I am very opposed to…

I am very opposed to forbidding municipalities to require pre-application consultations, and very opposed to preventing the public (Third Parties) from appealing the adoption and amendment of Official Plans and Zoning By-Laws. Not only do these proposals threaten democracy. More importantly, they will lead to Bad Planning decisions, the very opposite of why the Ontario Land Tribunal exists.

Outlawing Third Party appeals will discourage local residents from sharing valuable, often informal, information with developers, developers' planning consultants and municipal staff. This creates a huge risk that important considerations about a development proposal will not be made known. This could be cultural heritage considerations (local knowledge of an archaeological site or unmarked graveyard that hasn't made the official press but is well known in the community), looming traffic problems (plans of a local daycare or other service agency to expand its hours of service that local residents know will cause traffic havoc), etc.

Not knowing this information will lead to bad planning decisions, costly future problems and/or lawsuits after the fact.

Pre-application community consultations are the perfect way to encourage such valuable information to come forward. Requiring them ensures that all developers can benefit from this opportunity. (Even if community meetings aren't held, knowing municipal staff want to hear from the public and will pass on community concerns to development applicants encourages community members' participation.)

Pre-application consultations are the first opportunity for citizens to make any grave concerns they have known to both municipal staff and the development proponent. Hopefully, the developer will listen and implement remedies. But if not, citizens need the opportunity to appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal to intervene.

This is especially important when personal or environmental health is threatened, such as the serious noise and odour concerns Renfrew County residents raised about a proposed permanent asphalt plant McNab/Braeside Township. When council wasn't convinced of the risk, the residents appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board. The arguments of the residents' expert witnesses convinced the OMB to turn down the application, saving residents thousands of dollars in medical costs.

The right of Third Party appeal is a safeguard Ontario cannot be without.

Recommendations: Remove sections 3(1), 3(3) and 5(7) of Schedule 12. These sections seek to remove the public’s ability to appeal the adoption or amendment of Official Plans and Zoning By-Laws under sections 17(24), 17(36) and 34(19) of the Planning Act.

As well, please remove sections 3(2), 3(4) and 5(8) of Schedule 12. These sections seek to remove the appeal rights of the public retroactively if a hearing on the merits of an Official Plan or Zoning By-Law has not been scheduled by April 10, 2024. The timeline is too tight. It's unfair to citizens who have already paid hundreds of dollars to lawyers and expert witnesses to not have the right to proceed with the appeal.