Minutes: July 31, 2018

Business Meeting No.16

Meeting Date: Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Email: tlab@toronto.ca
Location: 40 Orchard View Boulevard, Toronto, Ontario M4B 1R9, Suite 253
Room: TLAB Hearing Room 1 & 2
Chair: Ian Lord

Contact: Hsing Yi Chao
Phone: 416-392-4697

Reading of the Traditional Land Acknowledgement

Declaration of Interest under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act

None declared

Confirmation of Minutes

Motion to adopt Minutes from July 4, 2018: Morning Session moved by Panel Member S. Makuch, seconded by Panel Member D. Lombardi. (Carried)
Motion to adopt Minutes from July 4, 2018: Afternoon Session moved by Panel Member S. Makuch, seconded by Panel Member L. McPherson. (Carried)

TLAB 16.1 Toronto Local Appeal Body - Updates from Administrative Staff

TLAB 16.1 INFORMATION RECEIVED

Decision Advice and Other Information

Chair’s Update

Correspondence received from City Clerks will be dealt with in the next meeting. There is an Information Report from the Planning and Growth Committee regarding decisions on already built/illegal construction. Committee of Adjustment will be reviewing COA and TLAB decisions. Normal approach is to ignore the status of the building, and to consider it through the four tests as if it was not already built.

Member Yao raised a related matter, which is to ask how members may search prior decisions to see what others have decided. Secretary of the TLAB Hsing Yi Chao has compiled a combined document of all decisions that she updates and can share with members and public on request. A conversation ensued as to whether and how to inform the public that this document is available, with the members agreeing that such a document should be made available. Secretary Chao will investigate and report on what is possible.

Council has approved the added position of a Vice Chair for TLAB, with compensation set at $15,000 per annum. By mid-August, he hopes to have a document circulated for consideration at September meeting. September will also be revisions to Rules and procedural by-law. A subsequent October meeting will be for public deputations. Goal to have the Rules, by-law, and Vice-Chair role enacted by early next year.

Member Yao wished to discuss the impact of Vice Chair position. Russ Brownell representing Court Services, Planning and Liaison, clarified that Council has approved the role, now it is up to staff to change wording of by-laws and procedures to support the change. Member McPherson asked whether the increase in membership from 7 to 10 happens at the same time. It is up to public appointments office to implement the additional membership change. Mr. Brownell will return in September with an update on the change.

Member Yao disagree with increasing the panel to 10 members, as it would not lead to faster decisions and would lead to fewer hearings per member. Chair Lord clarified that both the recommendation to add a Vice Chair and to increase the membership to 10 members were recommendations from the Chair’s Annual Report, which was circulated to all members for comment before it was issued. The justification for new members was the decrease in workload and to maintain the pay and lifestyle of members as a part-time role, and not the “full time job” as it is now. Member Makuch agreed he could see Council’s perspective that they don’t wish for part-time appointees to feel overworked.

Member McPherson pointed out that the panel was not up to its full capacity until recently due to member resignations and therefore the case load was divided among fewer members. She suggested that perhaps there could be a back-up person who would fill in when members were absent. Member Lombardi posited that the City should be thrilled to have their membership, as he was told informally by a member of public appointments that the quality of the candidates applying was not very good. If they cannot receive an increase in remuneration, then they should at least get little things. He gave examples of having parking covered, or of having coffee made when they come in rather than needing to purchase.

Update from Administrative Staff

Hsing Yi Chao, Secretary of the Toronto Local Appeal Body, presented an administrative update on the status of TLAB hearings. To Date we have 160 hearings scheduled or to be scheduled, representing 246 files since January 1 2018. Since May 3rd, number is 377 and 569 respectively. These numbers are different because many hearings have multiple files, such as for a consent plus minor variance files.

The average number of hearings per month is in the mid-twenties. On average, it takes the Committee of Adjustment 14 days to complete files and send them to TLAB. It takes an average of 5 days to issue a Notice of Hearing, and the average time between the issuance of the Notice of Hearing to the hearing date is 112 days. From the hearing to the decision is an average of 16 days, with an average total time to dispense of the matter is 169. Staff try to assign hearings equally between members, however with vacations and other factors even distribution is not possible.

The Notice of Hearing – Form 2 has been updated to include revised wording regarding the filing of late documents. The revisions were discussed by the members, but a decision on the wording will be deferred until revisions of the Rules of Practice and Procedure.

Summary

Court Services administrative staff to provide an update to the Toronto Local Appeal Body on:

Number of TLAB Appeals received to date

Number of TLAB Hearings scheduled to date

Average number of days to dispense of matter

Background Information

July 31 2018 – Administrative Update

Motions

1. Motion to add Monday, October 29, 2018 as a Public Meeting date moved by Panel Member L. McPherson, seconded by Panel Member S. Makuch (Carried)

2. Motion to accept Administrative Update provided by Hsing Yi Chao, Supervisor, Court Services, moved by Panel Member T. Yao, seconded by Panel Member S. Makuch (Carried).

TLAB 16.2 Toronto Local Appeal Body – Consultation with Legal Counsel (Continuation)

Panel Decision

The Toronto Local Appeal Body consulted with external legal counsel and received advice on the revisions of the Toronto Local Appeal Body’s Rules of Practice and Procedures.

Decision Advice and Other Information

The Toronto Local Appeal Body recessed at 11:11 am to meet in closed session as this item relates to the receipt of advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose.

Additional Resources

Mary Shuttleworth v. Licence Appeal Tribunal, 2018 ONSC 3790

Confidential Attachment – Memorandum from Duxbury Law

Confidential Attachment – Duxbury Law

Confidential Attachment – Toronto Local Appeal Body Rules of Practice and Procedure (Revised Draft)

Motions

Motion to meet in closed session moved by Panel Member G. Burton and seconded by Panel Member S. Makuch. (Carried)
11:11 a.m. – That the Toronto Local Appeal Body recess its public meeting to meet in closed session to consider this item as it relates to the receipt of advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose.
Motion to reconvene in Public Session moved by Panel Member T. Yao and seconded by Panel Member S. Makuch. (Carried)
Motion to receive the advice by Legal Counsel, Duxbury Law, on revisions of TLAB’s Rules of Practice and Procedure and related matters as information moved by Panel Member S. Makuch and seconded by Panel Member L. McPherson. (Carried)

Meeting Sessions & Attendance

Meeting Sessions

Session Date	Session Type	Start Time	End Time	Public or Closed Session
July 31, 2018	Morning	9:33 am	10:56 am	Public
July 31, 2018	Recess	10:56 am	11:11 am
July 31, 2018	Morning	11:11 am	11:12 am	Public
July 31, 2018	Morning	11:12 am	12:30 pm	Closed
July 31, 2018	Recess	12:30 pm	1:15 pm
July 31, 2018	Afternoon	1:15 pm	4:13 pm	Closed
July 31, 2018	Afternoon	4:13 pm	4:15 pm	Public

Attendance

Members were present for some or all of the time period indicated.

Date and Time

Quorum

Panel Members

July 31, 2018

9:33 am to 10:56 am

(Public Session)

Present