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 23 below.

14. On or before Friday, July 31, 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 23 below.

15. On or before Friday, July 31, 2026, participant shall provide copies of their written participant statement to the other parties in accordance with paragraph 23 below. A participant cannot present oral submissions at the hearing on the content of their written statement, unless ordered by the Tribunal.

16. On or before Monday August 10, the parties shall confirm with the Tribunal if all the reserved hearing dates are still required.

17. On or before Friday, July 31, 2026 the parties shall provide copies of their visual evidence to all of the other parties in accordance with paragraph 23 below. If a model will be used, all parties must have a reasonable opportunity to view it before the hearing.

18. 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 23 below.

19. The parties shall cooperate to prepare a joint document book and a joint compendium of witness statements, bookmarked in PDF format with hyperlinks to all items listed in any table of contents, which shall be filed with the OLT case co-ordinator on or before Friday, September 4, 2026.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. The parties shall prepare and file a preliminary hearing plan with the Tribunal on or before Tuesday, September 8, 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.

23. 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.

24. 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.

ATTACHMENT 1

PARTIES AND PARTICIPANTS

Parties:

1. Spencer Leptick & Julie Leptick
2. The Township of North Frontenac

Participants:

N/A

ATTACHMENT 2

ISSUES LIST

Issue 1: Does the Application have regard to the matters of provincial interest identified in section 2 of the Planning Act, including but not limited to:

(a) the protection of ecological systems, including natural areas, features and functions; (h) the orderly development of safe and healthy communities; (n) the resolution of planning conflicts involving public and private interests; (o) the protection of public health and safety; (p) the appropriate location of growth and development.

Issue 2: Is the Application consistent with the policy directives of the Provincial Policy Statement 2024, including but not limited to the following policies: 2.6 [Rural Lands in Municipalities], 3.5 [Land Use Compatibility], 3.7 [Waste Management], and 5.1 [General Polices for Natural and Human-Made Hazards].

Issue 3: Does the Application conform with the County of Frontenac Official Plan, including but not limited to, Policy 4.3.4 [Waste Management].

Issue 4: Does the Application conform with Township of North Frontenac Official Plan, including but not limited to: 3.3 [Buffering and Land Use Conflicts], 3.9.2.H [Lots of Record], 3.16 [Waste Disposal], 4.3 [Rural Residential Uses], and 4.10 [Waterfront Area]?

Issue 5: Is the Application generally representative of good planning and is it in the public interest?

ATTACHMENT 3

ORDER OF EVIDENCE

1. Spencer Leptick & Julie Leptick
2. The Township of North Frontenac
3. Spencer Leptick & Julie Leptick reply, if any