‘We know better’: Innisfil calls for changes to Ontario Land Tribunal

Innisfil Town Hall. Kenneth Armstrong/Village Media

From BarrieToday, February 25, 2022
By Patrick Bales

Innisfil councillors may have concerns with the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT), but they don’t want it abolished like some municipalities are calling for.

Council adopted a resolution at its Wednesday meeting calling on the province to mandate the OLT to give “significant weight” to municipal decisions and local policies in its decisions.

A resolution passed by the Town of Halton Hills earlier in February was shared that called for the OLT to be dissolved. Similar motions have been discussed by local communities such as Aurora, Bradford West Gwillimbury and Newmarket, with differing actions taken by their councils.

While many agree there are issues with the OLT – just as there were with its predecessors the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) and Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) – not every municipality is ready to call for its ouster.

That’s why Coun. Bill Van Berkel wanted his colleagues to discuss the matter. He felt the issue important enough to not merely note and file the request from Halton Hills. Rather, he hoped council could help move along a process that may put some power back in the hands of the municipalities.

“They keep changing the name, but basically, it doesn’t change; it’s always the same thing,” Van Berkel said of the OLT. “In the long run, developers, whenever they feel they want to change something, we’re taken to the Ontario Land Tribunal.”

That leaves municipalities defending their own planning decisions, often at an exorbitant cost. Defending a case in front of the OLT can run the town between $30,000 and $100,000, on average.

“It costs us thousands of dollars in taxpayers’ money,” Van Berkel added. “I think that our planners and our council have the best interest at heart for our communities and we know better.”

Deputy Mayor Dan Davidson lamented the delays caused by an appeal to the OLT and what impact that could have on the community.

“Is this board really doing what’s best for the taxpayer?” he said. “Right now, I think there are problems with it and it has to be rectified. It has to be more representative of what councils’ decisions are.”

What all councillors tended to agree upon is the need for some sort of appeal process to remain in place.

“If we do away with the OLT and say, ‘throw the whole thing away because it’s no good,’ our residents no longer have any right to appeal and we can’t take that away,” said Mayor Lynn Dollin. “A resident, that for whatever reason, objects to a proposal, needs to have some right to appeal.”

A copy of Innisfil’s resolution will be distributed to the province, local MPPs and the Town of Halton Hills.

Read the article here