Report to: Development Services Committee Report Date: November 20, 2007
SUBJECT: Town
Initiated Official Plan Amendment to Set Out the Requirements for Complete Official
Plan, Zoning By-Law, Subdivision and Consent Applications Submissions, and Consultation By-Law
Requirements for Official Plan, Zoning By-Law, Plan of Subdivision and Site
Plan Applications
File:
OP.07-131262
PREPARED BY: Dave
Miller, Senior Project Coordinator, Extension 4960
RECOMMENDATION:
That the staff report entitled “Town Initiated Official Plan
Amendment to Set Out the Requirements for Complete Official Plan, Zoning
By-Law, Subdivision and Consent Applications Submissions,
and Consultation By-Law Requirements for Official Plan, Zoning By-Law, Plan of
Subdivision and Site Plan Applications”, dated November 20, 2007 be received;
THAT a Public Meeting be held to consider the Town
initiated Official Plan (OP.07-131262) amendment (Appendix ‘A’) to add policies
to the Official Plan to set out requirements for complete Official Plan, Zoning
By-law, Subdivision and Consent applications;
THAT notice of the Public Meeting be advertised in the
local papers, after the Town has received confirmation from York Region
regarding their determination whether or not the proposed Official Plan is of local
significance, and is exempt from Regional approval;
That
By-law 2002-276, “TO IMPOSE FEES OR CHARGES FOR SERVICES OR ACTIVITIES PROVIDED
OR DONE BY THE TOWN OF MARKHAM” be amended to increase the Meeting Notice Fee
of $1.75 per notice to $2.25 per notice
And that Staff be authorized and directed to do all things
necessary to give effect to this resolution.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
In the fall of 2006 the Province
of Ontario amended the Planning Act (Bill 51).
Bill 51 came into force on January
1, 2007. Staff provided a
Bill 51 overview in a report to Development Services Committee on April 3,
2007. Bill 51 modified the Planning Act,
changing land use planning processes in a number of ways.
This report deals with two of many land use planning
application procedures, that were modified by Bill 51. The two areas are:
i)
adding to the Town’s Official Plan, submission
requirements for Complete Applications; and
ii)
creating a By-law to require agents and/or owners to
consult with the Town, before submitting certain types of land use planning
applications.
The application types that may
be subject to these procedures are listed below.
Complete Applications to be defined
Council may, through Official Plan policies, establish
requirements for applicants/owners to provide additional information/materials
prior to an application being accepted for processing. The application types that may be subject to
these procedures are:
i)
Official Plan amendment;
ii)
Zoning By-Law amendment;
iii)
Plan of Subdivision/Condominium; and
iv)
Consent.
To require development proponents to provide additional
information/material, beyond the minimum submission requirements specified in
the Planning Act regulations, the Town’s Official Plan must be amended,
administrative procedures changed and application forms and notices
revised. A Public Meeting is required.
Planning and Urban Design Department staff developed a draft
Complete Application Official Plan amendment, which has been refined in
consultation with a working group of development industry representatives, as
part of the Make It Happen Task Force
during the summer of 2007. (Draft
Official Plan amendment attached as Appendix ‘A’.)
Consultation prior to submission of an application to be required
Council may, by passing a By-law, require applicants/owners
to consult with Town staff before a land use planning application is
submitted. The application types that
may be subject to these procedures are:
i)
Official Plan Amendment;
ii)
Zoning By-Law Amendment;
iii)
Plan of Subdivision/Condominium; and
iv)
Site Plan.
The Town must allow applicants
to consult prior to submitting Official Plan
amendments, Zoning
By-law amendments, Draft Plans of Subdivision and/or Site Plan
applications, and it is our practice to encourage proponents to meet and
consult with staff prior to the submission of an application.
To require development proponents to meet with staff before
submitting a land use planning application a By-law must be passed,
administrative procedures changed and application forms and notices
revised. A draft of the Consultation
By-law is also attached. (See Appendix
‘B’.) A Statutory Public Meeting is not
required. However, it may be appropriate
to invite public comment on the proposed consultation By-law.
Report concludes a Public Meeting regarding the Proposed Official Plan Amendment
should be held
This report concludes that a Public Meeting should be held
to obtain public input on the proposed Complete Application Official Plan
Amendment.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Development Services
Commission staff are not recommending a fee for the consultation meeting
Development
Services Commission staff are not recommending that the Town charge a separate
fee for the required consultation meeting for two reasons:
i)
at
this time staff don’t expect that the consultation meeting process will appreciably
affect the Commission’s budget; and
ii) a separate consultation fee paid
prior to the submission of an application will be a constraint, at a time in
the process, when staff is hoping to advance interaction with development
proponents.
If
additional costs are incurred during the consultation and complete application
phase, they will likely be offset by savings generated later in the
process. However, if it is determined
that additional costs are routinely incurred and not offset by savings later in
the process, the application fees in the Fee By-law can be adjusted. If adjustments to the Fee By-law are
necessary staff will account for these process changes costs when amendments to
the Fee By-law are recommended.
The Clerk’s Department
have incurred additional costs for the notification now required for complete
applications
In addition
to the Public Meeting notification the Town is now required by the Planning
Act, as amended by Bill 51 to send out a notice to the public within 15 days of
an application being deemed complete.
This additional notice must be sent to the same property owners who will
be notified about a Public Meeting. This additional notification
has increased the Clerk’s Department postage costs. Presently, the Clerk’s Department charges applicants
$1.75 per notice for the circulation of planning notices under the Planning
Act. To cover the costs of the
additional mailing, it is recommended that the Meeting Notice Fee of $1.75 per
notice in By-law 2002-276, as amended be increased to $2.25.
PURPOSE:
This report provides recommendations about implementing two
new procedural tools added to the Planning Act in January 2007, with the
passage of Bill 51. The new procedural
tools outlined in this report relate to “Complete Applications” and
“Consultation” provisions. These tools
were introduced into the Planning Act by the Province, in part, to ensure that
complete and transparent information is provided to the municipality and the
public, to give stakeholders more opportunity to understand the development of
their community, and to engage the public earlier in the land use planning
application process.
BACKGROUND:
In the fall of 2003 and the
spring of 2004 the Province of Ontario
proposed changes to and amended the Planning
Act (Bill 26). At that time the Province
recognized that the changes proposed in Bill 26 addressed only some of the
concerns and issues associated with municipal land use planning processes. Consequently, the Province released a
discussion paper on Planning Act Reform and Implementation Tools in June
2004. The Provincial discussion paper
identified additional changes for consideration and comment. In the fall of 2006 the Province of Ontario
again amended the Planning Act (Bill 51).
Bill 51 came into force on January
1, 2007. Staff provided an
overview of Bill 51 changes in a Development Services Committee report, dated
April 3, 2007.
Bill 51
makes numerous amendments to the Planning
Act. These amendments modify many aspect
of the land use planning process. The
changes are intended to:
i)
provide tools to strengthen implementation of
provincial policies and municipal priorities;
ii) rules
to encourage early consultation with both the applicant and the public;
iii) prescribe
new requirements for information, materials and parties at Ontario Municipal
Board hearings; and
iv) improve
administrative planning processes, and clarify existing provisions in the Planning
Act and related regulations.
Implementation of the many changes Bill 51 made to the Planning
Act will take time and resources. This
report deals with two areas where new land use planning application procedures
are recommended; the addition of requirements into the Official Plan for
Complete Applications submissions, and the creation of a By-law that requires
development proponents to consult with Town staff.
Complete Applications
and Consultation to ensure complete and transparent information is provide to
the Town
Complete Applications and
Consultation provisions were introduced into the Planning Act by the Province,
in part, to ensure that complete and transparent information is provided to
municipalities and the public at the outset of the process, to give
stakeholders more opportunity to understand the development of their community,
and to engage the public earlier in the application process.
OPTIONS/DISCUSSION:
Complete Application additional information
and material (Official Plan Policies required to implement)
The
Planning Act now provides that Municipalities can require that any person or
public body (seeking to obtain the approval of an amendment to the Official
Plan, an amendment to a Zoning By-Law, the approval of a Plan of Subdivision or
the approval of a Consent) provide such other information or material that the
Council considers it needs to assess the application to make a decision, but
only if the Official Plan contains provisions relating to requirements. This is in addition to the information and
material required to be provided by the Planning Act Regulations.
Until the required information
is provided, Council may refuse to accept or consider an application, and the
statutory time period for Council to make a decision does not begin until a
complete application (as defined by the Planning Act regulations and in the
Official Plan) is received.
This information and material is in addition to the
information and material required by the Planning
Act and its regulations. The prescribed application information, required by
the Planning Act regulations, is generally
unchanged.
The
intent of the proposed Official Plan Amendment (attached as Appendix ‘A’ to
this report) is to set out what other information and material may be required
in support of an application. These
proposed requirements will be added to the Official Plan in accordance with
Sections 22(5) [Official Plan], 34(10.2) [Zoning By-law], 51(18) [Plan of
Subdivision] and 53(3) [Consent] of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990 c.P.13. A Public Meeting is required prior to the
enactment of the proposed Official Plan amendment.
A draft Complete Application Official Plan amendment was prepared in
consultation with a Make It Happen Task Force Working Group
Amending the
Official Plan to add policies regarding complete Consent, Official Plan, Draft
Plan of Subdivision and Zoning By-law amendment applications is appropriate. Planning and Urban Design Department
staff developed a draft Complete Application Official Plan amendment, which has
been refined in consultation with a working group of development industry
representatives, as part of the Make It Happen Task Force in the summer of
2007. (Draft Official Plan amendment
attached as Appendix ‘A’.)
The proposed
Official Plan amendment lists additional studies, plans and items that may be
required
The requirements proposed in the
draft Official Plan amendment include submission of a completed application
form (including all the information specified on the form) and a list of additional
studies, plans and items to be selected for each application type. To ensure information can be made available to
the public, it is appropriate to also require information and materials to be
submitted in an electronic format, such as a PDF. The proposed Official Plan amendment includes
a brief description of the general intent of most of the studies, plans and items
listed.
The specific requirements for any given application will be determined
depending on the phase and/or scale of the proposal, its location, its location
in relation to other land uses, and whether the proposal implements other
planning approvals that may have been previously obtained, prior to
consideration of the specific application.
Town
staff can request studies, plans and items not listed in the proposed Official
Plan amendment
There may also be additional studies, plans and/or
items required, that are not listed in the proposed Official Plan amendment,
that relate to the specific circumstances of the application. Town staff will be able to require submission
of such studies, plans and items. After
an application is deemed “complete” the Town, senior levels of government
and/or commenting agencies may still request the completion and submission of
additional information and/or materials, where reasonable and relevant to the
specific application before an application is approved.
Procedures to confirm that an application
is complete are required
Procedures must be established
to properly evaluate application completeness and to provide the required
notification. Staff anticipate that
prior to submitting an application staff will meet with the owner/agent to
discuss the proposal. Staff will provide
the owner with a list of studies, drawings, materials and/or other information
that must be submitted with the application in order for it to be considered
complete. Figure 1, attached shows the Town
and Planning Act timelines for the process.
Notice requirements for a complete
application
Within 30 days of receiving the
application the Town must notify the applicant that the application is complete
or not complete. Staff’s target will be
to notify the applicant within 10 days.
After it has been determined
that the application is complete, a notice of the complete application must be
prepared within 15 days, and delivered to the applicant and all specified
parties, including the public. The notice
of the complete application will be circulated in the same fashion as the
notice for a Public Meeting is currently circulated. Staff are already doing this for information
to be provided in accordance with the Planning Act regulations.
If it is determined an
application is incomplete the Town does not have to accept or further consider
the application. The applicant must be
notified of missing information, and the information provided before the
application can be reviewed. The
statutory time periods regarding filing of appeals to the Ontario Municipal
Board do not begin until a complete application has been received.
If there is a dispute over
whether the application is complete the Ontario Municipal Board can, by summary
motion, determine whether the information provided by the applicant meets the
requirements and/or the requirements are reasonable. The appeal period is 30 days from the day the
negative notice is given.
Requirements to submit Complete Applications will be linked to
requirements for proponents to Consult with Town staff
While the proposed Official Plan amendment lists many of the
studies, plans and/or items that may be required to support a particular
application, it is difficult to predict what types of studies will be required for
every application, since they are all unique.
Consequently, the proposed Complete Application Official Plan amendment
is linked to the need for consultation meetings with proponents. This will ensure that the items required to
make an application complete are identified and articulated, to the greatest
extent possible, so that they are included with an application when it is
submitted.
The
ability for municipalities to require consultation is proposed in accordance
with Sections 22(3.1) [Official Plan], 34(10.0.1) [Zoning By-law], 41(3.1)
[Site Plan] and 51(16.1) [Plan of Subdivision] of the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990
c.P.13. A Public Meeting is not required
prior to the passing of this By-law.
The Planning Act Complete Application and Consultation provisions have
three application types in common
The
Complete Application and Consultation provisions of the Planning Act have three
application types in common:
i)
Official Plan amendments;
ii)
Zoning By-law amendments; and
iii)
Draft Plan of Subdivision applications.
The
Planning Act does not provide for the complete application provisions to apply
to Site Plan applications. Site Plan
applications are not subject to the same statutory Public Meeting processes, as
Official Plan amendments, Zoning By-Laws amendments, Plans of Subdivision and
Consents. The Planning Act does not
provide for the consultation provisions to apply to Consent applications. Consents are typically not as complex as
Plans of Subdivisions.
Requiring
consultation, before a site plan application is submitted, will ensure that:
i)
staff understand the proposal;
ii)
the application process is clarified with the
proponent; and
iii)
the proponent knows what materials and
information they need to provide with the application to ensure that it can be
processed efficiently.
Council must enact a By-law to require Consultation
The
Town must allow applicants to consult before they submit an Official Plan, Site Plan, Draft Plan
of Subdivision and/or Zoning By-law
application, and it is our practice to encourage proponents to meet and consult
with staff before they submit an application.
However, to require proponents to consult before they submit an
application the Town must pass a By-law.
The intent of the Consultation By-law (attached as Appendix ‘B’ to this
report) is to require development proponents to consult with Town staff before
they submit Official Plan, Site Plan, Draft Plan
of Subdivision and/or Zoning By-law
applications.
The Consultation
By-law will require at least one meeting
The
By-law will requires at least one meeting with the Development District Manager
(or designate) before an application is submitted.
·
Additional meetings may be required for more
complex proposals;
·
other agencies or senior levels of government
may be invited to attend;
·
proposals will not be accepted as applications
until the proponent has had the consultation meeting(s) with the Development
District Manager;
·
consultation meetings shall take place within 15
working days of the request from the development proponent; and
·
Development District Managers, in consultation
with the Director of Planning and Urban Design can exempt a proposal from the
consultation process.
In
addition to being an opportunity for staff to familiarize themselves with the
proposal, the consultation meeting(s) will also be used to provide the
proponent with a list of drawings, materials and/or other information to be
submitted with an application for it to be complete, in accordance with the
provisions of the Official Plan amendment proposed. Town staff and the proponents will also be
able to use the consultation meeting to establish the details, scope and terms
of reference of the required studies, plans and items.
Although a Public Meeting is not required before Council
passes a Consultation By-law, the Complete Application and Consultation
procedures proposed complement each other.
Therefore, information about the Consultation By-law will be presented
to, and reviewed with the public at the Complete Application Official Plan
amendment Public Meeting.
Information to be Provided to the Public
Bill 51 amends the Planning
Act to clarify and broaden the requirements regarding application information
that must be available to the public.
Any information and material that is required by the Town must be made
available to the public. This not only
includes all prescribed information and material, but also all additional
information and materials required for a complete application submission. Process and application form changes will be
required to ensure that applicants are aware that all materials
submitted with an application will be shared with the public.
To ensure that this information
can be made available to the public, it is appropriate to require all
information and materials to be submitted in an electronic format, such as a
PDF, in addition to required paper copies.
CONCLUSION
Complete Application and Consultation can and will work well together
Staff
are of the opinion that these two new procedural tools, which were added to the
Planning Act in January 2007, with the passage of Bill 51, will benefit the
public, development proponents and the Town.
Together these tools will provide a structured, yet flexible, framework
within which development proponents and Town staff will have an opportunity to
meet to discuss the merits of the proposal.
The procedure will also ensure that information required to engage the
public early in the process and which will enable Council to make an informed
decision, is provided with the application when it is submitted.
Report concludes a Public Meeting regarding the Proposed Official Plan Amendment
should be held
This report concludes that a Public Meeting should be held
to obtain public input on the proposed Complete Application Official Plan
Amendment.
ACCESSIBILITY
CONSIDERATIONS:
None.
RECOMMENDED BY:
_______________________________ _______________________________
Valerie
Shuttleworth, M.C.I.P., R.P.P. Jim
Baird, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Director of Planning
and Urban Design Commissioner of Development Services
ATTACHMENTS:
Figure 1 - Timelines
for Consultation & Complete Application Submission
Appendix ‘A’ - Draft Complete Application Official Plan
Amendment
Appendix ‘B’ - Draft Consultation By-law