NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING

To be held by the Planning and Housing Committee

(Under the Planning Act)

 

Recommended Official Plan Amendment to amend Chapters 2.3 and 4.3 of the Official Plan

 

Date:

September 26, 2024

Time:

9:30 a.m. or as soon as possible thereafter

Place:

Committee Room 1, Toronto City Hall and by Video Conference

 

PROPOSAL

 

Lands designated as Parks and Open Space Areas in the Official Plan accommodate natural habitat areas, important ecological services and many of the City's recreation opportunities. They are essential to health, prosperity, and quality of life in our City and receive a high level of protection in the Official Plan.

 

The purpose of this recommended Official Plan Amendment is to identify limited exemptions when the sale or disposal of City-owned lands in Parks and Open Space Areas, within or outside of the Green Space System, may be permitted without an Official Plan Amendment (OPA). The recommended amendment intends to facilitate conservation projects and essential public works and utilities that support Toronto's development and growth provided certain criteria are met.

 

The recommended Official Plan Amendment would help modernize the process. It introduces new criteria, which, if met, would remove the need for a public agency or utility provider to seek an OPA as a precondition to undertaking a land transaction for a conservation project or to construct essential underground public works and utilities in Parks and Open Space Areas. It will amend policies in Chapters 2.3 and 4.3 of the Official Plan with updates that address the evolving challenges confronting the City to provide public infrastructure for the growth in the City.

 

The recommended Official Plan Amendment has been informed through public, stakeholder, and Indigenous engagement.

 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 

Detailed information regarding the proposal, including background information and material and a copy of the recommended Official Plan Amendment may be obtained by contacting Brandon Paniccia, Project Coordinator at Brandon.Paniccia@toronto.ca.

 

The draft Official Plan Amendment is also available starting on September 6, 2024, at: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-development/planning-studies-initiatives/infrastructure-improvements-in-parks-open-space-areas-the-green-space-system/

 

PURPOSE OF PUBLIC MEETING

 

The Planning and Housing Committee will receive input and review the proposal and any other material placed before it, in order to make recommendations on the amendment. These recommendations will then be forwarded to Toronto City Council for its consideration.

 

You can follow the meeting at www.youtube.com/TorontoCityCouncilLive

 

MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOWN

 

You may send written comments by e-mail to phc@toronto.ca or by mail to the address below. You can submit written comments up until City Council gives final consideration to the proposal.

 

You are also invited to address the Planning and Housing Committee, in person, by video conference or by telephone, to make your views known regarding the proposal.

 

If you want to address Planning and Housing Committee directly, please register by email to phc@toronto.ca

or by phone at 416-397-4579, no later than 12:00 p.m. on September 25, 2024. If you register we will contact you with instructions on how to participate in the meeting.

 

The Planning and Housing Committee may request you to file an outline of your presentation with the Clerk.

 

For more information about the matter, including information about appeal rights, please contact: City Clerk, Attention: Nancy Martins, Administrator, Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, 2nd Floor, Toronto, ON, M5H 2N2, Phone: 416-397-4579, Fax: 416-392-2980, e-mail: phc@toronto.ca.

 

Special Assistance: City Staff can arrange for special assistance with some advance notice. If you need

special assistance, please call 416-397-4579, TTY 416-338-0889 or e-mail phc@toronto.ca.

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

 

Given that the amendments listed in this Notice apply to all of the lands within the geographic boundaries of the City of Toronto, a key map has not been provided with this notice.

 

If you wish to be notified of the decision of the City of Toronto on the proposed Official Plan Amendment you must make a written request to the City Clerk, Attention: Nancy Martins, Administrator, Planning and Housing Committee, at the address, fax number or e-mail set out in this notice.

 

Official Plan Amendment Appeal: If a person or public body would otherwise have an ability to appeal the decision of the Council of the City of Toronto to the Ontario Land Tribunal but the person or public body does not make oral submissions at a public meeting or make written submissions to the City of Toronto before the proposed Official Plan Amendment is adopted or refused, the person or public body is not entitled to appeal the decision and may not be added as a party to the hearing of an appeal before the Ontario Land Tribunal unless, in the opinion of the Tribunal there are reasonable grounds to do so. You may submit comments to the City Clerk, Attention: Nancy Martins, Administrator, Planning and Housing Committee, at the address, fax number or e-mail set out in this notice.

 

People writing or making presentations at the public meeting: The City of Toronto Act, 2006, the Planning Act, and the City of Toronto Municipal Code authorize the City of Toronto to collect any personal information in your communication or presentation to City Council or its committees.

 

The City collects this information to enable it to make informed decisions on the relevant issue(s). If you are submitting letters, faxes, e-mails, presentations or other communications to the City, you should be aware that your name and the fact that you communicated with the City will become part of the public record and will appear on the City's website. The City will also make your communication and any personal information in it - such as your postal address, telephone number or e-mail address - available to the public, unless you expressly request the City to remove it.

 

Many Committee, Board and Advisory Body meetings are broadcast live over the internet for the public to view. If you speak at the meeting you will appear in the video broadcast. Video broadcasts are archived and continue to be publicly available. Direct any questions about this collection to City Clerk’s Office at the telephone number or email address set out above.

 

An online version of this Notice is available at https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/public-notices-bylaws/.

 

Compliance with Provincial laws respecting Notice may result in you receiving duplicate notices.

 

Dated at the City of Toronto on September 4, 2024.

 

 

John D. Elvidge

City Clerk