Toronto 110 Adelaide Street East | 226m | 66s | Stafford | Arcadis

[Lenser]

This amounts to a rude imposition on the neighborhood, full stop. I have no objection to the height per se, it's the design that rankles. It's horrific.

 

[Blixtein]

This is just horrific. You really have to absolutely hate this city to seriously propose something so obviously ugly.

 

[innsertnamehere]

There would have to be an error in law or some other administrative fault for this to happen.

Think of it as two kids get in a schoolyard fight (City and Developer), then one of them goes to the parent / teacher / principal (OLT) to adjudicate. It's in the latter party's best interest to resolve the issue to the satisfaction of both kids, so if they themselves come up with something on which they both agree, the administrator is extremely likely to accept it. The only way they shouldn't / couldn't / wouldn't is if one of the kids has been manipulated by the other into accepting something that's clearly not in their best (or at least fair) interest. Hence, the OLT accepts pretty much all settlements because neither party is going to slip up and make an error that could cause one to 'win' at the other's expense. Further, if both parties come to an agreement and it is refused by the OLT, that's the quickest way to divisional court where they'd both likely pursue a charge of malfeasance against the member.

I will add that there is still an onus to identify that an OPA/ZBA meets the tests of the Planning Act even with a settlement - The City and Developer cannot just agree to anything. Now, given that it's the City's entire job to evaluate those tests, usually they don't agree to anything that doesn't meet the Planning Act, but an affidavit from a registered planner still needs to be submitted to the OLT to confirm this, which the OLT must evaluate and approve.

For the reasons ProjectEnd pointed out they basically never refuse it, but it is a box checking exercise which has to happen. And theoretically if the City and Developer agreed to something which does not meet the terms of the Planning Act, the OLT could refuse the settlement. They just don't do that. A refusal on this basis would basically never happen in Toronto but might be more likely in rural and remote municipalities who do not have the institutional capacity to properly evaluate applications in the same manner.

 

[Koops65]

Link to HD render