The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) continues to play a significant role in the province’s planning approval process, according to representatives of the land development and home building industry.

In a recent meeting, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) appeared before the Ontario’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs to oppose proposed Bill 20, which suggests removing Toronto from the OMB’s jurisdiction.

“The point of the OMB is to take the politics out of planning,” says Joe Vaccaro, OHBA CEO. “Removing the City of Toronto from the jurisdiction of the OMB will reduce our public planning process down to cold, hard political calculations by local councillors and would not serve the public’s interest.”

Vaccaro and several others, including BILD chair Steve Upton, have stressed the importance of the OMB in that it provides developers and builders with an independent, non-political decision maker for municipalities and communities undergoing new developments.

“The OMB is an essential component to assist in upholding the principles of these plans,” Upton says.

The developers and builders who stood before the standing committee emphasized that removing the City of Toronto from the OMB’s jurisdiction could negatively impact the city’s economic prosperity, while also setting a precedent for all future discussion surrounding the OMB.