Comment 101207

By misterque (registered) - website | Posted May 09, 2014 at 16:14:22

I have lived through 1) at least 5 variances 2) a rezoning 3) an official plan amendment. I will not bore you with my tales of woe and sorrow. I am still living one at this very moment. We are on year 2 of a 'minor' variance. So instead of reviewing a million individual cases and trying to change thousands of antiquated laws the city could change the culture of Planning and Building by putting the fees in escrow (or something) until the project goes through. If the project dies then the city only sees a small fraction of the money it would get if the project had gone through. What is happening now is that planning collects its fees regardless of outcome. They have no incentive to expedite or compromise because every time they send someone back to the drawing board they collect more fees. This way a restauranteur who suddenly realizes that all her capital for restaurant development has been eaten by planning fees can bail. Obviously this would require checks and balances. However that is the basic theory.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds