Open Data Requirement

12th floor, West Tower, City Hall
100 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON M5H 2N2
Attention: Marilyn Toft

Re: EX22.13 Open Data Requirement at All City of Toronto Standing Committees Boards and Agencies

Dear Mayor Tory and Members of City Council,

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. 

From a resident perspective, users of open data include residents seeking information regarding local planning and building construction matters who require access to information such as Committee of Adjustment (CofA) applications and decisions (closed files), and building permits (closed files). 

We note that the closed Building Permit data has recently been updated; however the closed CofA Decisions spreadsheets have not been available since 2017.  Further we note that Etobicoke and York CofA no longer posts the Decisions in the Application Information Centre; the three other planning districts continue to provide these Decisions in the AIC.

Yours truly,

---

cc: Gregg Lintern, Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning
Michael Mizzi, Director, Committee of Adjustment and Zoning, City Planning
Will Johnston, Chief Building Official