"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Wednesday 9 December 2015

NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "OH.....HO..HO..HO....": 



Can someone please tell me whether the OMB can impose a compromise solution to the application?

i.e. half the number of home units and a  five storey  building 

Posted by Anonymous to  Our Town and Its Business at 8 December 2015 at 22:38


Aurora's Official  Plan must accord with provincial law. The Region of York approves and adopts it. 

When Councillor Mrakas claims authority in town planning  and the Ontario Municipal Board should be  so governed, he displays a delightful innocence in planning reality. 

The Ontario Municipal Board exists to protect property owners from the fickle finger of municipal 
politics. The Board 's responsibility is to enforce municipal official plans.  

A development plan costs 20million dollars to prepare. The  market value of property reflects use that can be made of it, according to an official plan.  

The Planning Act sets out, in law , duties and requirements of the  municipality. 

The OMB requires pre-hearing conferencing to resolve disagreements. The intent being to obtain  a lawful decision without a hearing and the OMB making the decision.,

The  process  is like a Rubik's Cube. 

As we have seen, cost is no small consideration. 

Add land transfer tax, federal and provincial sales tax on building materials , municipal development charges, regional development charges, education development charges. Land required for schools, parks, roads , conservation and storm water retention ponds, all contribute to spiralling cost of building a housing unit. 

I did  the research a number of years ago. Cost of processing a plan to the point of a housing unit  completed at the time, was conservatively close to half the sale price. 

Without a light switch ...a door knob ...nor a roofing tile ..of value added. 

The home is assessed  at market value and the property owner pays taxes on taxes forever and a day.

 Both parents  must work to provide shelter. 

Child care is required. Children are wakened in the dark on winter mornings, taken from their beds and dropped off  by a parent to be cared for by strangers.

When and how does nurturing happen? Is it also a product for sale?

When a toddler is surrendered  by a parent into a group of twenty, to fend for him/ herself, what do they learn? 

In their minds, how do they get a sense of their own worth? 

In answer to the initial question,appeals are filed  to the OMB by developers when a Council  refuses to abide by its own Official Plan.

Because some neighbours are opposed and Councillors are compelled to make promises difficult to keep. 

So they don't .

No matter what it costs or who they blame.....the show must go on.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, council encourage the Highland neighbours by letting them think that that massive
list of things they did not like about the plan would be considered, A few critical details, even large ones,
might have been negotiated but the whole darn thing ? No.
Cllr Mrakus has only to look at what happened with Newmarket.

Anonymous said...

Any OMB compromise could be a small reduction of the # of units [ maybe ] and a possible reduction in the condo height by a couple of storeys. One has to remember the sacred in-filling principal. The proximity to Yonge and transportation links is a kicker.

Anonymous said...

09:34, Council rejected the $98 million price tag at their very first opportunity. That's not trying to encourage false hope. That's sending a strong message to the developers that the extortionate gouge isn't happening. ClubLink/Geranium tried to put the ball back in the Town's court but Council tossed it right away.

Anonymous said...

Wonder how much that residents' group has paid to lawyers and planners......

Anonymous said...

20:02
As long as it costs you nothing... who cares?

Anonymous said...

Better to wonder how that proposed development would affect their property values.