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		H.W.O. Doyle, LL.B., LL.M. City Solicitor Legal Services 55 John Street Stn.1260, 26th Flr., Metro Hall Toronto ON M5V 3C6 Tel: (416) 392-8047 Fax: (416) 397-5624 April 22nd, 1999 To:Emergency and Protective Services Committee From:H.W.O. Doyle Subject:Designation of Private Roadways as Fire Routes in the Former City of Toronto Urban Area Purpose: To amend the Traffic and Parking Code as found in the former City of Toronto Municipal Code with respect to the designation of private roadways as fire routes in the former City of Toronto urban area. Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement: Not applicable. Recommendations: It is recommended that: (1)the Traffic and Parking Code as found in the former City of Toronto Municipal Code be amended: (a)to authorize the City Solicitor to process by-laws designating fire routes in the former City of Toronto urban area on certification by the Fire Chief that the criteria set out in the Code have been met, and (b)to designate the Toronto Community Council as the committee to which an owner of a private roadway whose application for the designation of the roadway as a fire route has been refused by the Fire Chief may appeal such refusal; (2)any pending applications for fire route designations in the former City of Toronto urban area be processed in accordance with the revised Traffic and Parking Code; (3)all City staff take the action necessary to implement the measures set out in this Report. Council Reference/Background/History: The following Committee Reports and By-law are relevant to this Report: (1)Former City of Toronto City Services Committee Report No. 13:100 and 17:28, adopted by former Toronto City Council on September 14th and 15th, 1992 and December 7th and 8th, 1992, respectively, and former City of Toronto City Services Committee Report No. 15:2 and 16:28, adopted by former Toronto City Council on November 27th and 28th, 1995 and December 18th, 1995, respectively, all of which deal with the streamlining of City services (including the designation of private roadways as fire routes); (2) Former City of Toronto By-law No. 115-86 as amended By-law 5-93 and By-law No. 1996-0040, which provided for the designation of private roadways as fire routes; and (3)Former City of Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 28-27, which provide for additional duties of the City Solicitor, and Chapters 400-2, 400-8. 400-45 and 400-57, which either provide for or relate to the designation of private roadways as fire routes and which codified and replaced former City of Toronto By-law No. 115-86 as amended By-law 5-93 and By-law No. 1996-0040. Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification: In the former City of Toronto the procedure for the designation of private roadways as fire routes was set out in the former City's Traffic and Parking Code, which is Chapter 400 of its Municipal Code. Specifically, Chapters 400-2, 400-8. 400-45 and 400-57 either provided for or related to the designation of private roadways as fire routes. These provisions codified and were intended to replace former City of Toronto By-law No. 115-86 as amended by By-law 5-93 and By-law No. 1996-0040. In 1993 the former City of Toronto Council, by By-law No. 5-93, adopted a procedure to streamline the designation of fire routes. It provided that, where the Fire Chief determines that designation of a fire route is necessary for fire fighting purposes and the fire route application complies with the criteria set out in the Code and the policies of Council, the Fire Chief will instruct the City Solicitor to prepare a bill for Council amending the City's Fire Routes By-law to so designate the route. Complimenting this procedure was Chapter 28-27-I of the former City's Municipal Code, which authorized the City Solicitor of the former City to process by-laws designating fire routes in the former City on certification by the Fire Chief that the criteria set out in the Traffic and Parking Code have been met. Chapter 28 was the procedural by-law of the former City of Toronto. As a result of the City of Toronto Act, 1997, every by-law or resolution of a former council that is in force immediately before January 1st, 1998 is a by-law or resolution of the Council of the new City of Toronto and remains in force in respect of the part of the urban area to which it applied immediately before January 1st, 1998 until the Council repeals it or amends it to provide otherwise. The Traffic and Parking Code was in force in the former Toronto immediately before January 1st, 1998 and has not been repealed or amended to provide otherwise by the Council of the City of Toronto. (This is also so in the case of the fire route designation by-laws of the other former area municipalities.) However, when Council adopted By-law No. 23-1998 on February 4th, 1998 as its own Procedural By-law, it expressly repealed the procedural by-law for the former Metropolitan Toronto and for the individual former area municipalities. Therefore it repealed Chapter 28-27-I of the procedural by-law of the former City of Toronto. So that the procedure for the streamlining of the process for the designation of fire routes in the former City of Toronto is fully in place thus authorizing the City Solicitor to process fire route by-laws in the same manner as before amalgamation, it is recommended that Chapter 28-27-I be re-enacted as part of the Traffic and Parking Code of the former City of Toronto. There is a second matter that ought to be addressed at this time. Specifically, under the Traffic and Parking Code an owner of a private roadway whose application for the designation of the roadway as a fire route had been refused by the Fire Chief could appeal such refusal to the City Service Committee of the former City of Toronto Council. It then made recommendations to the former Council on whether to grant or refuse the application. In the new City, Community Councils have the responsibility to hear public deputations and make recommendations to Council on neighbourhood matters requiring a municipal by-law. Since fire route designation is an neighbourhood matter and since a municipal by-law is required to implement fire route designations it is recommended that the Toronto Community Council be designated the City committee to which appeals of refusals of fire route applications pertaining to the urban area of the former City of Toronto are to be made. We understand that there are two pending applications for fire route designations in the former City of Toronto urban area. It is recommended that they and all future applications be processed in accordance with the Traffic and Parking Code as revised pursuant to the recommendations in this Report until such time as a new City-wide fire route designation by-law is adopted by Council. We understand that the procedure and policies forming the basis for such a new by-law is currently being considered by the Fire Services Division. Since there is not uniformity in the fire route designation by-laws of the former area municipalities -- there are more differences than similarities -- the new by-law will require careful consideration and therefore we understand that it will not be forthcoming immediately. Conclusions: For the purpose of restoring fully the previous streamlined procedure for the processing of fire route designation applications in the former City of Toronto, the Traffic and Parking Code of the former City of Toronto Municipal Code should be amended to authorize the City Solicitor to process by-laws designating fire routes in the former City of Toronto urban area on certification by the Fire Chief that the criteria set out in the Code have been met. In addition, for the purpose of making clear which Council committee has this responsibility, the Code should be amended to designate the Toronto Community Council as the committee to which an owner of a private roadway whose application for the designation of the roadway as a fire route has been refused by the Fire Chief may appeal such refusal . Finally, any pending applications for fire route designations in the former City of Toronto urban area should be processed in accordance with the revised Traffic and Parking Code. Contact Name: Brian Loreto 392-8530 brian_loreto@mta1.metrodesk.metrotor.on.ca H.W.O. Doyle City Solicitor Legal Services
		Please note that council and committee documents are provided electronically for information only and do not retain the exact structure of the original versions. For example, charts, images and tables may be difficult to read. As such, readers should verify information before acting on it. All council documents are available from the City Clerk's office. Please e-mail clerk@toronto.ca.

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