Ontario Land Tribunal

Tribunal ontarien de l’aménagement du territoire

ISSUE DATE: May 27, 2026

CASE NO(S).: OLT-22-003518 (Formerly PL110269)

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

Applicant and Appellant: San Marco In Lamis Ltd. Subject: Request to amend the Official Plan - Failure of the County of Simcoe to adopt the requested amendment Existing Designation: Rural Agricultural and Hazard Proposed Designated: Urban Residential and Open Space Purpose: To permit the construction of 336 units of affordable housing Property Address/Description: 6209 14th Line, North half of LOT 9, Concession 13 Municipality: Town of New Tecumseth Approval Authority File No.: DEV-209 OLT Case No.: OLT-22-003518 Legacy Case No.: PL110269 OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-22-003518 Legacy Lead Case No.: PL110269 OLT Case Name: San Marco In Lamis Ltd. v. Simcoe (County)

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

Applicant and Appellant: San Marco In Lamis Ltd. Subject: Application to amend Zoning By-law No. 96-103 - Refusal or neglect of Town of New Tecumseth to make a decision Existing Zoning: Agricultural (A1) and Flood Plan Management Area (FPMA). Proposed Zoning: Urban Residential (UR1), (UR2), (UR3), Institutional (I) and Open Space (OS) Purpose: To permit the construction of 336 units of affordable housing Property Address/Description: 6209 14th Line, North half of LOT 9, Concession 13 Municipality: Town of New Tecumseth Municipality File No.: DEV 209 OLT Case No.: OLT-22-003522 Legacy Case No.: PL110269 OLT Lead Case No.: OLT-22-003518 Legacy Lead Case No.: PL120324

Heard: May 20, 2026, by Video Hearing

APPEARANCES:

Parties	Counsel
San Marco In Lamis Ltd.	R. Cheeseman
Town of New Tecumseth	J. Feehely, T. Webster
County of Simcoe	A. Freeman-Carter
Ontario Potato Distributing Inc.	Did Not Appear
Mattamy Homes	Did Not Appear

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

INTRODUCTION

1This Decision arises from a Case Management Conference (“CMC”) held in preparation for the appeals by San Marco In Lamis Ltd. (“Appellant”) pursuant to ss. 22(7) and 34(11) of the Planning Act due to the Town of New Tecumseth’s (“Town”) failure to make a decision on the Official Plan Amendment (“OPA”) and the Zoning By-law Amendment (“ZBA”) applications within the statutory timelines. The lands pertaining to the applications is municipally known as 6209 14th Line, in the Town (“Subject Lands”).

2The planning amendment applications would permit the Subject Lands to be developed with a total of 336 residential dwellings, and would include a seniors extended care facility, a community centre, and a park on the southerly portion of the Subject Lands.

3The purpose of the CMC was to review the remaining Party statuses, receive an update to the Town’s Official Plan Amendment (“OPA 5”), and set a date for the next hearing event.

BACKGROUND OF THE APPEALS

4The Appellant provided the Tribunal, on consent of the Parties, with a thorough review of the history of the appeals, which is summarized below:

5The original applications were submitted in March of 2004. The applications remained active before the Town until March 2011, at which time the applications were appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board (“OMB”). Between 2011 and 2018, the OMB held appeal hearings for the County of Simcoe’s (“County”) new Official Plan (“COP”), and the Appellant was a non-appellant Party to those appeals.

6The OMB approved the COP in December 2016; however, 12 site-specific appeals remained, including the site-specific appeal of the Appellant.

7Beginning in February of 2018, the OMB held two Pre-hearing Conferences concerning the Appellant’s site-specific appeal. In November 2018, there was an agreement between the County, the Town, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (“MMAH”), and the Appellant, which adjourned the appeals sine die until the County had completed a Municipal Comprehensive Review (“MCR”), which would address the allocation of additional population and employment growth to 2041 and had been approved by the MMAH.

8On August 9, 2022, the County adopted its Official Plan Amendment (“OPA 7”) which assigned future growth population projections to various lower tier municipalities, which included the Town.

9As a result of the adoption of OPA 7, the Town undertook its own Growth Management Study in 2024, and at the Town’s Committee of the Whole Meeting on May 12, 2025, Town staff recommended the adoption of OPA 5, which included the expansion of the Alliston Settlement Area to include the Subject Lands within its new boundary.

10On June 10, 2025, through the Office of the Provincial Land and Development Facilitator (“OPLDF”), the Province formally requested that the Town defer any further work on OPA 5 until an updated provincial population methodology guideline was completed to ensure the municipality would have the tools to anticipate future growth demands.

11On August 12, 2025, MMAH formally posted the “Addressing Growth and Housing Needs in South Simcoe County” (“South Simcoe Growth Initiative” or “SSGI”) on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (“ERO”) website for public comments.

12The Appellant made its comments on the ERO website on September 24, 2025, concerning its lands and the development of its lands with respect to the SSGI.

13On October 29, 2025, the Appellant formally requested that the Tribunal reopen the appeals. On December 3, 2025, the Appellant met with OPLDF and MMAH staff concerning the Appellant’s lands and the SSGI. On December 4, 2025, the Tribunal held a CMC to receive an update on the appeals and scheduled a further CMC to occur in May of 2026.

14On April 7, 2026, MMAH approved OPA 7, which had been previously approved by the County, as stated above, in August 2022.

15On April 29, 2026, the Town held a council meeting which included a staff report that recommended the approval of OPA 5. Town council received the report for information and did not make a decision on OPA 5.

16On May 19, 2026, the day before this CMC, MMAH notified the Tribunal it was withdrawing as a Party to the Appellant’s appeals before the Tribunal.

PARTY AND PARTICIPANT REQUESTS

17The Tribunal did not receive any status requests prior to, nor during the CMC. The Tribunal noted that two Parties Ontario Potato Distributing Inc. and Mattamy Homes (“Non-attendant Parties”) did not appear at the CMC. The Tribunal confirmed through the Case Coordinator that the two Non-attendant Parties had been properly notified about this CMC, however, no response was received by the Tribunal prior to, nor after the CMC as to their current Party status. The Non-attendant Parties are directed to notify the Case Coordinator by June 12, 2026, as to their intent to participate as a Party to this matter. As noted above, the Tribunal was notified one day prior to the CMC that MMAH had withdrawn its Party status pertaining to these appeals.

PROCEDURAL ORDER

18The attending Parties confirmed that they will be able to move forward and provide a Procedural Order and Issues List to the Tribunal prior to the next CMC event. The attending Parties requested that a further CMC be scheduled for a date in late July, at which time the Tribunal could review a draft Procedural Order and Issues List.

SCHEDULING OF HEARING

19As a result of the request of the Parties, the Tribunal scheduled a further CMC to occur on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at 10 a.m., by video hearing. The Parties are directed to provide a draft Procedural Order including an Issues List to the Tribunal no later than July 14, 2026, for its review.

20Parties 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/656004293

Access code: 656-004-293

21Parties 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

22Persons 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: 656-004-293.

23Individuals 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.

24As 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

25THE TRIBUNAL 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.