{"id":1486,"date":"2007-01-25T23:51:09","date_gmt":"2007-01-26T03:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=1486"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:52:08","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:52:08","slug":"toronto-can-and-must-set-up-an-alternative-to-the-omb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/01\/25\/toronto-can-and-must-set-up-an-alternative-to-the-omb\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto can and must set up an alternative to the OMB"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm1.static.flickr.com\/26\/103641665_57074331b8.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Christopher Hume, interviewing former Toronto chief planner Paul Bedford, has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/News\/article\/174418\">written one of the best columns<\/a> I&#8217;ve seen so far about the issue of the Ontario Municipal Board. Essentially, Hume and Bedford point out that under the new Toronto Act, the city can set up its own alternative land use review board, and they say Toronto has to seize the opportunity now. Says Bedford, &#8220;<span id=\"ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder_article_NavWebPart_Article_ctl00___BodyLineup__\">The time has come for the city to break free of the OMB and take control of its destiny.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder_article_NavWebPart_Article_ctl00___BodyLineup__\"><\/span>Bear in mind that Hume is no &#8220;NIMBY&#8221; type &#8212; on the contrary, he is generally favourable towards new development and regularly chastises Torontonians for not liking tall buildings. But he recognizes that the current, basically random and arbitrary situation with regard to managing development is resulting in a mediocre hodge-podge of building that does no good for anyone in the long run.<\/p>\n<p>He puts his finger on the problem when he says that the overshadowing presence of the OMB &#8220;infantilizes&#8221; planning in Toronto. No-one has to take responsibility for their actions. Developers can propose whatever they think they can get away with, with no regard to the city fabric, while local communities can dig in their heels and oppose everything with no regard for the need for the city to grow. There&#8217;s no reason to compromise &#8212; in the end, it&#8217;s the OMB that will decide.<\/p>\n<p>A Toronto-based review body that based decisions on the city&#8217;s Official Plan would make a big difference. The Official Plan is a thoughtful, balanced and flexible document that calls for intensification but shapes it in specific, community-friendly ways. As well as controlling the excesses of developers, a transparent process that adheres to established rules might reduce knee-jerk resistance to new plans that fit into this controlled intensification model.<\/p>\n<p>The question is, will Mayor Miller make any serious effort to make this happen quickly? The whole development issue is something of a blind spot for Miller &#8212; it doesn&#8217;t seem very high on his agenda. But it should be.  It&#8217;s an issue that gets a lot of politically active Torontonians all across the city very worked up. Some of them, such as the Active 18 group on Queen West, are thoughtful about it and feel that the problem is the wrong type of development. Others, both downtown and in the suburbs, simply don&#8217;t want any change at all. If nothing is done about the issue and a decent centre-right candidate can tap into this resentment in the next election, Miller will be in serious trouble not just in the suburbs, but also in his core support in the centre of the city.<\/p>\n<p>I think this is the kind of issue where public pressure and letter-writing\/emails\/faxes might help. If Torontonians can get the Mayor to realize this is an issue that they really care about and want addressed quickly and decisively, a really positive change could happen quickly. So I&#8217;m hoping people will take up Hume and Bedford&#8217;s call, and push the Mayor to act. Toronto needs to take control of its own future.<\/p>\n<p><em>photo by <a href=\"http:\/\/flickr.com\/photos\/kevinsteele\/\">Kevin Steele<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christopher Hume, interviewing former Toronto chief planner Paul Bedford, has written one of the best columns I&#8217;ve seen so far about the issue of the Ontario Municipal Board. Essentially, Hume and Bedford point out that under the new Toronto Act, the city can set up its own alternative land use review board, and they say<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/01\/25\/toronto-can-and-must-set-up-an-alternative-to-the-omb\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Toronto can and must set up an alternative to the OMB&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4006,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,20],"tags":[1404,340,666,426,657,404,1176,2944,12,316,19],"class_list":["post-1486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-urban-design","tag-chief-planner","tag-christopher-hume","tag-kevin-steele","tag-mayor","tag-miller","tag-official","tag-ontario-municipal-board","tag-paul-bedford","tag-planning","tag-queen","tag-toronto"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Toronto can and must set up an alternative to the OMB - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/01\/25\/toronto-can-and-must-set-up-an-alternative-to-the-omb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Toronto can and must set up an alternative to the OMB - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christopher Hume, interviewing former Toronto chief planner Paul Bedford, has written one of the best columns I&#8217;ve seen so far about the issue of the Ontario Municipal Board. 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