Toronto's harmonized zoning bylaw, the product of six year's work, should be torn up, councillors on the city's planning committee decided this week.
The massive bylaw, merging the 44 separate zoning regimes that existed in pre-amalgamation Toronto passed last August. On Thursday, March 24, it was declared unsuitable by committee members, including Peter Milczyn, who had criticized the bylaw before, but in November had called it a genie that could not be put back in the bottle.Toronto Council could decide on April 12 to scrap it outright.Scarborough-Agincourt Councillor Mike Del Grande, though not a member of the committee, said he was hoping for the bylaw's repeal."It's a bad law" whose passage was "hastily done" in the dying days of the David Miller regime, Del Grande said Friday. The new regime does not make things easier and has led to an "overwhelming" delay in processing applications, he added. "Our role is not to create more red tape."News of the committee vote didn't sit well with Norm Kelly, the city's previous planning chairperson. Staff knew the bylaw wasn't perfect, but had adjusted the original proposal enormously, he said."My bottom line is: We're one city, let's start acting like it from a zoning perspective. To not do this would be likely to postpone (harmonization of zoning) for a very, very long time."The bylaw faced 694 appeals to the Ontario Municipal Board from property owners, but Kelly said one rule of politics is "you can't please everybody."