Your next-door neighbours are planning an addition to their house.
You’ve just received a notice that the owner of a property near you wants to tear down the existing house, split the property in two and build two new houses.
These are examples of events that can occur on your street that will most likely bring you into contact with the Committee of Adjustment.
For most residents, this is something that may only happen once or twice and it usually is an experience for which most residents are leery of or at least totally unfamiliar.
The Long Branch Neighbourhood Association can help guide you through the Committee of Adjustment process so that your opinions and concerns will be heard. We help organize neighbours to (usually) oppose the application under review, assist with writing letters of objection and help coach them through the Committee of Adjustment hearing. Very often, members of the Association appear at the hearings to add their voice to the neighbours affected by the application.
If the outcome of the Committee of Adjustment hearing is not satisfactory, we help the neighbours organize an appeal to the Toronto Local Appeal Body (TLAB), which was introduced in 2018 to replace the OMB.
Usually, at this point, we liaise with Councillor Grimes’ office to urge him to get the City to commit a legal team to leas the opposition to a Committee of Adjustment Decision and we coordinate our efforts with City Legal through the process.
In addition, we actively advocate on behalf of Long Branch residents by presenting to meetings of the Planning and Housing Committee and Toronto Local Appeal Body business meetings to help ensure regulations fairly treat local residents.