"The time has come to abolish the OMB now. No other province in Canada has such a body, a 19th-century anachronism that has no place in the modern world." ⇒
17 January 2007, early morning
I still don't get why we have the OMB. Why do we need municipal oversight into what gets built in Toronto? Why should any other body override city council? This link was found via Matt.
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
In theory, its the same relationship between the courts and the executive branch. One is supposed to be beyond politics… whether it actually works out that way is another question. I guess its similar to why we try to run run the TTC with technocrats rather than politicians. In my mind, the OMB is the least of the factors hindering Toronto’s health. Lack of a metropolitan or Toronto/GTA centric regional authority basically retards our development. Ideally, and unrealistically, the GTA should detach from Ontario and become a direct reporting unit of the Federal government.
by Shawn Chow on January 17 2007, 1:55 pm #
I think the OMB acts as a check and balance mechanism on municipal actions. Now i believe there needs to be reform, like getting minor variances appeal out of OMB jurisdiction in order to help streamline the process, but I believe the OMB cannot be eliminated at least not right now.
I once helped a resident (literally one resident) to register herself as a party to an OMB case in which the municipality ignored planning principles and allowed rezoning on a environmentally sensitive area in order to make way for condos. she lost, but she got her voices in a quasi-judicial forum. If you remove OMB, you must put in place some mechanism to ensure municipalities are truly accountable for their decisions in terms of development (becuase of their immense impact in socio-economic and environmetnal influence to communities).
The OMB itself should not be eliminated for the allegedly corrupted practice of the administration of OMB...the procedure itself is one of many democratic safeguards to ensure level playing field.
OMB functions much more than just developer’s playground. it is a forum in which anybody can put forward valid challenges to Official plans.
also, the idea that there is provincial intervention in municipal elected officials may be controversial especially when OMB members are not elected. However, this may be argued based on the fact that planning principles should not be influenced by a purely political process…
keep in mind that OMB also serves much of rural Ontario, wehre the financial/economic revenue for municipalities are lacking…
the incentive for these communities to cave in for development is much greater. without OMB you run the risk of these communities selling out at the residents expense (and at the expense of good planning)
[Merged and moved second comment with first.]
by tiff on January 17 2007, 2:02 pm #