Our Municipal, Planning & Environmental Group regularly represents developers, municipalities, and private, public and Crown corporations on a broad range of complex development projects, infrastructure expansions and expropriations, municipal finance, and regulatory matters. Our lawyers appear before the courts and numerous administrative tribunals, including the Ontario Land Tribunal. We are regularly recommended to handle land use disputes headed for or before the courts where our planning, development, and municipal expertise and experience lead to successful outcomes. We are ranked as a leading Municipal Planning Law Firm by Chambers Canada (Zoning/Land Use: Ontario), with one client noting: “We hold them in the highest regard. For what we go to them for, there’s no one else in their league in Toronto.”
MUNICIPAL LAW
We advise on all aspects of municipal law including business licensing; municipal finance; drafting, interpreting and challenging municipal by-laws, including by-law enforcement; municipal restructuring and amalgamations; municipal procedures, elections and conflicts of interest; cross border and joint services; and judicial review applications. We also provide advice and representation to landowners and expropriating authorities on all aspects of the expropriation process.
We also represent private developers, municipalities and chief building officials on all matters under the Building Code Act, 1992, act for landowners and municipalities on appeals under the Development Charges Act, 1997, act for landowners and developers on appeals from heritage designation by-laws, heritage conservation districts, and heritage alteration and demolition permits under the Ontario Heritage Act, and negotiate cost sharing, front-ending and development charge credit agreements.
Our significant and high-profile work in this area includes:
- Advancing legislative and regulatory changes to facilitate transit funding tools
- Negotiating complex development and front-ending agreements with land-owner groups to advance infrastructure expansion
- Acting for a crown agency in the establishment and diversion of public roads to facilitate infrastructure and transit expansion
- Acting for a lower tier municipality in the transfer of authority and assets to establish a regional transit system
- Acting for municipal clerks on the municipal election process and irregularities
- Acting for national retail chains and franchises in expropriation matters across Canada, including where no land is taken but business losses are suffered from the construction of public works
- Acting for a southern Ontario municipality in a precedent-setting case before the Superior Court and Court of Appeal involving the breach of a zoning by-law, resulting in one of the highest fines to be ordered in a contempt case
- Acting for a municipality in a precedent-setting case before the Superior Court respecting Building Code inspections and occupational health and safety issues
- Acting for an association in its successful challenge to the City of Toronto’s RentSafeTO emergency accommodation fee by-law
- Acting for an Integrity Commissioner in opposing a motion to stay a Superior Court decision to remove a municipal councillor from office
- Acting for a municipality before the Court of Appeal in securing title to a public park pursuant to historic development agreements and common law principles of dedication and assumption
- Acting for a production event company in a landmark municipal law decision overturning a by-law that had prohibited entertainment involving exotic animals
- Acting for a large Ontario municipality in challenges to its sign by-law
- Acting for a southern Ontario regional municipality in successfully defending a by-law that regulated smoking in workplaces and public areas, before the Ontario Court of Appeal
- Acting for a municipality in successfully defending multiple appeals of its heritage conservation district by-law
PLANNING LAW
Our planning lawyers have demonstrated expertise in all areas of development law, working for both public institutions and private enterprises in all aspects of the development process. We advance developments, including preparing applications and obtaining approvals for plans of subdivision, official plan and zoning amendments, minor variances, and site plans. We negotiate all types of development agreements for both private and public parties. We have represented clients at all levels of the court system, as well as a range of administrative tribunals with particular emphasis on proceedings before the Ontario Land Tribunal (formerly the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal and the Ontario Municipal Board) (OLT). We are regularly sought out for our group’s expertise working with all levels of government to find creative solutions for projects that are too big to fail, too sensitive to go to a hearing, or otherwise cannot proceed without first obtaining government approval.
Examples of our work in this area includes:
- Acting for a prominent developer in the development of Langstaff Gateway, a Gateway Urban Growth Centre planned to be the highest density development in Markham
- Acting for a large landowner in securing a Ministerial Zoning Order to facilitate the development of a new health and wellness community
- Acting for a commercial landowner in obtaining approval for an employment lands conversion to redevelop a retail site with new mixed use residential towers
- Acting for a development and construction consortium in the development of a new community on former employment lands, including negotiations and approvals for the delivery of a new GO Station
- Obtaining approvals for the expansion of a large health facility in North York
- Acting for a joint venture entity in obtaining approvals (official plan amendment, zoning amendment and two plans of subdivision) for the redevelopment of the York Downs Golf Club in Markham, a new mixed-use community including over 2250 residential units
- Acting for Canada’s largest university in obtaining all development approvals, including the approval of master plans, campus secondary plans, and site and area specific zoning for some of the City’s most prominent institutional buildings, including the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Centre, Oak House, the Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health and the Toronto Pan Am Centre
- Acting for a provincial agency in connection with the development of a new mixed-use community on a 9.6-acre provincially owned former industrial site in the West Don Lands, Toronto
- Acting for a provincial agency in connection with the development of the Provincial Campus at Downsview, including development approvals for the Humber River Hospital
- Acting on behalf of a consortium of developers in the development and construction of Canada’s largest film studio complex, in co-operation with the City of Toronto and Toronto Economic Development Corporation
- Acting for national commercial entities in obtaining development approvals across Ontario, including ‘big box’ retail and restaurant chains
- Advising an industry association on new and proposed municipal planning policies including appeals to the OLT
- Acting for high-rise developers in obtaining approvals across Toronto and the GTA and before the OLT for mixed-use condominium projects, including rental replacement, heritage conservation and the negotiation of community benefits
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
Our environmental law lawyers provide advice and representation on all aspects of environmental law, including brownfield redevelopment; re-use and management of excess soils; environmental liabilities in real estate and corporate transactions; rehabilitation obligations; landfill site selection and regulatory obligations; mine rehabilitation obligations; environmental permitting; spill and discharge response, including clean-up; environmental management systems and corporate environmental policies; development of lands containing natural features; and product regulation, including the import, export, and transport of dangerous goods, circular economy, environmental stewardship and producer responsibility obligations. Our environmental lawyers provide representation in all aspects of regulatory compliance, including the defence of quasi-criminal environmental prosecutions by regulatory authorities.
We assist clients with obtaining/amending all required environmental approvals, including Environmental Compliance Approvals and Records of Site Condition to facilitate redevelopment. We also represent clients in various environmental proceedings, including actions involving environmental liability and environmental assessment proceedings. Our corporate clients rely on our environmental law lawyers for advice on environmental issues in commercial transactions, such as the management of environmental risks, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, real property realizations and bankruptcies.
Our significant work includes acting for:
- The University of Toronto, in partnership with the City of Toronto, in the remediation of the former Morningside Landfill for the development of a regional aquatics facility in support of the Pan Am/Parapan Games
- An international soft drink company to ensure regulatory compliance with circular economy bottling operations for its manufacturing and warehouse distribution network across Canada
- National franchises, including real estate and restaurant franchises, to ensure compliance with environmental stewardship and producer responsibility obligations across Canada
- An international clothing and accessories retailer to ensure regulatory compliance for the recycling of apparel and hangers and extended producer responsibility compliance for the disposal of waste/electrical and electronic equipment and waste/batteries
- An energy company in obtaining approvals for the development of a 325-hectare “energy park” with renewable (wind and solar) and non-renewable (liquid fuels storage and transportation) components
- Corporate directors and officers in defending against regulatory charges for alleged actions taken by the company, even in instances where the company is not charged
- A US chemical distribution company in establishing a Canadian company for the import of dangerous goods into Canada
- A waste transfer and recycling facility in all aspects of the approvals process including defending existing approvals, obtaining new approvals, and defending against regulatory charges
- Mining companies in all respects of the closure planning process, including defending against Ministry orders and interpreting obligations and liability arising from ownership of mineral rights
- Land developers, engineering and environmental consultants, corporations, and landowners to bring or defend against environmental claims, including contaminated groundwater and soils, consultant liability, and climate change
- Public and private constructors and re-use site owners to develop policies, procedures, and agreements and obtain permits for the management of excess soils
- Purchasers, sellers, and lenders in various commercial transactions to assess the environmental risks associated with commercial and real estate transactions