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Ford gov’t planning bills ‘policy on the fly,’ Mayor Tory says

The City of Toronto is welcoming a possible delay in the implementation of provincial legislation that threatens tens of millions of dollars in planning fees.

Mayor John Tory said Bill 109, the More Homes for Everyone Act, which requires the city to meet strict deadlines in planning approvals at risk of refunding developer fees, is now expected to be implemented on July 1 rather than Jan. 1.

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Tory said he found it “stunning” that both Bill 109 and Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, were passed by the Doug Ford government without first consulting affected municipalities.

“I think policy on the fly, policy that is made without consultation, is usually not good policy or at least it can be better,” Tory said Tuesday. “And I think in this case it’s certainly true of Bill 109 … Bill 23, it is just unreal the things that were proposed to be done.”

All levels of government share the same priority to build more housing faster, but municipalities have considerable expertise in this area, he said.

Under Bill 109, the city must meet tight planning deadlines for decisions and approvals or be forced to refund development fees for official plan or zoning bylaw amendments and site plan control applications.

Toronto Councillor Shelley Carroll said she’s hopeful that if Toronto makes every effort to meet the new timelines developers won’t punish the city by demanding all their fees back.

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“Because heaven knows that’s what the legislation has actually facilitated,” Carroll said. “If they wanted to, the developing community could just with the stroke of a pen wipe out all but 2% (of the fees) … $77-80 million just gone.”

Executive committee, which was considering the legislation Tuesday, has asked city council to approve 150 new permanent planning positions.

aartuso@postmedia.com