What transpired Monday April 11, 2022 at the Development Services (DS) Committee meeting was shocking, imo bordering on abuse of process.
How a certain MOTION advanced at the meeting, from my viewpoint, indicates the extent to which developers have the ear of certain members of Council and staff.
The General Manager of DELTA URBAN who wrote a letter dated the same day to the City on behalf of TWELVE DEVELOPERS erroneously still calling themselves the Columbus Landowners Group* shows how much they now control the narrative concerning the City of Oshawa's recommendation to the Region of Durham on its Growth Plan/Land Needs Assessment.
(*In early 2019 the City pointed out there are many Columbus landowners who are not developers and requested they call the Group the Columbus ‘Developers’ Group.)
Page 1 of the April 11, 2022 letter Delta Urban submitted at the last minute to DS Committee lists the Columbus developers represented:
o Tribute
o Valleymede
o Halloway
o G8
o Oshawa Columbus Holdings Inc.
o Brand Development)
o Sorbara
o Menkes
o Setcon
o Delpark Homes
o Oxford Developments
o 276 Columbus Road West Inc.
But first, to understand why the MOTION and the process involving the Developers Group and Delta Urban could be considered unsettling, is to know that during the month of March the Region of Durham proposed FIVE SCENARIOS for the residential and employment density targets and housing unit mixes planned for future growth to 2051.
Admittedly this post is long and may sound confusing, BUT IT INVOLVES AN IMPORTANT MATTER —future planning for the Region's comprehensive Official Plan Review, euphemistically called ‘Envision Durham'. The review is at the stage where the Region has proposed FIVE SCENARIOS for land needs across the Region to plan for growth for the next 30 years.
Below is a picture of the Range of the 5 Community Scenarios for a framework to help determine where growth will go, copied from the infographics in the Region's ALTERNATIVE LAND NEED SCENARIOS ASSESSMENT SUMMARY REPORT https://www.durham.ca/en/doing-business/resources/Documents/PlanningandDevelopment/Envision-Durham/Land-Need-Summary-Final.pdf
Note there is a more detailed breakdown in the March 22 revised Appendix A analysis from the Watson Consultant https://www.durham.ca/en/doing-business/resources/Documents/PlanningandDevelopment/Envision-Durham/Land-Need-Summary-Appendix-A.pdf
The Region intends to have a preferred scenario chosen at its May 3, 2022 Planning Committee meeting. The Region requested comments from the public and stakeholders by April 14th but indicated it will accept the City of Oshawa's comments after the City's Council meeting which isn’t held until April 25th. Since the Region is prepared to accept Oshawa’s comments late, Oshawa residents may want to submit correspondence to both the City concerning REPORTS DS-22-76 and DS-22-90 by emailing [email protected] before 4:00 p.m. this coming Tuesday April 19, and copy the Region of Durham as well, [email protected]
Now, back to Monday April 11th :
The City Staff 14-page Report DS-22-76 was on the DS Committee meeting Agenda. It outlined which of the FIVE Scenarios staff support Oshawa Council recommending to the Region.
In the first few minutes of the DS Committee meeting, as Vice Chair I announced the new items which were to be added to the Agenda. The letter from Delta Urban which the Clerk had given the item number DS-22-90 was an Additional Item. The Committee did not receive a digital copy of this before the meeting, but hard copies were on the Committee member desks when we entered the Council chamber before the start of the meeting. It is a detailed letter with numbers and percentages. It was printed in black and white, although it turns out there were highlights on the digital copy that made key points in the letter clearer. The digital copy was available two days later on the City's website when the archive of the committee meeting’s webstream was published (see Page 2 of the letter below).
At the start of the meeting, when I read the items being added, I asked that the Delta Urban letter not be added in with the with Report DS-22-76 which concerned the Durham Region's Municipal Comprehensive Review: City Comments on the Region of Durham's Growth Management Study - Alternative Land Need Scenarios, as I wanted to speak to the Report separately.
Chair Marimpietri then read the script for the next portion of the meeting noting that there were "NO DELEGATIONS".
25 minutes later, after two other matters were deliberated and voted on, with no notice to me as Committee Vice Chair, a matter came up that was very out of the ordinary. It seemed to be something the Chair and Councillor Chapman knew was coming.
Councillor Chapman remarked to Chair Marimpietri about the fact the Committee had already gone past the time for Delegations, but he wanted to go back to it. Councillor Chapman said "I THOUGHT THERE WAS AN EMAIL OR SOMETHING IN … and he then said he wanted to waive the rules “BECAUSE THERE IS A DELEGATE HERE THAT WANTS TO SPEAK WITH US”.
Chair Marimpietri turned and asked the Clerk about waiving the rules saying, "I do believe Councillor Chapman is right".
A vote was then taken to allow Michael May, the Delta Urban letter writer who was sitting in the Council Chamber to speak. Before Mr. May began his delegation Chair Marimpietri said, Good afternoon, I apologize, WE THOUGHT YOU WERE JUST GOING TO COME AND UM LISTEN IN TO THE MEETING, BUT THE FLOOR IS YOURS”…
Mr. May then spoke concerning Report DS-22-76 and as General Manager of the Columbus developers and on behalf of the Durham Chapter of the Building Industry Liaison Team (BILT) he detailed THEIR PROPOSAL, what he called a ‘MODIFIED SCENARIO 2” that would increase intensification from 45% to 50% and drop down the low density building from 39% to 34%; raise up High Density from 22% to 25% as well as raise Greenfield Density from 55% to 57% for people and jobs per hectare. (see page 2 of his letter below)
Shortly after Mr. May made his delegation, the Staff Report DS-22-76 was up for discussion and Councillor Chapman quickly produced the motion below:
“That pursuant to Report-DS-22-76 dated April 6, 2022 City Council endorse Scenario 2A as submitted by the Columbus Developers Group as Item DS-22-90 as the City’s recommended scenario on the Alternative Land Need Scenarios Report prepared by the Region of Durham as part of Envision Durham, the Municipal Comprehensive Review of the Durham Regional Official Plan. “
The questions that followed were from Councillor Neal and me.
Councillor Neal asked for input from the Columbus Community Advisory Group.
Chair Marimpietri said Councillor Neal and I could call the Advisory Committee for a meeting and discuss the Region’s Envision Durham with them.
I pointed out they are volunteer citizens appointed to a Committee by the City. The City convenes their advisory meetings, and the City does not share their emails.
But more to the point, the fact that the Columbus Community Advisory Group will learn about the City’s decision to recommend higher densities to the Region that could significantly impact the Columbus Part II Secondary Plan densification without an opportunity for input.
It confirms what many Columbus residents have been saying all along, that the Columbus Community Advisory Committee is not intended to have any real input in the City and developer’s planning for their community, but that they are just there for show only.
My final words on this matter Monday afternoon, were how unbalanced the MOTION struck me. I didn’t bother to question how some members of the Committee seemed to be more in the know and some left out …but I did manage to get in that the City already has a reputation of favoring developers. Chair Marimpietri cut in bristling at that and went on about this being a Region-wide planning matter and not about interest groups (Huh? Like really? To me Region-Wide includes a lot more than just the Developer/Builder group whose interests and voices were the only ones heard and being acted on by the Committee.)
How a certain MOTION advanced at the meeting, from my viewpoint, indicates the extent to which developers have the ear of certain members of Council and staff.
The General Manager of DELTA URBAN who wrote a letter dated the same day to the City on behalf of TWELVE DEVELOPERS erroneously still calling themselves the Columbus Landowners Group* shows how much they now control the narrative concerning the City of Oshawa's recommendation to the Region of Durham on its Growth Plan/Land Needs Assessment.
(*In early 2019 the City pointed out there are many Columbus landowners who are not developers and requested they call the Group the Columbus ‘Developers’ Group.)
Page 1 of the April 11, 2022 letter Delta Urban submitted at the last minute to DS Committee lists the Columbus developers represented:
o Tribute
o Valleymede
o Halloway
o G8
o Oshawa Columbus Holdings Inc.
o Brand Development)
o Sorbara
o Menkes
o Setcon
o Delpark Homes
o Oxford Developments
o 276 Columbus Road West Inc.
But first, to understand why the MOTION and the process involving the Developers Group and Delta Urban could be considered unsettling, is to know that during the month of March the Region of Durham proposed FIVE SCENARIOS for the residential and employment density targets and housing unit mixes planned for future growth to 2051.
Admittedly this post is long and may sound confusing, BUT IT INVOLVES AN IMPORTANT MATTER —future planning for the Region's comprehensive Official Plan Review, euphemistically called ‘Envision Durham'. The review is at the stage where the Region has proposed FIVE SCENARIOS for land needs across the Region to plan for growth for the next 30 years.
Below is a picture of the Range of the 5 Community Scenarios for a framework to help determine where growth will go, copied from the infographics in the Region's ALTERNATIVE LAND NEED SCENARIOS ASSESSMENT SUMMARY REPORT https://www.durham.ca/en/doing-business/resources/Documents/PlanningandDevelopment/Envision-Durham/Land-Need-Summary-Final.pdf
Note there is a more detailed breakdown in the March 22 revised Appendix A analysis from the Watson Consultant https://www.durham.ca/en/doing-business/resources/Documents/PlanningandDevelopment/Envision-Durham/Land-Need-Summary-Appendix-A.pdf
The Region intends to have a preferred scenario chosen at its May 3, 2022 Planning Committee meeting. The Region requested comments from the public and stakeholders by April 14th but indicated it will accept the City of Oshawa's comments after the City's Council meeting which isn’t held until April 25th. Since the Region is prepared to accept Oshawa’s comments late, Oshawa residents may want to submit correspondence to both the City concerning REPORTS DS-22-76 and DS-22-90 by emailing [email protected] before 4:00 p.m. this coming Tuesday April 19, and copy the Region of Durham as well, [email protected]
Now, back to Monday April 11th :
The City Staff 14-page Report DS-22-76 was on the DS Committee meeting Agenda. It outlined which of the FIVE Scenarios staff support Oshawa Council recommending to the Region.
In the first few minutes of the DS Committee meeting, as Vice Chair I announced the new items which were to be added to the Agenda. The letter from Delta Urban which the Clerk had given the item number DS-22-90 was an Additional Item. The Committee did not receive a digital copy of this before the meeting, but hard copies were on the Committee member desks when we entered the Council chamber before the start of the meeting. It is a detailed letter with numbers and percentages. It was printed in black and white, although it turns out there were highlights on the digital copy that made key points in the letter clearer. The digital copy was available two days later on the City's website when the archive of the committee meeting’s webstream was published (see Page 2 of the letter below).
At the start of the meeting, when I read the items being added, I asked that the Delta Urban letter not be added in with the with Report DS-22-76 which concerned the Durham Region's Municipal Comprehensive Review: City Comments on the Region of Durham's Growth Management Study - Alternative Land Need Scenarios, as I wanted to speak to the Report separately.
Chair Marimpietri then read the script for the next portion of the meeting noting that there were "NO DELEGATIONS".
25 minutes later, after two other matters were deliberated and voted on, with no notice to me as Committee Vice Chair, a matter came up that was very out of the ordinary. It seemed to be something the Chair and Councillor Chapman knew was coming.
Councillor Chapman remarked to Chair Marimpietri about the fact the Committee had already gone past the time for Delegations, but he wanted to go back to it. Councillor Chapman said "I THOUGHT THERE WAS AN EMAIL OR SOMETHING IN … and he then said he wanted to waive the rules “BECAUSE THERE IS A DELEGATE HERE THAT WANTS TO SPEAK WITH US”.
Chair Marimpietri turned and asked the Clerk about waiving the rules saying, "I do believe Councillor Chapman is right".
A vote was then taken to allow Michael May, the Delta Urban letter writer who was sitting in the Council Chamber to speak. Before Mr. May began his delegation Chair Marimpietri said, Good afternoon, I apologize, WE THOUGHT YOU WERE JUST GOING TO COME AND UM LISTEN IN TO THE MEETING, BUT THE FLOOR IS YOURS”…
Mr. May then spoke concerning Report DS-22-76 and as General Manager of the Columbus developers and on behalf of the Durham Chapter of the Building Industry Liaison Team (BILT) he detailed THEIR PROPOSAL, what he called a ‘MODIFIED SCENARIO 2” that would increase intensification from 45% to 50% and drop down the low density building from 39% to 34%; raise up High Density from 22% to 25% as well as raise Greenfield Density from 55% to 57% for people and jobs per hectare. (see page 2 of his letter below)
Shortly after Mr. May made his delegation, the Staff Report DS-22-76 was up for discussion and Councillor Chapman quickly produced the motion below:
“That pursuant to Report-DS-22-76 dated April 6, 2022 City Council endorse Scenario 2A as submitted by the Columbus Developers Group as Item DS-22-90 as the City’s recommended scenario on the Alternative Land Need Scenarios Report prepared by the Region of Durham as part of Envision Durham, the Municipal Comprehensive Review of the Durham Regional Official Plan. “
The questions that followed were from Councillor Neal and me.
Councillor Neal asked for input from the Columbus Community Advisory Group.
Chair Marimpietri said Councillor Neal and I could call the Advisory Committee for a meeting and discuss the Region’s Envision Durham with them.
I pointed out they are volunteer citizens appointed to a Committee by the City. The City convenes their advisory meetings, and the City does not share their emails.
But more to the point, the fact that the Columbus Community Advisory Group will learn about the City’s decision to recommend higher densities to the Region that could significantly impact the Columbus Part II Secondary Plan densification without an opportunity for input.
It confirms what many Columbus residents have been saying all along, that the Columbus Community Advisory Committee is not intended to have any real input in the City and developer’s planning for their community, but that they are just there for show only.
My final words on this matter Monday afternoon, were how unbalanced the MOTION struck me. I didn’t bother to question how some members of the Committee seemed to be more in the know and some left out …but I did manage to get in that the City already has a reputation of favoring developers. Chair Marimpietri cut in bristling at that and went on about this being a Region-wide planning matter and not about interest groups (Huh? Like really? To me Region-Wide includes a lot more than just the Developer/Builder group whose interests and voices were the only ones heard and being acted on by the Committee.)
