The Ontario Municipal Board

One of the best tools for good, green land-use planning in Ontario is a strong municipal Official Plan. That is where environmental, conservation and community organizations often try to focus their energy to get into the planning process “on the ground floor.” However, many land-use planning decisions, actions or inactions by municipal governments pursuant to the Planning Act can and are being appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). In public discourse about the OMB over the past several years, there has been considerable dissatisfaction expressed about the OMB process and many of the Board’s decisions.

Ontario Nature’s review of Ontario Municipal Board natural heritage decisions

In an effort to better understand how the OMB has or has not worked successfully in cases dealing with natural heritage, whether woodlands, wetlands or wildlife in southern Ontario, Ontario Nature has reviewed a number of the OMB’s natural heritage case decisions. The goal was to identify patterns and opportunities to improve future decisions, and to provide answers to these questions:

• How could decisions under the existing tribunal process, rules and guiding policies be improved?
• How would changes in legislation, policies and Board process reduce the impact of future development decisions on natural heritage?

The purpose of this report was to review OMB decisions that had a significant natural heritage component, and to identify patterns and opportunities to improve future decisions.

The report summarizes 71 cases with significant natural heritage issues that were decided by the OMB between May 1996 and July 2003.

Highlights of the results

• 68% of appeals that affect natural heritage were initiated by developers or those with development as an objective;
• 59% of appeals were triggered by development proposals, followed by severances (25%);
• Wetland protection was the leading natural heritage issue (just over 50%);
• Defenders of natural heritage had a 30% success rate in appealing to the OMB, and development interests had a 70% success rate;
• There is often a lack of strong evidence conveyed by witness testimony. The experience and credentials of witnesses, and their ability to refute the opposition’s evidence successfully is key. Evidence must be relevant to and focused on the issue before the Board, as the Board can only make a decision based on the evidence before it. Advancing a general or broad environmental ethic will not be effective or relevant from the Board’s standpoint;
• A proper understanding and interpretation of policy is very important. Enforcement of policy is one of the primary functions of the Board. However, policy can be strictly adhered to or simply viewed as a guide. It is not necessarily strictly enforced if the Board is convinced it is not appropriate or reasonable in a specific situation.

Download the full report: A Review of Ontario Municipal Board Natural Heritage Decisions (1996-2003) (PDF 373k)

For additional information about the Ontario Municipal Board please read "Us Versus Them," an article re-printed from the Winter 2005 issue of ON NATURE.