SUBJECT: Recommendation Report
Town Initiated Official Plan Amendment to Set Out the Requirements for Complete Applications Submissions, and Town Initiated By-Law to Set Out Development Proponents to Consult with Town Staff
File:
OP.07-131262
PREPARED BY: Dave Miller, Senior Project Coordinator, Extension 4960
RECOMMENDATION:
That the staff report entitled “Recommendation Report, Town
Initiated Official Plan Amendment to Set Out the Requirements for Complete
Applications Submissions, and Town
Initiated By-Law to Set Out Development Proponents to Consult with Town Staff File:
OP.07-131262”, dated June 17, 2008 be received;
And that the record of the Public Meeting held on February 19, 2008 be received;
And that the Official Plan amendment (attached as Appendix ‘A’) to set out requirements for Complete Applications be finalized and adopted;
And that the By-law (attached as Appendix ‘B’) to set out the requirements for Consultation be finalized and enacted;
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
In November of 2007 staff submitted a report to Development Services Committee to outline two of many land use planning application procedures, that were modified by Bill 51.
Complete Applications to be defined
Council may, through Official Plan policies, establish requirements for proponents 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.
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 proponents 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.
To require development proponents to meet with staff before submitting a land use planning application a By-law must be passed, administrative procedures changed. (Draft By-law attached as Appendix ‘B’.) A Statutory Public Meeting is not required to pass a consultation By-law.
The Public Meeting
Two people spoke at the statutory Public Meeting for the proposed Official Plan amendment, which was held in February 2008.
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.
1.
Purpose 2. Background 3. Discussion 4.
Financial 5.
Environmental
6. Accessibility 7. Engage
21st 8. Affected Units 9. Attachment(s)
Two new procedural tools were added to the Planning Act in January 2007, with the passage of Bill 51. The new procedural tools outlined in this report relate to the “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.
The report recommends that the Official Plan amendment (attached as Appendix ‘A’), to set out requirements for Complete Applications, be finalized and adopted, and that the By-law (attached as Appendix ‘B’) to set out the requirements for Consultation be finalized and enacted.
In the fall of 2006 the Province
of Ontario amended the Planning Act (Bill 51).
Bill 51 came into force on
In November of 2007 staff submitted a report to Development Services Committee to outline two of many land use planning application procedures, that were modified by Bill 51. The two areas discussed in that report were:
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
and Consultation to ensure complete and transparent information is provided 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.
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 such
requirements. This is in addition to the
information and material required to be provided by the Planning Act
Regulations. The prescribed application
information, required by the
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.[ToM1]
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 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 (attached as Appendix ‘A’), 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. (The draft Official Plan amendment has also been further refined to incorporate the comments received at the Public Meeting; see discussion below.)
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, and 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.
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.
Planning and Urban Design Department staff anticipate using the Incoming Applications Report, to advise Council about which applications are complete. If the proponent submits an application with the material requested at the consultation meeting the Development Services Commission front counter will accept it. The District Team will then confirm that it is complete. For applications that are considered complete by the District Team, it is likely that Council will endorse staffs’ recommendations and the application will continue to be processed. However, if an application is incomplete, in the opinion of the District Team, and processing has not begun, the proponent will be able to make a deputation to Development Services Committee when the item is listed on the Incoming Applications Report. Council will make the final decision for the Town regarding completeness.
If there is still 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 a number of
the studies, plans and/or items that may be required to support a particular
application, it is difficult to predict all types of studies which may 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, as 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[ToM2], Site Plan[ToM3], Draft Plan
of Subdivision and/or Zoning[ToM4] 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[ToM5], Site Plan[ToM6], Draft Plan
of Subdivision and/or Zoning[ToM7] By-law
applications.
The Consultation
By-law will require at least one meeting with staff
The
By-law requires at least one meeting with the Development District Manager (or
designate) before an application is submitted.
·
Additional meetings may be requested 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 a consultation meeting with the Development
District Manager;
·
consultation meetings shall be scheduled within
20 days of the request from the development proponent; and
·
Development District Managers, in consultation
with the Director of Planning and Urban Design may 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 considered 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, and to discuss the
proposal in a Town area context.
Although a Public Meeting is not required before Council passes a Consultation By-law, the Complete Application and Consultation procedures proposed complement each other. The information about the Consultation By-law was presented to, and reviewed with the public at the Complete Application Official Plan amendment Public Meeting.
Figure 1 (attached) outlines how the Consultation and Complete Application processes will work together. It shows the proposed processing times with Town targets, and the proposed processing times with the Planning Act timelines. The two processes, working together, will help ensure information is promptly communicated between Town staff and the proponent, and applications are circulated with sufficient information for Town Departments and external agencies to begin to process the application without having to go back to the owner to request additional information.
Information to be Provided to the Public
Bill 51 amends the
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.
Concerns raised at the Public Meeting have been addressed
The statutory Public Meeting for the proposed Official Plan amendment was held in February 2008. Two people spoke at the Public Meeting, a lawyer from the firm of Davies Howe partners, representing four developers (Liberty Development Corporation, Dorsay Development Corporation, Conservatory Group and Bayview Summit Development Limited) and Mr. Sal Crimi (S. C. Land Management). Davies Howe Partners also submitted a letter dated February 19, 2008 (attached as Appendix ‘C’).
Town Staff reviewed the submissions received at the Public Meeting. Of the issues raised at the Public Meeting, the most significant related to a concern about the proposed policy that would have required a site plan application to accompany a subdivision or zoning by-law application.
Based in part on these submissions Planning and Urban Design staff, in consultation with an Assistant Town Solicitor, revised the proposed Official Plan amendment. The revised Official Plan amendment was sent to Davies Howe Partners, and Town staff met with the lawyer from Davies Howe Partners, and have worked with them over the past few months to make further refinements to the proposed Official Plan amendment. Despite working together to make a number of refinements they still remain concerned with a few provisions in the proposed Official Plan amendment that will allow staff to require studies that aren’t specifically listed in this amendment. They’re concerned that some proponents may find this ambiguous as it lacks specificity. However, each proposal is unique and the requirements will be reviewed with the applicant at the Consultation meeting, with regard to other provisions in the Town’s Official Plan and relevant Secondary Plans. This is consistent with the Planning Act requirements.
Mr. Sal Crimi and Mr Nic Mracic of Metrus Development have been is discussions with staff regarding their concern that submissions for subsequent subdivision phases may require entire studies to be re-done, possibly to a new, higher standard. For example, if a Master Environmental Servicing Plan (MESP) was approved for a Plan of Subdivision, that will be registered in phases over a number of years due to servicing allocation, Mr. Crimi and Mr. Mracic are concerned that Town staff or public agencies will ask for the entire MESP to be re-done and re-submitted to the Town for review and approval. To date it has been our practice to have regard to earlier submissions and approval status, and not to act un-reasonably as policy environments change. However, an update to a completed MESP for the phase being registered may be required, to reflect potential changes in Town and agency requirements over a prolonged timeframe. This is normal municipal practice, and is consistent with a complex and changing policy environment. It is important to note that with this new process information is simply being asked for at the beginning of the process, not towards the end of the process (prior to draft approval or as a condition of draft approval). Markham staff will act reasonably, in partnership with public agencies and the development industry. This is reflected in Section 7.14.7, page 20, of the proposed Official Plan amendment.
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.
Planning and Urban Design Department staff recommend that the proposed complete application Official Plan amendment (attached as Appendix ‘A’) be finalized and adopted, and that the proposed consultation By-law (attached as Appendix ‘B’) be finalized and enacted.
None.
RECOMMENDED BY:
_______________________________ _______________________________
Valerie
Shuttleworth, M.C.I.P., R.P.P.
Director of
ATTACHMENTS:
Figure ‘1” - Timelines
for Consultation & Complete Application Submission
Appendix ‘A’ - Draft Complete Application Official Plan
Amendment
Appendix ‘B’ - Draft Consultation By-law
Appendix ‘C’ - Davies Howe Partners letter to Development Services Committee, dated February 19, 2008
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