Burlington City Council Waives Privilege to Disclose Ontario Land Tribunal Legal Fees to Residents
Burlington, Ont. — July 15, 2022 — At the July 12 Burlington City Council Meeting, City Staff brought forward report L-25-22 for Council’s consideration to waive solicitor-client privilege in order to release the total amount of external legal and expert witness fees paid in respect of each individual appeal that has been concluded during this term of Council to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) and its predecessors, the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal and Ontario Municipal Board.
Council voted to waive privilege and release the external legal expenses outlined in Appendix A of report L-25-22. The release of the expenses incurred to date provides residents with an overview of how public dollars have been used over this term of Council to defend the City’s position at the OLT.
Appendix A is a summary of development appeals in which final orders have been issued and there are no further legal proceedings. The external legal and expert witness costs associated with each file is identified. The costs associated with other ongoing Ontario Land Tribunal appeals has not been included in accordance with the Corporate Policy approved in 2011 dealing with the disclosure of legal expenses.
The report responded to a staff direction from June 21, 2022.
At our July 12 meeting, Burlington City Council unanimously approved waiving solicitor-client privilege to release the total amount of external legal and expert witness fees the City paid with respect to appeals — during this term of Council — to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT), formerly known as the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal (LPAT) and Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).
MAYORS TAKE:
This is an important step forward in transparency and a way to let the public know exactly how much of their tax dollars go towards defending the policies designed by City staff and approved by Council that reflect what our community wants when it comes to development and growth. I’m glad Council was unanimous in approving we waive privilege to release this information publicly.
The Ontario Land Tribunal is an extremely inefficient tool that, in fact, gets in the way of building communities, particularly when appeal cases start back from the very beginning of the development process and its decisions are rarely reflective of a duly-elected Council’s decision and of the community’s vision for their city. It’s too slow and too expensive, and more and more Ontario municipalities are calling for a complete overhaul of the tribunal or its dissolution, including Halton Region.
RELATED LINKS:
