An appeal to a municipal decision granting a zoning amendment for Fairview Island will be the first to be heard under the new Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, which replaced the Ontario Municipal Board on April 3.
“For our existing appeals that have been submitted to the Ontario Municipal Board, they will all continue to be Ontario Municipal Board appeals, save and except for the Fairview Island zoning amendment,” Town Manager of Planning Services Kirstin Maxwell told planning committee at its April 11 meeting.
“Committee may see some changes in some of our notices and decisions to reflect some of the new requirements that we have to follow,” said Maxwell.
She said under the new regime, councils will need to explain their decisions. So if committee and ultimately Town council are not adopting a recommendation from municipal staff, “we’re going to have to go into more detail as to why council’s decisions are being made the way they are. So it’s just something that we have to look at as we move forward,” added Maxwell.
She said more information would be provided on the new appeal system as it rolls out.
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Such a step has long been necessary. Planning committees consider applications carefully and councils, in general, rubber-stamp them. Planners, however, spend at least four years in university to acquire the acumen to make their decisions in concert with the OP. It always surprises me, therefore, that they are overruled as frequently as they are.
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I am, perhaps, reading too much into this (as is my wont). But Ms. Maxwell’s assertion that more information about the new system will be available “as it rolls out” sounds as if the government is making it up as it goes along. Say it ain’t so, Joe.
Hopefully this results in control of decisions that affect this Community being made by people who live here and for People who live here.The OMB was often an expensive disaster..Sorry I missed the Funeral !