Appeals of the Committee of Adjustment decisions will be dealt with by the Toronto Local Appeal Body (TLAB).
The TLAB is an independent quasi-judicial tribunal that decides most Committee of Adjustment appeals in the City of Toronto. It is made up of locally appointed members who will make decisions about local planning matters affecting Toronto neighbourhoods. Although membership is open to any citizen having the appropriate qualifications, at present nearly all of the members of the tribunal are either professional planners or lawyers.
Members of the tribunal and their backgrounds are listed on the City’s website: https://secure.toronto.ca/pa/decisionBody/381.do
A $300.00 appeal fee is due for each appeal filed.
4.1 To appeal or not?
If you feel that the Committee of Adjustment’s decision was not fair, you may decide to appeal the case.
Residents consulted for this Guide were sceptical about the value of appealing decisions to TLAB. The considerable investment you will make in time, money and emotional energy may simply not be proportionate to the result you may get.
However, if after considering these downsides, you still feel strongly that the Committee’s decision was wrong and feel you have sufficient grounds to appeal, here are a few factors to bear in mind.
Low odds of success
The track record of success for residents’ appeals has not been encouraging:
- A review of decisions by a residents’ association found that only about one in seven cases were overturned by TLAB
- An early review of TLAB showed that “most decisions of the TLAB have been decided in favor of the Owner with 39 out of 50 decisions approving the requested development permissions.”1
Costs
To increase their chances of success, residents are advised to enlist professional experts, such as lawyers, planners, or coaches, whose services can cost thousands of dollars. However, unlike the Owner, who often stands to gain monetarily from an appeal, residents have no way of recouping their costs.
Many residents fundraise to help pay for these services.
Support from the City
In cases where a proposed project will have a widespread negative impact on neighbourhood character or otherwise set an undesirable precedent in the area, the City may become involved in opposing an application. This increases the chance of success.
The TLAB outcomes report prepared in 2018 cited above2 noted that “where residents alone have opposed an application (without support of the City), they have yet to find success at the TLAB. It is noteworthy, however, that no resident has called expert evidence in support of their position. It is also notable that where the City itself appeals approvals of the Committee of Adjustment, it has the highest success rate and settlement rate, with 4 out of 6 of such appeals resulting in settlement and only one such appeal resulting in a decision in favour of the applicant.”
4.2 Overview of TLAB appeal process
Presenting your case to TLAB is a more complex and formal undertaking than that of the Committee of Adjustment. Its deliberations are focussed on how the law applies in the case, and participants are often represented by lawyers. Your original written objection forms the basis of your case in the appeal process; to this must be added further evidence to support your arguments.
Source: Wood Bull blog. https://www.woodbull.ca/resources/wood-bull-blog/2017/10/03/tlab-hearings—some-insights-from-experience
The ten-step process for a TLAB appeal is described in more detail below, together with some insights
from former participants.
Review of the TLAB ten-step process
Step 1: The Committee of Adjustment Hearing
The Committee hearing is a valuable source of information. It gives you clues into who might appear
before the TLAB and what position they may take. You will want to pay close attention to whether City
staff and/or the City Councillor have any issues with the application. All of this information allows you to
make strategic decisions on how to successfully seek approval of / oppose an application. If you did not
participate in the Committee hearing, not to worry, you can still participate in any proceeding on the
application before TLAB
Step 2: Notice of Appeal
An appeal to the TLAB must be filed within 20 days from the date of the Committee’s decision. There are
some limited circumstances where an appeal should be made to the Ontario Municipal Board. Th
notice of appeal must set out your reasons for the appeal and cite the relevant sections of the City’s
Official Plan and Zoning By-law that are the subject of your appeal. There is an appeal fee – $300 for
each appeal. You may appeal your application if it’s refused, or if you are opposing an application, you
can appeal the Committee’s decision on it. You need to file your appeal using TLAB Form 1.
Step 3: Notice of Hearing
The TLAB will issue this document. It provides your hearing date as well as the procedural deadlines for
the rest of the filing requirements/ procedural steps. You will want to ensure you review these dates
carefully. If you have not already done so, at this point you will want to seriously consider retaining a
planner, lawyer and other expert consultants that may be required. Ideally, you will have already
retained these experts by this step in the hearing process. There is no standardized timeline for when
the Notice of Hearing is released. So far, it appears to occur within 30 days after a Notice of Appeal is
filed. The Notice of Hearing together with all other documents filed with the TLAB for a particular matter
are available on the City’s website at this link: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-
development/committee-of-adjustment/appeals/toronto-local-appeal-body-schedule-hearings-
decisions/
Step 4: Applicant’s Disclosure
The Applicant’s Disclosure is due within 15 days after the Notice of Hearing is issued. As an applicant,
this is your opportunity to revise your plans and the variances you seek. You will want to get a zonin
certificate from the City’s Zoning Examiner to support your revisions, so you will need to start early to
make this filing deadline. It is also helpful to have had some preliminary discussions with those who
might oppose your application, so you can consider revising it, hopefully to address their concerns. The
revisions you make to the variances you seek need to be minor otherwise there are further
requirements for providing notice of the revisions. The Applicant’s Disclosure must be filed using TLAB
Form 3.
Step 5: Notice of Intention to be a Party or Participant
If you are the appellant, you will automatically be a Party to the proceeding. If not, you will need to elect
to be a Party or a Participant. This election needs to be filed within 20 days after the Notice of Hearing is
issued using TLAB Form 4. A Party may fully participate in a proceeding, including filing motions, calling
evidence, making arguments, cross-examining other witnesses, however a Party may be subject to a
cost award. A Participant has a more limited role in a hearing. It includes being a witness, providing an
oral and written statement to the TLAB and being questioned by the Parties. A Participant is not subjectto a cost award.
Step 6: Document Disclosure
Within 30 days after the Notice of Hearing is issued, if you are a Party you will need to file every
document or relevant portion of a public document you intend to rely on or produce at the hearing. Thi
can include documents that are original work prepared by witnesses. Your witnesses will need sufficient
time to prepare these documents, and so it’s important to retain them early on in the process.
Step 7: Witness Statements/ Participant Statements / Expert Witness Statements
These statements must be filed within 45 days after the Notice of Hearing is issued using TLAB Form 12
(Witness Statements), TLAB Form 13 (Participant Statements), and/or TLAB Form 14 (Expert Witness
Statements). These statements provide an overview of the evidence your witness/expert witness or you
as a Participant intend to provide the TLAB at the hearing. There are specific requirements for what
must be included in these statements. A review of all statements filed with the TLAB will give you
further insight into what evidence each Party and/or Participant intends to provide the TLAB, and
therefore a better picture of your chances of success before the TLAB.
Step 8: Filing of Motions
You may need to file a motion to seek specific procedural relief from the TLAB including asking for the
disclosure of documents, adjourning a hearing, filing a settlement, etc. The last day a motion can be
heard is 30 days before the hearing. You will need to contact the TLAB’s offices to obtain a date for
when your motion can be heard. You will also need to file a motion record 15 days prior to your
assigned motion hearing date that outlines your requested relief and includes an affidavit. There are
other specific rules about the content of a motion record. A motion is filed using TLAB Form 7.
Responses and replies to it are filed using TLAB Form 8 and TLAB Form 9.
Step 9: Mediation
Where the TLAB is of the opinion that there is good reason to believe that one or more of the issues in
dispute may be resolved through mediation, it may direct the Parties and such other persons to atten
non-binding mediation. So far, it does not appear to be common for the TLAB to direct parties to
mediation. Mediation is confidential and typically anything said at the mediation cannot be repeated
before a TLAB hearing. The last day mediation can be held is 30 days before the start of the hearing.
Step 10: Hearing/Decision
The hearing occurs in the assigned TLAB Hearing Room on the assigned date and time. This information
is disclosed in the Notice of Hearing. A TLAB hearing is open to the pubic and so any one can attend. A
evidence presented at the hearing is done digitally and so there rarely is a need for paper. The digital
aspects of the hearing process pose new challenges for filing evidence, cross-examining witnesses, and
making arguments. A hearing process typically should take no more than one day, however complicated
cases may take longer. The TLAB will typically reserve its decision following the hearing and it says that it
aims to release its written decisions within 30 days of the hearing date, however more complex cases
may take longer.
Source: Wood Bull blog. https://www.woodbull.ca/resources/wood-bull-blog/2017/11/09/tlab-hearings—10-
steps-to-the-tlab-hearing-process
4.3 Importance of starting early
Past participants in the TLAB appeal process emphasize the importance of starting early. The TLAB strictly adheres to the deadlines it has set out. Failing to, for example, disclose a document by the deadline could disallow it from being entered in evidence.
Nearly all of the supporting documents for the hearing must be disclosed no later than 30 days from the date the Notice of Hearing is served. Witness statements and/or participant statements are due no later than 45 days from the date the Notice of Hearing is served. This means that if you intend to participate in a TLAB hearing, as a Party or Participant, you have got to start thinking about what evidence you will present to TLAB very early in the process.
Ideally, key experts should be in place prior to filing your appeal. You will need to have already retained any expert witnesses you will call at the hearing and are advised to retain counsel early in the process.