I would like to share my own story dealing with City's COA and OMB, which might help to clarify why we still need OMB. My wife and I owned a large bungalow (60ft x 130ft) in NYCC (south-west of Yonge and Finch). We used it as a rental property for some time, but, considering its close proximity to Yonge Str, we decided to apply for severance having in mind to create two parcels of decent size lots so we can build two houses (instead of building a 6K monster-house, which would be allowed on this lot). After submitting all documents to COA, we received a letter from the city' planning committee, which stated that, considering all the recent changes in the area and in accordance with NYCC secondary plan, our application is reasonable. They asked us to modify some setbacks to comply with a number of city by-laws, which we did. A few months later, a day before the hearing, I got a phone call from my councillor (John Filion) who sounded not very happy… he asked me to modify the proposed setback between two new buildings (which we already did in our amended application) and I replied to him that we already complied with the setback. He said he would check the drawings and voiced his displeasure with the application, but he did not explain what he didn’t like. The next day was the COA hearing; unfortunately, I had been on a business trip and I was represented by a consultant, a former city planner. He reassured me that the application is very solid and there is no reason to refuse it. Well, the application was refused! There were 15-20 "ratepayers" (aka NIMBYs), who were not even from my neighbourhood! John Filion (as my rep described) was playing along with their loud complains such as "the area is changing too fast", there will be too much demand on local resources" (one extra house?), etc. etc.
Well, my next step was to appeal. Where do you appeal? OMB is the only place to go... Move forward 6 months and 20K less in my pocket (hiring a planner and a lawyer) I am attending OMB hearing. Unlike theater-like settings of COA, OMB is more formal; NIMBYs can still come and express their view, but before they speak, they need to swear or affirm. There were still 4-5 "ratepayers", with the same arguments re "fast changes". One lady was concerned with fire hazards... (?) Another lady, who lives just across the street, said that the 30ft frontage "is too narrow". When asked about her house frontage, she she replied "33". City did send a legal rep too, but the guy was only concerned with us following the city initial requests for setback, height, etc., no arguments against application whatsoever... So, to sum it up--city delayed my application by more than a year; I spent close to 25K in the process, city lost (legal rep) some good chunk of taxpayers money (including my own taxes), so that John Filion can act as a hero defending his community? My case is not some sort of weird exception, it happens quite often... A couple of years ago I emailed to John that he needs to change his NIMBY-catering attitudes because he is not helping his community; he is draining community resources without bringing any positive change. I suggested that he should treat these “minor” apps (only if they make sense; I am not advocating tearing down historical properties or building some sort of monster houses) the same way as city does with big apps--why not to negotiate and come to some sort of mutually beneficial solutions.
