Meeting Date: Friday, May 17, 2019
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Email: tlab@toronto.ca
Location: York Civic Centre, 2700 Eglinton Avenue West, ON M6M 1V1
Room: Council Chambers
Chair: Ian Lord
Contact: Hsing Yi Chao
Phone: 416-392-4697
None declared
Motion to adopt the minutes of March 4, 2019 moved by Vice Chair D. Lombardi, seconded by Panel Member S. Gopikrishna (Carried)
TLAB 23.1 INFORMATION RECEIVED
Toronto Local Appeal Body – Chair’s Update
Panel Decision
The Toronto Local Appeal Body received the Chair’s Update as information.
Decision Advice and Other Information
The Toronto Local Appeal Body received updates from Chair Ian Lord regarding certain TLAB matters.
There is a forthcoming meeting with the Chief Building Official to discuss a list a questions about how TLAB and their department communicates and how the building department reads and applies TLAB decisions.
There will also be a meeting with the City of Toronto Ombudsman to deal with the complaint protocol. As a result of a prior complaint, their office has provided some questions to TLAB regarding the public process, as it is necessary for public bodies to have public, accessible and understandable process for how complaints are handled.
The Chair’s annual report for 2018 was presented to the Planning and Housing Committee. Councillor Robinson made recommendations regarding the pay grade of members, and regarding a public support centre for TLAB and Committee of Adjustment matters. Two members of the public also made recommendations to the Committee regarding TLAB matters. Staff will review the annual report and make recommendations, and the City will investigate creating a support centre. The outcome has not yet been conveyed by the clerk.
Summary
Toronto Local Appeal Body Chair, Ian Lord, to provide opening remarks and provide the panel with an update on Tribunal Business.
Motions
Motion to receive the Chair’s Update as information, moved by Panel Member S. Makuch, seconded by Vice Chair D. Lombardi (Carried)
Supporting Documents
TLAB 23.2 INFORMATION RECEIVED
Toronto Local Appeal Body – Supervisor Staff Report
Panel Decision
The Toronto Local Appeal Body received the Supervisor Staff Report as information.
Decision Advice and Other Information
The Toronto Local Appeal Body received an update from Hsing Yi Chao, Supervisor, Toronto Local Appeal Body, on the administrative implementation of the revised Rules of Practice and Procedure, plus a year to date update on case file management.
Since implementation of TLAB in May 2017, 550 case files have been disposed of with decisions, borne out of 389 hearings. As of May 8, 2019, 12 case files had outstanding decisions, with 185 case files scheduled for 112 hearing dates in future. Also at this time 6 hearings were waiting to be scheduled.
The number of case files refers to the specific number of individual appeals filed (consents and minor variances), which are then heard by property, leading to a smaller number of total hearings.
Conversation ensued among the panel members, discussing outstanding decisions and the challenge of not receiving requested materials from parties in a timely fashion after hearings. Chair Lord agreed to consider preparing a practice direction to further clarify the process. Further conversation took place regarding the ability of members to hear people on audio recordings.
Members also discussed the process for scheduling members to hear matters. Dates and rooms are booked by staff and later members are assigned, with an aim for balance. However, the members identified that equity should not be the goal, service to the public should be the goal.
With regard to timelines, there is an average 10 day turnaround from the last date to file an appeal of the COA decision to the time a file is sent to TLAB. From there, it is about a 3 day period to issue a Notice of Hearing. There is approximately 120 days from the date the Notice of Hearing is issued to the hearing date. Staff are gradually trying to bring that down to 110 days. On average, it takes 22 days from the last date of a hearing to the issuance of a decision. The goal set by the panel was 14 days.
Conversation took place around how realistic 14 days is. It was decided to resolve the goal from 14 calendar days to 14 business days.
The Supervisor also detailed member distribution so far, taking into account that new matters for August and September had not yet been assigned to members.
The Supervisor of the Toronto Local Appeal Body provided a further update on the status of the revised Rules of Practice and Procedure. The new rules are available online and in fillable format. The website has been updated to reflect dates for which Rules reply. Anything for which a Notice of Hearing was issued after May 6 will have new due dates for disclosure, but anything issued prior to that will have due dates from the old rules.
Further, a list of public documents is now available on TLAB’s website. This lists direct sources of information. The list does not include anything that is not already posted online, as those documents may not be up to date and are not AODA compliant. This list is located on each stand alone computer which is accessible to the public, and staff are working with corporate IT to provide internet to stand alone computers.
The public guide has also been revised and is available on the website. It is a working document which members are welcome to provide feedback on.
Further updates were provided to panel members regarding supplies and the communal tribunal member areas located at 40 Orchard View Blvd.
Manager for Tribunals Susan Paolucci provided a brief update on her attendance to the Planning and Housing Committee meeting at which the Chair’s report was provided. She shared feedback received during public deputations on the item. This included that staff and members are generally quite helpful, and allow the public the opportunity to have their voices heard. TLAB has gone out of their way to make it accessible to participants, and flexible to allow people to speak. It is also an improvement in terms of timely access to data.
Summary
Hsing Yi Chao, Supervisor, Court Services, to provide an update to the Toronto Local Appeal Body Panel on:
Motions
Motion to receive the Secretary’s and Manager’s reports, moved by Panel Member J. Tassiopoulos, seconded by Panel Member S. Makuch (Carried).
Supporting Documents
May 6, 2019 – Administrative Update
TLAB 23.3 INFORMATION RECEIVED
Toronto Local Appeal Body – Complaint Protocol
Panel Decision
To Toronto Local Appeal Body considered the proposed Complaint Protocol and deferred it to receive further information on other court services complaint procedures.
Decision Advice and Other Information
The Toronto Local Appeal Body considered the current TLAB complaint protocol, which is in draft on the TLAB website but not yet formal. This protocol has also been requested from the City of Toronto Ombudsperson, and there has been feedback from the members in regards to how complaints are handled.
Summary
The Toronto Local Appeal Body to receive information on the Toronto Local Appeal Body’s complaint protocol.
Motions
Motion to defer this item to the next business meeting to receive further information from the manager and secretary/supervisor, regarding the comparison with court complaint procedures, moved by Panel Member T. Yao, seconded by Panel Member G. Burton (Carried)
Supporting Documents
February 2019 – Toronto Local Appeal Body Complaint Protocol
TLAB 23.4 ACTION ADOPTED
Toronto Local Appeal Body – Service Measures
Panel Decision
As this matter was dealt with during the report from the secretary, the Toronto Local Appeal Body moved to close this item.
Motions
Motion to adopt the extension of the time frame to complete a decision at the conclusion of a hearing from 14 calendar days to 14 business days, moved by Panel Member J. Leung, seconded by Vice Chair D. Lombardi (Carried)
TLAB 23.5 INFORMATION RECEIVED
Toronto Local Appeal Body – Party’s Right of Further Review
Panel Decision
The Toronto Local Appeal Body to receive legal advice form Duxbury Law regarding a Party’s right of further review.
(The Toronto Local Appeal Body may go in closed session to discuss this item as the City of Toronto Act, 2006 permits closing a meeting to receive advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege.)
At 11:11 a.m., the Toronto Local Appeal Body recessed the public session and convened in closed session to received legal advice from Duxbury Law regarding a Party’s right of further review. This issue was originally raised at the March 4, 2019 public meeting, at which the panel discussed modifying Rule 31. The panel went into closed session, as the City of Toronto Act, 2006 permits closing a meeting to receive advice that is subject to solicitor client privilege.
Motions
Motion to go in camera at 11:11 a.m. to receive legal advice, moved by Panel Member S. Gopikrishna, seconded by Vice Chair D. Lombardi (Carried)
Motion to move out of camera and reconvene in public session at 12:03 p.m., moved by Panel Member J. Tassiopoulos, seconded by Panel Member S. Makuch (Carried)
Motion to request communication between the Panel of the Toronto Local Appeal Body and TLAB tribunal operations staff and that said communication may be conducted in camera, moved by Panel Member G. Burton, seconded by Panel Member S. Makuch (Carried)
Toronto Local Appeal Body – New Business
The OPPI 2019 Conference is occurring October 1-3 in Toronto, and there will be an “Ignite” session which will be a presentation entitled “TLAB, the new kid on the block: pitfalls and pratfalls”. Vice Chair D. Lombardi was approached by OPPI with the idea of presenting a half hour information session on TLAB, which will give an idea to attendees of what to expect in a TLAB process. This is an educational process for planners in the Toronto area.
Meeting Sessions and Attendance
| Session Date | Session Type | Start Time | End Time | Public or Closed Session |
| May 17, 2019 | Morning | 9:31 a.m. | 10:54 a.m. | Public |
| May 17, 2019 | Recess | 10:54 a.m. | 11:01 a.m. | Public |
| May 17, 2019 | Morning | 11:01 a.m. | 11:11 a.m. | Public |
| May 17, 2019 | Morning | 11:11 a.m. | 12:03 p.m. | Closed |
| May 17, 2019 | Morning | 12:03 p.m. | 12:19 p.m. | Public |
Attendance
Members were present for some or all of the time period indicated.
| Date and Time | Quorum | Panel Members |
| May 17, 20199:31 a.m .to 10:54 a.m. | Present | Present: Ian Lord (Chair), Dino Lombardi (Vice Chair), Gillian Burton, Sabnavis Gopikrishna, Sean Karmali, Justin Leung, Shaheynoor Talukder, John Tassiopoulos, Ted, Yao, Stan Makuch |
| May 17, 201910:54 a.m. to 11:01 a.m. | Present | Present: Ian Lord (Chair), Dino Lombardi (Vice Chair), Gillian Burton, Sabnavis Gopikrishna, Sean Karmali, Justin Leung, Shaheynoor Talukder, John Tassiopoulos, Ted, Yao, Stan Makuch |
| May 17, 201911:01 a.m. to 11:11 a.m. | Present | Present: Ian Lord (Chair), Dino Lombardi (Vice Chair), Gillian Burton, Sabnavis Gopikrishna, Sean Karmali, Justin Leung, Shaheynoor Talukder, John Tassiopoulos, Ted, Yao, Stan Makuch |
| May 17, 2019
11:11 a.m. to 12:03 p.m. |
Present | Present: Ian Lord (Chair), Dino Lombardi (Vice Chair), Gillian Burton, Sabnavis Gopikrishna, Sean Karmali, Justin Leung, Shaheynoor Talukder, John Tassiopoulos, Ted, Yao, Stan Makuch |
| May 17, 2019
12:03 p.m. to 12:19 p.m. |
Present | Present: Ian Lord (Chair), Dino Lombardi (Vice Chair), Gillian Burton, Sabnavis Gopikrishna, Sean Karmali, Justin Leung, Shaheynoor Talukder, John Tassiopoulos, Ted, Yao, Stan Makuch |
Susan Paolucci
Manager
Tribunal Operations, Court Services
Hsing Yi Chao
Secretary / Supervisor
Toronto Local Appeal Body, Court Services
Angela Bepple
Support Assistant A
Toronto Local Appeal Body, Court Services
Nathalie Forde
Support Assistant B
Toronto Local Appeal Body, Court Services
Joshua Pesce
Support Assistant B
Toronto Local Appeal Body, Court Services