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OMB Reform

“To some people, I’m the devil incarnate. But all we’re trying to do is build houses.” And walk away with pants full of money to the next greenfield. Dealing with the impact to terrestrial and aquatic life, water management and food production carries on long after they have retired to their money in the Caymans. I won't deny bureaucracy and red tape, but the very agencies that end up dealing with impacts ten years down the road are the ones asking the questions now. Trying holding a developer accountable ten years down the road.
 
Don't know how accurate this article is but the LPAT could be history soon

Doug Ford shuts service that helps Ontario citizens fight wealthy developers
Doug Ford is dismantling a service meant to help citizens and municipalities stand up to developers — a move critics are calling a blow to local democracy.

The Local Planning Appeal Support Centre (LPASC) was set up in April 2018 under the previous Liberal government to help everyday Ontarians navigate and understand the complex planning appeals process to fight development projects that were inappropriate, unreasonable, misplaced or designed without considering municipal and provincial planning and growth guidelines.


It replaced the Ontario Municipal Board, which, critics said, was too slow and favoured municipalities and developers, as they can afford the cost of lawyers and experts in the development appeal process. The OMB was also criticized for not deferring to local municipalities.

The LPASC received word this week that it must close its doors by June 30. It told clients and stakeholders in a statement Thursday.

"It is disappointing," Mary Lee, executive director of the LPASC, said. "This new process was about giving more accountability to municipalities and to give everybody a voice in land-use planning decision....There was a lot of work to do in the centre and it was of real value to the citizens of Ontario."
More.........https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/02/22/news/doug-ford-shuts-service-helps-ontario-citizens-fight-wealthy-developers
 
Automation Gallery said:
Don't know how accurate this article is but the LPAT could be history soon
Click to expand...
LPAT is really just a new name for the old OMB though it does, of course, also have slightly reduced powers. Since Ford seems to operate on basis that anything Wynne did must be wrong I would not be amazed to see name changed but (as with the police watchdog - SIU - changes) for the actual 'rules' to be remarkably similar. If Ford actually wanted to help developers AND municipalities he would add additional staff to LPAT so the delays were reduced as THAT would get him high marks all around.
 
A friend sent me the letter below and noted this was sent by the Minister to municipalities. Note the last line:

"Dear Head of Council:

As the consultation on our government's Housing Supply Action Plan has come to a close, I wanted to draw your attention to one part of that work that is focused on land use planning —the need to increase supply and streamline the development approval process to speed up the time it takes to get the right kind of housing built in the right places. We have received some great suggestions in that consultation that will inform potential changes.

Our Government for the People is going to take swift action to streamline the development approvals system. Earlier this year we introduced proposed changes to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. These proposed changes are in response to the implementation challenges our government heard about when we took office. Consultation on these changes closes on February 28, 2019.

Given that land use planning and development approvals are critical to achieving housing and job-related priorities in communities across Ontario, my Ministry is also reviewing the Planning Act and Provincial Policy Statement to ensure they are calibrated to achieve our streamlining and housing supply objectives.

My intention is to bring forward legislation and concrete policy changes that would impact planning province-wide in the coming months. I encourage you to consider the context of this streamlining work and its focus on the Planning Act and the Provincial Policy Statement, as it may help to inform your local actions. You may wish to consider an interim pause on some planning decisions or reviews of major planning documents such as official plans or comprehensive zoning bylaw updates until this work is completed.

Sincerely,

Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing"
 
WislaHD said:
I don't know how much extra staff will help compared to reverting back to the old rules.

The LPAT requires an extra two steps that didn't exist before and take time.
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Yes, but the LPAT also cannot spend time on de novo hearings and they were not only very undemocratic, they took lots of time.
 
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The LPAT process is significantly less powerful than the old OMB process. Nor is it really all that much faster - especially given the current back up of appeals.

Nobody really even knows how the new LPAT process will work still - there has yet to even be a single hearing under the new process. And at the rate things are going, there may never be one.
 
innsertnamehere said:
The LPAT process is significantly less powerful than the old OMB process. Nor is it really all that much faster - especially given the current back up of appeals.

Nobody really even knows how the new LPAT process will work still - there has yet to even be a single hearing under the new process. And at the rate things are going, there may never be one.
Click to expand...

Part of the point of the LPAT is that not as many things even get to the hearing in the first place, which (to @WislaHD 's point above) also means that the "two extra steps" are supposed to SAVE time and simplify the process by preventing cases from getting to the expensive, lengthy hearing stage in the first place. They're really two extra thresholds you have to meet more than 2 new steps.

Anyway, I'm not sure it's correct that no one knows how the process will work. There have been several post-OMB appeals but you may be right there haven't been any any hearings (much less rulings) yet. But also, if it's true there hasn't been a hearing yet, that could mean LPAT appeals were resolved without one. Either way, I would agree that no one knows, generally, how the LPAT will exercise it's new powers once the dust settles.

We'll see if Ford is "brave" enough to axe the entire thing but in the meantime, the LPAT was about as straightforward a "for the people" thing the Wynne government did and with a pretty miniscule $1.5-M budget. It's hard to see the closure of the LPASC as a win for ordinary folks out there.
 
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