Nasim Jalili, Esq.

Bill 185 Topic #1: Development Charges The Takeaway: Under Bill 185, as currently drafted, projects subject to development charges that are "frozen" between January 1, 2022, and November 28, 2022, may see an increase of up to 20%. Over the past four years, the provincial government has implemented significant changes to the development charge framework. One of these changes was creating a "freeze" on development charge rates at the time of a Planning Act application. This was introduced in 2020. The aim of "freeze" was to provide greater certainty earlier in the development process regarding development charges. This was a good idea. The development process is long and development charges tend to increase over time. Certainty is good. In the fall of 2022, Bill 23 introduced further changes to the development charge regime. Some of these changes, in my opinion, have significantly complicated the calculation of development charges. One of these notable changes was the introduction of mandatory "phase-in" periods for development charge bylaws. This phase-in requirement stipulated that any development charge imposed during the first, second, third, and fourth years of a development charge bylaw being in force could be no more than 80%, 85%, 90%, and 95% of the maximum development charge that could otherwise be applied. This phase-in rule applied retroactively to development charges imposed by bylaws passed on or after January 1, 2022, and before November 28, 2022 (the date Bill 23 received royal assent). This phase-in rule also applied proactively, to by-laws passed after November 28, 2022. Now, Bill 185 proposes to eliminate the phase-in period, with transition rules that are somewhat intricate. For development charge bylaws passed after November 28, 2022, municipal councils have the authority to enact an amending development charge bylaw within six months of Bill 185 coming into force. This amending bylaw can increase the rates to effectively nullify the Bill 23 phase-in period. For development charge bylaws passed on or after January 1, 2022, but before November 28, 2022 (such as the City of Toronto or City of Mississauga), these rules apply: 1. The reduced "phased-in rates" will continue to apply to charges imposed on or after November 28, 2022, and before the day Bill 185 receives Royal Assent. 2. A development charge is deemed to be imposed on the day the rates are fixed in accordance with section 26.2 (frozen rate provisions). In other words, if a development charge is "frozen" by filing a site plan/zoning application after November 28, 2022, and before Bill 185 receives Royal Assent, the rate will still benefit from the phase-in discount. However, rates frozen prior to November 28, 2022, will no longer benefit from the phase-in discount and will therefore effectively be increased. (I hope this post was helpful, but it is not legal advice. Double check your assumptions, and consult with a professional).

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Cause Title- The Chief Officer Pen Municipal Council & Anr v. Shekhar B. Abhang & Anr. (Neutral Citation: 2024:BHC-AS:20678) 1) Petitioner-Municipal Council suppressed the fact that it had secured no objections from the other Senior Clerks for filling up the post of Tax Inspector by direct recruitment. This fact is borne out both by way of General Body resolution 2) the defences raised by Petitioner-Municipal Council before Industrial Court were clearly false and the material information was suppressed by them from the Industrial Court”, it also said. 3) The Court held that denying the relief of regularisation to the respondent would be against the principles of equity and fairness and therefore, the Industrial Court did not commit any error in allowing his complaint. it concluded. 4)“No serious error can be traced in the impugned decision of the Industrial Court. Its order is unexceptional”, Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the writ petition.

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Bill 185 Topic #2: No More Application Fee Refunds (We Hardly Knew Ye) In spring of 2022 the provincial government rolled out amendments to the Planning Act through Bill 109, which required that municipalities refund application fees on a graduated schedule if they failed to meet statutory deadlines for applications. These rules came into force on January 1, 2023. Just over a year later, Bill 185 proposes to erase them. The rules are proposed to be repealed on the day that the Bill receives royal assent. Applications that are currently in queue for a decision may be eligible for a fee refund. Specifically, any refund of fees which would have been required shall be determined as though a decision had been made on the day that the rules are repealed. Otherwise, the fee refund provisions are gone. Good riddance. I don’t think I spoke to a single developer who actually wanted their fees back. Many even told me that they would happily pay double or triple the fees if only their application was processed faster. The fee refund policy, I think, caused more problems than it solved, particularly around the “completeness” of applications. A complete application is an important milestone for an application. In theory it should occur on the date that all the materials are filed and the fee is paid. The complete application date is important because it starts the clock for the appeal period and the refund timelines. The fee refund rules created a lot of friction at this stage. In response to the fee refund rules, I did not witness a deluge of applications being approved within the refund timelines (which I think was the intent). Instead, many municipalities heavily front-loaded their pre-consultation and complete application requirements so that when the application was finally deemed complete, they would be in a position to meet the Planning Act timelines. This resulted in a bottleneck of applications, stuck at the completeness stage, and the only remedy being an OLT motion to resolve disputes. For context on the problem (based on my non-scientific-but-reasonably-accurate review) between 2007 and 2020, I was able to find only 8 reported OLT decisions on complete application disputes. In contrast, there were already 4 decisions in 2023 alone, and there are currently a total of 19 of such motions listed as "active" on the OLT website. These motions serve an important purpose. But they aren’t the most productive use of anyone's resources to get projects moving. New homes are not often built on the back of a motion for incomplete application. I am hopeful that removing the fee refund rules will calm things down a bit, but many municipalities have already implemented the 'front-loading' administrative process in response to Bill 109. Asking municipalities to pivot, again, may not be so simple. (I hope this post was helpful, but it is not legal advice. Double check your assumptions, and consult with a professional).

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I am quoted extensively in this article #Canada #immigration #Gaza #refugees #security #terrorism https://lnkd.in/g7wEAiqm

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On 3 September 2024, Renmin University invited a number of academics and officials to consider aspects of the theme: "Chinese Modernization and the Future of the World." I was asked to deliver remarks in Strategic Dialogue 1: "Chinese Modernization and the world: New Challenges and Opportunities." The session was built around three questions: (1) How do scholars perceive Chinese modernization and China's development prospects?; (2) What is the global significance of Chinese modernization, and what lessons can be learned for global modernization?; and (3) How can we address global issues and challenges faced in each country's modernization process and improve national governance? The questions provided a basis for interesting contributions and lively questions. The text of my remarks, entitled, "A Question on Chinese Modernization and the Vanguard Party” [“关于中国现代化和先锋党的问题”] follows below in the original English and in a crude Chinese translation. It focused on the constitution of socialist modernization and its relationship to the new important concept of new quality development of productive forces. With that as a framework, the remarks focused on a consideration of the ramifications of this form of development theory for governance. The posted version includes a final paragraph that summarizes and responds to the thrust of discussion after the original presentation. Text of Remarks: “A Question on Chinese Modernization and the Vanguard Party” [“关于中国现代化和先锋党的问题”] Delivered at Renmin University of China, Beijing 3 September 2024 https://lnkd.in/eAaBf-yz

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