July 26 OMB PHC#4
About 25 community members attended a one day Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) Pre-Hearing Conference (PHC) on July 26th. This session was held to sort out the procedural aspects of which cases would be heard, which can be settled without a hearing, and who would have status to be part of the proceedings which are already scheduled for November 21 to December 9, 2016. It was Pre-Hearing Conference (PHC) #4 for the RioCan appeal of the City of Toronto’s Official Plan Amendment (OPA) for the Bayview Focus Area and PHC #1 for RioCan’s Zoning Bylaw Amendment (ZBA) for their proposed development at 660 Eglinton East (Sunnybrook Plaza).
The results of the July 26 PHC were:
- The LPOA requested and was granted Party status by the Chair. This means that the LPOA will be able to call witnesses and cross-examine the City and the other side’s witnesses. RioCan and the City already had Party status.
- Five individuals requested and were granted Participant status, which means they can make a formal submission to the Board. The five were: Adam Brueckner, Linda Martin, both residents of Bessborough Drive, Marney Charles, resident of the condominium building at 1801 Bayview, David Sprague, resident of Hanna Road, and Heather Mitchell, resident of Cleveland Street.
- The Chair refused to allow a request from RioCan and the City for a mediation, as the Board procedures for establishing mediation had not been followed. From our perspective this was a relief as this might have occurred without the LPOA and residents being part of the discussion. Now that the LPOA is a Party, in future we will be part of whatever goes on.
- A date was set for another Pre-Hearing Conference (October 12) when the Issues List (i.e. the topics for which evidence will be brought forward) and the procedures for the Hearing will be decided by the Chair.
- The next step for the LPOA and the residents is to prepare for the November-December hearing, including submitting what we see to be the key issues for the Issues List, and working with our lawyer and our planner on our case.
- The other thing that happened was with respect to the OP for townhouses west of Hanna on the south side of Eglinton where the LPOA has appealed the OPA, and a property owner has come out in support of the City. The owner (Lindsay Lorimer) claimed they already had Party status and the Chair did not agree and deferred a decision to the Oct. 12 PHC.