People Plan Toronto urges Provincial Parties to Abolish the OMB’s Power over Toronto.

October 5, 2007

Contact

Ann Homan
Charles Campbell

For Immediate Release

Toronto – People Plan Toronto (PPT), a group representing a wide cross-section of residents’ associations, calls on all provincial parties to abolish the Ontario Municipal Board’s power to overturn planning decisions made by the elected representatives of the City of Toronto

PPT has circulated a position paper to its constituency for use at all-candidates’ meetings in the runup to the provincial election, asking candidates if they would support excluding Toronto from the OMB’s jurisdiction.

In PPT’s view, the OMB undermines the legitimate decision-making power of municipal officials, becoming an independent decision-maker itself rather than a place to review the decisions made by local officials.

PPT believes that many OMB decisions also undermine Toronto’s Official Plan -  a document which reflects a broad community consensus on major land use development issues - despite the huge financial investment and high civic engagement in its creation and approval.

The Liberal government passed two pieces of legislation designed to make improvements to the OMB: the Strong Communities Planning Act, 2004 and the Planning and Conservation Land Statute Law Amendment Act, 2006.   These improvements include giving municipalities more time to consider planning matters before they can be appealed to the OMB, requiring the OMB to have regard for local planning decisions, and giving municipalities the option of establishing their own local appeal body to deal with appeals on minor variances.

Although the changes have not been in place for very long it appears that they have had little impact on the OMB, which continues to make decisions that conflict with the Official Plan, determinations of City Council, and the expressed wishes of communities.

For more information about People Plan Toronto and its “People’s Plan for Toronto”, please go to www.peopleplantoronto.org.