Strong Communities (Planning Amendment) Act
Publisher/Sponsor:
Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing
On November 30, 2004, the Strong Communities (Planning Amendment) Act, 2004 received Royal Assent. This Act amends the Planning Act.
The purpose of the Act, is to address municipal concerns and substantially increase public input into the planning process by increasing the number of days for municipalities to review land use applications.
The significant changes are:
- changing the Planning Act with regard to Provincial Policy Statements (PPS) rewording from have "regard to" to must be "consistent with";
- increasing the time period for making decisions before appeals may be made to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) from:
- 90 to 180 days for Official Plans amendments and subdivision applications;
- 90 to 120 days for zoning and holding by-law applications;
- and 60 to 90 days for consent applications;
- eliminating the deadline of 65 days in which a municipality had to hold a public meeting with respect to a request for an amendment to an Official Plan has been removed and the appeal provision repealed;
- and preventing appeals to the OMB in respect of amendments to official plans and zoning by-laws for altering the boundary of an urban settlement area or creating a new urban settlement area where the municipality does not adopt the proposed amendment
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