Today the Ontario government proposed new legislation that would give councils and citizens more power to determine what developments go ahead, and influence the architecture and design of proposed new buildings. It would also restrict powers of the Ontario Municipal Board, the independent tribunal that rules on land use complaints, by scaling back on its current duties as decision-maker to merely hearing appeals on local planning matters. Read the whole article here.
Christopher Hume’s column in the Toronto Star, which appeared before the legislation was announced today, explains what this means to residents of Toronto.