Mandatory Pre-Application Consultation Amendments

Making pre-application consultation a mandatory, rather than a voluntary step in the development review process has been identified by internal and external stakeholders, and through jurisdictional review, as a first step in addressing inconsistencies that have implications for application quality, staff productivity, overall time to decision and city-building outcomes.

The report states that jurisdictional research indicates that improvements to the early stages of the development review process, including requiring pre-application consultation, results in the submission of higher-quality applications, increases the number of applications moving from pre-application consultation to actual submission, reduces the overall number of circulations, and helps to establish mutual accountability early on.

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City of Toronto Council Chamber

Municipal Conflict of Interest Act

In January, 2021, we provided information on the Public Inquiry which recommended a conflict-of-interest overhaul for municipal councillors referencing Frank Marrocco’s report – Report of the Collingwood Judicial Inquiry, Transparency and the Public Trust. One of his recommendations is to broaden the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act to expand the definition of the personal or family interest that can put a politician in a conflict of interest.

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TLAB – Chair’s Annual Report

Given the number of Committee of Adjustment applications in our members’ neighbourhoods, many residents and residents associations have been actively involved in TLAB appeals since its inception in 2017. The TLAB appeal process is important to residents as it greatly affects their homes and the character of their neighbourhoods,

We appreciate the comprehensive review and report by TLAB Chair, Dino Lombardi. However, it is apparent that while the report reports on various matters related to the ongoing operation of the TLAB, it fails to look deeper into some of the matters that concern residents. TLAB Public Business Meetings have been established, but these are largely ineffective as mechanisms to provide input from residents. Procedure and rules continue to be added to the processes without effective input from residents.

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Toronto Buildings Review

FoNTRA representatives were part of the consultation process leading up to this report, including a meeting with Will Johnston, Chief Building Official. Our focus in that meeting was on residents as “customers” as residents are impacted by various functions undertaken by Toronto Buildings.

Errors in the reports on variances required for Committee of Adjustment applications and the errors in the use of waivers by applicants cause confusion and delays at the Committee of Adjustment hearings as well as approval of incorrect variances. There is also confusion and concern about issues that are now covered by the Building Code, such as responsibility for safely and damages to neighbouring properties related to construction next door, whether  lot lines or party walls. Also variable and lack of enforcement can be an issue.

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Toronto Street Car

Moving Ontarians More Safely

The Act gives Toronto permission to install safety cameras on streetcars to find and fine drivers who speed by a streetcar at a transit stop, putting riders at risk.

The Act also includes Bill 148 The Doored But Not Ignored Bill to provide better protections for cyclists. Dooring is one of the most common causes of injury for cyclists, but it’s not considered a collision under the Highway Traffic Act.

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Provincial Transit-Oriented Communities Program

We join many community-based groups including resident, business, service, environmental and heritage organizations to express our support for the direction of the staff report, and our concern for the unilateral approach of the provincial government in its Transit-Oriented Communities Program.

We are concerned that what is happening now at the First Parliament site is a preview of what communities may expect anywhere that the province has a planned transit station, and where there is an opportunity to hand land to the private sector to raise revenues!

Based on our experience to date with the Eglinton Crosstown and the Ontario Lines, especially the lack of transparency in decision-making, we fear that the rush to accelerate planning and maximize provincial revenues will compromise long-term community building, heritage conservation, and complete communities, including affordable housing, community space, and public open space on these sites.

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Call to release lease agreement terms for Canada Square

Yonge and Eglinton is designated as a “Growth Centre” and has become an extremely “successful” one at that, i.e. it has far exceeded the population targets set. However this growth has occurred at the expense of quality of life, amid deficiencies in community services that are increasingly apparent to the residents and neighbours.

Most recently the City is reviewing an application for the Canada Square site, a lynchpin to the whole area, given its location at the crossing of the subway and soon to be completed LRT, and the fast developing residential neighbourhoods spreading out from all four corners. The application by Oxford Properties simply cannot be treated like a regular development application given the many factors to be addressed.

FoNTRA supports Councillors Colle and Robinson Motion MM32.5 and recommends that the relevant terms of the 2018 City/Oxford agreement be made public that could affect the appropriate and unfettered decision-making for the Canada Square site.

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E-scooters – Accessibility and Insurance Issues

We appreciate the extensive research and stakeholder consultations now being reported on by Transportation Services Division staff, including the learning from other jurisdictions with more experience on the matter. Experiments in large cities such as Chicago, New York, London, and Amsterdam, which have comparable population size and density to Toronto, point to many unresolved issues associated with the use of e-scooters. The experience of e-scooter-associated issues in those cities are more likely to be similar and relevant, than that of smaller cities like Ottawa and Calgary. However, we note that even Ottawa, one of those smaller cities, has banned e-scooters from its most popular destination, the Byward Market, and from National Capital Commission walkways and paths.

The staff report outlines in detail the unique risk factors associated with Toronto’s existing public infrastructure – both road and sidewalk design – that did not contemplate the addition of e-scooters. These include:

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Update on Committee of Adjustment Virtual Public Hearings

FoNTRA has been active in bringing forward the concerns of residents across the area about the Committee of Adjustment, and interrelated processes in residential infill, such as neighbourhood planning guidelines, zoning review, TLAB appeals, and construction issues.

The Report responds to City Council direction and requests related to the COVID related measures taken by City Planning in the past year, which focus on four operational matters: application volume; staffing and panel member capacity; public notification improvements; and participation at virtual public hearings. The Report’s basic message is all about efficiency in handling volume, not about making decisions that are fair, that are based on input from neighbours, and that respect and maintain neighbourhood character. 

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Open Data Requirement

This is to express the strong support of the Federation of North Toronto Residents Associations (FoNTRA) for the Motion put forward by Councillor Paul Ainslie, Chair, General Government and Licensing Committee, and recommended by Executive Committee, as follows:

  1. City Council direct the City Manager to implement mandatory open data requirements in all reports submitted to standing committees for the purposes of ensuring the City can continue to build its open data platform, and City Council request Standing Committee Chairs to monitor their agendas for compliance with this requirement.

We appreciate the Motion’s reinforcement of the City’s commitment to Open Government and taking practical steps to ensure that the Open Data policy is implemented. 

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Review of Codes of Conduct for Members of Council, Local Boards and Adjudicative Boards

There is unquestionably a need for the City to review and update its Codes of Conduct for elected and appointed officials, especially in light of the Collingwood Judicial Inquiry which recommended in November 2020 that municipal codes of conduct across Ontario, and related provincial legislation, be updated to improve transparency in local government. And the Government of Ontario has recently announced consultations, and a private members bill amending the City of Toronto Act, 2006 has been introduced, to specifically address workplace harassment and discrimination committed by members of Council. While the Motion header indicates the Review will cover Members of Council, Local Boards and Adjudicative Boards, the report appears to have a strong focus on Members of Council. We would recommend that equal attention should be focussed on Codes of Conduct application to Members of Local Boards and Adjudicative Boards also.

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Improving Virtual Community Consultation Meetings

This is to express FoNTRA’s strong support for Councillor Robinson’s Motion to be considered by City Council at its meeting of April 7, 2021:

City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, to review virtual planning consultation meetings, in consultation with members of the public, and report back to Planning and Housing Committee in the second quarter of 2021 with recommendations for improvement, including:

  1. guidelines and practices to ensure that virtual community consultation meetings are consistent and effective;
  2. strategies to improve opportunities for members of the public to participate in virtual community consultation meetings;
  3. best practices related to virtual consultation in other jurisdictions; and
  4. opportunities to improve accessibility for members of the public and, in particular, members of the public participating by phone.

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GTA West Highway (413)

FoNTRA has serious concerns with the Ontario government’s plans to exempt the GTA West highway from a full and thorough environmental assessment, and instead move to a streamlined assessment. This highway represents the start of what is in essence a whole new 400 series highway system north of Toronto, and requires a thorough and complete environmental assessment to determine its true impacts.

Our concerns may be summarized as follows:

  1. The highway, if built, would encourage and facilitate an unprecedented level of urban sprawl in the GTA, which would destroy important green spaces and prime farmland.
  2. The cost to taxpayers is significant, which will be borne by the Provincial Government alone (the Federal Government has indicated it will NOT cost-share).

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Affordable Housing (The Foundry)

This is in response to your Ministry’s request for input from residents’ groups and the public “on how some elements of the existing structures could inform development” of the provincially owned property at 153-185 Eastern Avenue. The request indicates that the Province of Ontario intends to “create new affordable and market housing, and community space, in response to numerous requests from the City of Toronto for increased affordable housing”.

This request comes after the Province’s demolition of The Foundry has been temporarily stopped per an Interim Court Order. The court hearing has been adjourned to give all parties more time to come to a resolution.  However the Province’s initiation of a one-way process via submission of email comments and suggestions is insufficient and inadequate.  Instead a regular two-way dialogue with the community must take place.

The Court ordered the Province to continue the pause on demolition because there is compelling evidence that the Province has not met its own standards under the Ontario Heritage Act and has breached heritage-related commitments in a subdivision agreement.

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TLAB Annual Report and Evaluation Process

Minutes of the December 2, 2020 meeting are not posted, but we recall the Past Chair Ian Lord saying in that meeting that he would respond to FoNTRA’s correspondence regarding the TLAB Annual Report. However, FoNTRA has not received the promised response.

FoNTRA’s submission (as quoted from our correspondence) is as follows:

“Given the importance of the Chair’s Annual Report in providing for transparency about TLAB’s operation and results, we suggest that the TLAB Annual Report be formally received and approved at a Business Meeting. This could be established as a procedure or “rule”. Assuming consideration of the item occurred in open session, this would allow an opportunity for input and deputation by all stakeholders, such as residents associations, on matters raised by the Report”.

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Metrolinx – Don Valley Layover Facility

We will briefly summarize our position relative to the DVTLF:

  • Our resident associations are in principle supportive of GO Transit expansion and recognize the operational needs of the transit system;
  • However due to the technical nature and complexity we are unable to assess in a meaningful way most of the information made available for this project. We are therefore in a position of having to ”trust you” with regard to the rationale for and the scope of the project;
  • We note the shift of location of the proposed Facility to north of the Viaduct and the reduction of the footprint of the project in an effort to minimize its environmental impact;
  • We note the location of the facility straddling the former Don Branch line and we wonder whether Metrolinx has consulted with the federal government and VIA Rail regarding its plans for High Frequency Rail (HFR) in the Ottawa to Toronto corridor and whether the Don Branch figures into this plan?;
  • We understand that Metrolinx has consulted with Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) regarding additions/improvements to public facilities close to/serving the Don Trail.

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Proposed implementation of provisions in the Planning Act

The recently enacted legislative changes to the Planning Act enhance the Minister’s authority for zoning orders across the province. This enhanced authority does not apply to lands within the Greenbelt Area. The enhanced authority allows the Minister to:

  • require inclusionary zoning for affordable housing (inclusionary zoning),
  • remove municipal use of site plan control and require agreements between the municipality and development proponent (or landowner) concerning site plan matters, and;
  • make amendments to Minister’s Zoning Orders that use any of these enhanced authorities without first giving public notice.

The changes are not helpful.  Our issues with the expanded use of MZOs are:

  1. Lack of relevant consultation with Bill 197 – will the province listen to this round?

We find that the government’s consultations on legislation it has already passed are a cynical attempt to green-wash legislation that was subject to totally inadequate consultation in the course of the legislative process before it was passed.

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Study Work Program Update

FoNTRA understands the importance of a vital and active planning function to the long-term health of the whole city, including thriving and complete communities. We recommend:

  • That City Council approve additional resources in the 2021 Toronto Budget for City Planning Division’s Study Work Program; and
  • that City Planning Division ensure that Studies, Plans and Guidelines directed to protection of neighbourhood character, i.e. HCD, CHRA, and Neighbourhood Guidelines are prioritized.  

City Planning Division’s activities basically consist of two streams: the Study Work Program, and Development Review. The Study Work Program, which includes such activities as Avenue Studies, Secondary Plans, Zoning By-law Updates, Heritage Conservation District (HCD) Studies, Community Heritage Resource Assessments (CHRA) and neighbourhood-specific Design Guidelines, is critical in order to advance the City’s strategic priorities, and also to strengthen the position of the City in dealing with development applications. It is also vital in dealing with a provincial government that does not respect the authority and jurisdiction of the City.

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City Planning Study Work Program Update

FoNTRA understands the importance of a vital and active planning function to the long-term health of the whole city, including thriving and complete communities. We recommend:

  • That City Council approve additional resources in the 2021 Toronto Budget for City Planning Division’s Study Work Program; and
  • that City Planning Division ensure that Studies, Plans and Guidelines directed to protection of neighbourhood character, i.e. HCD, CHRA, and Neighbourhood Guidelines are prioritized.

City Planning Division’s activities basically consist of two streams: the Study Work Program, and Development Review. The Study Work Program, which includes such activities as Avenue Studies, Secondary Plans, Zoning By-law Updates, Heritage Conservation District (HCD) Studies, Community Heritage Resource Assessments (CHRA) and neighbourhood-specific Design Guidelines, is critical in order to advance the City’s strategic priorities, and also to strengthen the position of the City in dealing with development applications. It is also vital in dealing with a provincial government that does not respect the authority and jurisdiction of the City.

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Municipal Muffler: Better Tools for Vehicular Noise Enforcement

Our members agree that loud vehicular emissions continue to be a major problem on many arterials and freeways around the City, as well as locations like plaza parking lots. We understand that enforcement is difficult. The use of occasional Police check points to catch offenders cannot be effective. The City of Toronto should be taking a proactive approach to reducing excessive noise, which is not just annoying, it is a health issue. Emerging technologies and equipment can offer more effective ways to enforce the noise by-laws.

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