Dale Duncan at City Hall: Feb. 15, 2007

Everyone’s bored of the board

If there’s one thing city council can agree on these days, it’s that the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) sucks. Even Rob Ford, council’s notorious dissenter, says the provincially appointed body, the final word on development applications in Toronto, should be scrapped. His opinion didn’t prevent him from voting against the motion to appeal the OMB’s decision to allow developers in the Queen West Triangle (QWT) to build a cluster of towering residential units. Not that his vote made any difference — the motion passed with flying colours. And though chances of actually winning the appeal are slim, most agreed that it was more about “sending the province the message that we’re not going to take it anymore,” to quote Scarborough Ward 44 councillor Ron Moeser.

The fight against the all-powerful OMB looks good on city council and Mayor David Miller. Our municipal government, the underdog, is up against “a Frankenstein monster that is out of control,” says Glenn De Baeremaeker. “It must be destroyed. It must be eliminated.”

With rhetoric like this being flung around council chambers, it’s easy to forget that the OMB isn’t the only thing to blame for bad planning in this city. Council should share some of the responsibility — in the case of the QWT, it could have voted to save 48 Abell, which houses live-work studios that many councillors are now bemoaning the loss of. It also could have set up an interim control bylaw (which would have put a hold on development, giving the city and the community the time it needed to develop coherent plans for the area).

Here’s hoping that council’s sudden realization that good planning is important in this city motivates them to do more than fight to get rid of the OMB. Council needs to start thinking about what it can do under regrettable circumstances, at least for the time being.

North York councillor John Filion was one of the few councillors to point out that the planning department might need more cash. “[The QWT decision] is not the only injustice by the OMB; it’s not even the worst,” he says. “Yes, we need to pay attention to Queen Street West, but we also have to pay attention to applications in other wards. I have several coming up where just as much, if not more, damage will be done to the official plan. We need to give the planning department and legal department the resources they need.”

Never waste an opportunity to speak

“Did you have a motion?” asks the Speaker, Sandra Bussin, somewhat confused after listening to Rob Ford ramble on about where he stands on the OMB.

Not having much more to say, Ford pumps his fist in the air and shouts: “Vote Conservative October 4th!” and then, smiling, takes his seat.

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Spacing‘s managing editor Dale Duncan writes a weekly column on City Hall. Each week we’ll post her columns on the Spacing Wire — you can also read it on Eye Weekly‘s website.