Toronto Sixty Colborne Condos | 82.29m | 25s | Freed | a—A

DtTO said:
How long does it take to make an appeal decision at the OMB. DSC stated that the developer went to them in mid December, so I'm thinking they should have their approval fairly soon? I can't see the OMB rejecting the developer's appeal as 25 and 11s is very reasonable given the context of the location. I still find it odd and concerning that the city rejected the proposal in the first place. Now that Kathleen is premier, it is starting to seem more and more likely that the city becomes OMB-exempt. If that happens, we'd have overzealous, power hungry councillors denying everything in order to appease NIMBYs and gain votes.
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From what I recall - the application was not rejected by the City. Ontario municipalities have a time limit in which to respond to such applications. If a city does not respond - for whatever reason including, in Toronto's case being short staffed due to lack of approvals (and by whom I wonder) to hire to fill vacant positions in the Planning Department - then the applicant has the right to appeal directly to the OMB for approval of the project, which is my understanding as to what happened in this case.

Regarding timeframes for an OMB appeal - well, it can vary depending on the adjudicator who heard the appeal. In the case of another Freed proposal, for the additional floors at 621 King Street West, it took in the order of nine months for the decision to be rendered.
 
TOCondoGarden said:
^I updated my post for your info and to be very specific at 67% sold (187 units of 280) rather me stating "about 70%". Sorry that I was off by 9 units. Hope that helps to rest your mind that the real estate agent was telling you the truth.
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Thanks so much! Can you remind me how many bachelor units are in this development? I believe someone told me 90.
 
AHK said:
From what I recall - the application was not rejected by the City. Ontario municipalities have a time limit in which to respond to such applications. If a city does not respond - for whatever reason including, in Toronto's case being short staffed due to lack of approvals (and by whom I wonder) to hire to fill vacant positions in the Planning Department - then the applicant has the right to appeal directly to the OMB for approval of the project, which is my understanding as to what happened in this case.

Regarding timeframes for an OMB appeal - well, it can vary depending on the adjudicator who heard the appeal. In the case of another Freed proposal, for the additional floors at 621 King Street West, it took in the order of nine months for the decision to be rendered.
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Yes, the appeal is based on the City not responding "in time". Their appeal letter is at http://www.slna.ca/slna-news-pdfs/Appeal Letter 101 King St E and 54-70 Colborne.pdf (Though I understand the City strongly denies they gave any hints it would be approved and the appeal letter may be being rewritten.)

An OMB appeal takes ages. First a preliminary hearing is held just to set the dates for the full appeal. In the two cases I know about just setting up this took 2-3 months. (Based on that I would expect the preliminary hearing to be in April or May.) Then the hearing has to be scheduled and this can take another 4-5 months depending on availability of Board members, lawyers etc. (That means September-November) Then the wait for a decision can be up to a year. It's NOT a speedy process!
 
Ex-Montreal Girl said:
Forgive me if this has been discussed elsewhere but isn't there a bill somewhere to prevent developers from selling before they have permits?
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If there were such a rule, it would probably be contained in the Condominium Act (Ontario), but there is no such rule. However, the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act (Ontario) does provide relief to purchasers where there is a significant delay in delivery of the unit.
 
Ramako said:
If there were such a rule, it would probably be contained in the Condominium Act (Ontario), but there is no such rule. However, the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act (Ontario) does provide relief to purchasers where there is a significant delay in delivery of the unit.
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Yes, thanks. Some kind of restitution payment of around $8K for delays.

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2012/11/23/condo_construction_delays_now_commonplace_leaving_developers_worried.html

But I think there is something somewhere that is being newly proposed, maybe in city council. Maybe I imagined reading about it?
 
It may have been in Rosario Marchese's bill that proposed changes to the condo act.
 
PinkLucy said:
It may have been in Rosario Marchese's bill that proposed changes to the condo act.
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Councillor Wiong-Tam has some plan to say the City cannot approve the construction or reno for a condo sales centre until the project is approved but I doubt this would actually stop sales as they could, I assume, still happen through brokers.
 
I don't mean to get all developer-gushy but why should one have to wait for a lethargic and overstretched planning department to deliver a negative report on a project, only to have it overturned in council or at the OMB? Initiating sales in that period and minimizing the time before construction begins actually seems pretty wise to me. I'm lost as to who 'wins' here (referring to KWT, not Marchese's proposition)?
 
Agree with PE. Why not just create a rule that the developer must disclose to the purchaser that approvals have not yet been secured, and may not ever be secured? It's not rocket science.
 
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