Windsor pushes for planning appeal changes after OLT overturns council-linked rezoning decision

Windsor City Hall.

Windsor City Council wants to see residents have a way to appeal planning decisions to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).

Council voted Monday to send a letter to the province asking for a review and restoration of third-party appeal rights at the OLT.

The OLT is responsible for hearing and resolving appeals and applications related to municipal land use planning, environmental and heritage protection, property valuation, and land compensation.

In 2024, the province introduced Bill 185, the Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, which limits third-party appeals of municipal planning decisions, leaving residents with limited options to fight any decisions.

It’s also limited the ability of councils to reject planning applications, such as rezoning, if they are recommended by municipal planning departments as having followed the Provincial Planning Act.

In cases where a council rejects an application, they would need to defend the decision before the OLT and seek planning experts to help explain why the council went against its own planners’ recommendations, usually resulting in a loss due to the new policy.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens says everything right now is designed to help accelerate development but now might be the time to give a little more authority back to city council to better reflect on the concerns of residents.

“The biggest issue is that residents think when they come to council that somehow, we have the magic to stop the process that has moved their way through the system, and council is very much neutered in their ability to stop any proposals moving forward when they disagree with that proposal,” he says.

Dilkens says it’s frustrating because residents have lost their ability to appeal whatever decision is made by council.

“We really don’t have the ability, not that we don’t support them or can’t support them, but if we do and it gets to city council through the planning department and approval at the planning committee, any way that we say no is almost always overturned at the Ontario Land Tribunal, and council’s vote really doesn’t make a big difference,” he says.

The move by council came after a discussion Monday involving an OLT ruling in favour of a developer seeking rezoning for a proposed townhouse development at 4170 and 4190 Sixth Concession Road, just north of Holburn Street.

The plan calls for two existing homes to be replaced with five, two-storey townhouse buildings containing 27 residential units and a new public street connecting to Spago Crescent.

When the issue came to council in 2025, the vote was split, resulting in an appeal to the OLT, which found the proposal represented “gentle intensification” and was compatible with the surrounding neighbourhood. The City of Windsor did not tender evidence in support of its position after failing to find a planning expert to defend its decision.