Bill 185 includes important…

Bill 185 includes important changes to restore flexibility to the planning System in Ontario, and in the process, create the opportunity for housing to be delivered.

However, an important change that is not included, but should be made, would be to restore the right to appeal refusals or non-decisions of conversion requests to the Ontario Land Tribunal. Thus, the repeal of the Planning Act section 22 (7.3) prohibition of conversion appeals is recommended by amendment to Bill 185.

Companion policy changes to Bill 185 will permit conversions to be requested outside the context of a municipal comprehensive review. Other changes include a new focused definition of "employment areas", and streamlined criteria for conversions. However, the policy changes are meaningless if there is no right to appeal conversion refusals to the Tribunal. Only through a landowner appeal of a refusal to the Tribunal is there a mechanism to ensure that the new Provincial policies are actually applied. This is an essential step to cut the red tape that currently is blocking the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes.

An additional change to Bill 185 which is recommended is to abandon the Bill's proposal to eliminate third party appeal rights. If there is no ability of the public or landowners to hold municipalities to account, and to test their planning decisions based upon evidence, municipalities will have the ability to act with impunity. They can be confident that their decisions will never be tested on evidence for whether they implement provincial policy requirements, and constitute good planning. The inevitable negative impacts will be many - including a reduced supply of housing.

The legislation should be amended to retain third party appeal rights