In your face, OMB!
It says a lot about planning in this city that no one expects the government body in charge of making final decisions on development applications to consider Toronto’s Official Plan. What about the desires of the people that live in the neighbourhood? Or the decisions made by locally elected officials? These things aren’t always expected to hold much sway either. It’s no wonder, then, that the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) — the provincially appointed body that has the power to overturn planning decisions made by city council — has developed a growing number of enemies calling for its abolishment.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the OMB is that no matter how much Torontonians scream and shout about the problems associated with it, the province doesn’t seem to want to listen. That’s why a recent ruling made by a Divisional Court regarding the OMB’s approval of development in the Queen West Triangle is so satisfying — not only did it rule that the board failed to provide reasonable justifications for their decision, it also found that the government body disregarded evidence before reaching its verdict.
The court’s decision paints a disturbing picture of the organization that’s played such a big role in shaping Toronto’s future. In the case of the OMB’s recent rulings for development along West Queen West, the court argued, “the board’s reasons are devoid of any discussion of the Planning Act, Provincial Policy Statements and the city’s Official Plan as they apply to these lands.†Even worse: “The board provides no rationale or analysis to support its conclusion that the projects were in the public interest.â€
As it turns out, those who claimed the OMB operates according to its own whims aren’t necessarily that far off. While both the city and locals argued that having buildings that would support employment (in addition to residences) was vital to the former industrial area, the OMB argued that Toronto’s need to see a growth in job opportunities would be best fulfilled by the creation of employment-only districts. As the Divisional Court ruling pointed out, this “ignores evidence that the majority of employment in Toronto is in mixed-use areas,†not to mention city policies aimed at ensuring this remains the case.
Still, plans for the Queen West Triangle have not turned out as the community hoped they would — three days before the Divisional Court offered its ruling, nervous city planners who never expected the court to rule in their favour opted to settle with two of the three developers. But the court’s judgment provides a silver lining to those across the city who have called the OMB’s relevance into question. “This decision means that the city has the opportunity to take a far more courageous stance in the future,†says Margie Zeidler, a member of West Queen West’s neighbourhood association Active 18. “The question is: will they?â€
16 comments
Nobody came out looking very good in this or many other OMB fiascos.
When I asked my Liberal MPP Tony Ruprecht about the OMB he listened, smiled, then drove away. Just like all the other Toronto Liberals who seem unable to stand up for Toronto.
ok, now at least there’s one comment….
What you don’t know (because I deal with staff and Council at lots of municipalities all the time) is that the politicians LOOOOOVE the OMB. It takes the decision making out of their hands allowing them to jump up and down and yell “told you so” at every opportunity….even though the Board has applied Council directive (OP’s, ZBL’s etc.) in an even manner.
Queen West, if there was a mistake made, is very very rare at the OMB.
I’m still speechless about the settlement.
I am so unimpressed by post Mel Lastman City Hall. At least with Mel we knew we had an incompetent populist boob who was overmatched by the job of running Mike Harris’s brand new amalgmated Toronto.
Miller‘s City Hall is gutless and bloated.
Well, at least we have the walk lights that count down.
I find it difficult to take Margie Zeidler seriously since I watched “Last Call at the Gladstone Hotel”. A nice person, undoubtedly, but as an authority on the development of Queen West I find her lacking.
According to a report published on the Active-18 web site, 48 Abell doesn’t come up to fire code. The building planned to replace it will have 100 additional rent geared to income units, including a number of live-work spaces intended for artists.
Now I know that these facts, by themselves, do not and should not determine the outcome of the discussion over the fate of Queen West. All the same, I find it frustrating that questions of safety and of affordable housing get passed over so easily. Yes, we should address the nature of the OMB; yes, we should talk about ways of bringing older buildings up to code as opposed to replacing them. But it doesn’t do to discuss the issue as though no reason for replacing 48 Abell existed, or as though we don’t desperately need a hundred more units of affordable housing.
I kind of don’t care about a crap building like 48 Abell. I think it really undermines the fight to save actual good/historic/whatever buildings. Active 18 is a great community effort, and I hope they help guide the queen west triangle into a good future — but give up on this building and it’s squeaky wheel artists-with-agency residents.
Mark >> You make excellent comments on this blog, but the one just above is one I wouldn’t expect from you. When you mismiss something, you write it out. But to judge Ms Zeidler on that film reveals that you may just be tired and grumpy tonight.
Last Call at the Gladstone had an agenda — two guys were losing their fave watering hole and didn’t like it. How can you say see’s lackikng??? She wasn’t even interviewed in the doc, just clips used from her forays into the hotel (mostly to save it). She was the one that gave them permission to shoot the doc *even when she knew they had an axe to grind.*
She’s built 401 Richmond, and 215 Spadina and saved the Galdstone from a soul-less dink (the partner in the doc whose name I can’t recall).
Ms. Zeidler is one fo the few developers in the city that has shown heart and has a excellent understanding of the city and how to make it grow. Having heard her speak at universities, conferences, and panels, there is probably *no other* developer in the city that could understand the nuances of West Queen West.
I’m very disapointed in the way the Miller team handled this one.I still can’t accept that the legal team dropped out so suddenly, there must be an explanation.Where is adam giambrone on this one?
Ever noticed that whenever politicians cut they never start from the top? When Mike Harris started gutting Ontario to bring down the deficit why didn’t he start by closing down the OMB or the Ontario Film Review Board and all other kinds of useless bureaucracy?
I would like to see a study showing how much the OMB costs tax payers a year and what were the losses in jobs and property tax revenues on the city due the incompetent decisions of a pro-developer organization like the OMB. I want to see the mayor show some guts and take the OMB to court to try to stop them from making any future rulings in Toronto. I doubt anything will be done. I agree 100% with Kevin: “Miller‘s City Hall is gutless and bloated.”
The Zeidler family has done a lot of good development, but they’re still developers and they have a huge financial interest in that area – they own a lot of property nearby, not just the Gladstone. So, I’d like to see a little more skepticism of her & her family’s involvement in “community” activism regarding development.
An earlier comment post didn’t make it through so…
The “planning” of TO is badly flawed, the OMB is a big problem though I think it’s also true that the politicians like it to blame/make decisions.
But going beyond this mess there are other basic issues that the City is failing to act upon.
Each demolition of a sound large building is an urban oil spill, and the waste of the embodied energy adds to cliamte change problems. Sure, the 48 Abell is a bit challenged in some ways, but we must start to save our built environment as a planetary survival tool.
We’re also failing to think of improving transit say as per the moving to 2011 plan which saw using the rail corridor adjacent as a transitway. If not the rail corridor, then what about the land right beside it, maybe now permanently built up and yet another major opportunity lost. The use of the transport corridor for transit must be part of our thinking though it’s also true the Front St. Extension would totally foul up this opportunity too, as it would get too complex in the critical piece of land just past Bathurst St. So while the Weston Community Coalition’s idea of a transitway/subway instead of the Blue 22 might be too much, what about diverting some of the Queen cars down beside the railtracks to Front St. and then into the core, to express that service a bit, and restore transit to Front St.?
Nobody’s home though for the longer term.
And while we’re all human, I’d put the Zeidlers up above many of us.
A shame that the planners opted to settle for so few concessions, but to be honest, in their place I would likely have done the same. The OMB’s planning-by-fiat has gone on essentially unchallenged for so long that the city had no reason to expect any court challenge to be successful. The city, to my eyes, took the OMB to court mostly for optics, and I’ll bet they’re as surprised as anyone that they actually won. Still, this sets good precedent: that a planning body can actually be held to relevant planning directives. Imagine that.
Hamish obviously has OCD and cannot help but drag his pet issues into a focused discussion.
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Cheap personal slur
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Prolific commentor who many wish would stop doing so.
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copycat/censor who bolsters his/her own slagging and unoriginal posts by purporting without substantiation to be a spokesperson for “many” while supporting ad hominem attacks (i.e. bully).