Residents across Toronto are joining forces to remove the city from the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), a body that has final say on whether developers should be allowed to build in neighbourhoods.

A town hall meeting was organized Wednesday by Eli Aaron, a 19-year-old student who is also the founder of the group Free Toronto of the OMB. The group argues that the appeal body is a broken system that only caters to the needs of developers.

“We hope that this will send a strong message to the politicians at Queen’s Park that this system does not work for Torontonians, it doesn’t work for communities,” he explains. “The system is broken, it favours big money interest and we’re looking for change.”

Fifteen residents’ associations, that represent reportedly tens of thousands of people in neighbourhoods across the city, joined Aaron to discuss the impact the OMB has had on their own personal communities.

“It really isn’t a fair fight,” Richard MacFarlane said. “We’re really up against it, before we even get in the hearing room.”

MacFarlane has a personal interest in the OMB, having attended nine hearings in the past. He says there’s a power struggle, where communities aren’t equipped to go up against the developers as they lack the money and resources their opponents have.

“In my opinion it’s rigged in favour of the big money interest, because community groups don’t always have $100,000 in their back pockets to take on a developer,” Aaron argues.

The OMB reports that between 2015 and 2016 there were 2,437 appeals. Forty-three per cent of those were in Toronto.

Councillor Jaye Robinson says 80 per cent of the proposed developments in her ward go to the OMB and often, the board’s decisions go against the city’s wishes.

“City Council has actually voted several times to remove Toronto from the jurisdiction of the OMB,” Robinson said. “In my opinion it’s really devastating our neighbourhoods. Toronto no longer defines our neighbourhoods.”

One of those developments is located at 18-30 Erskine Ave., a 35-storey tower approved by the OMB that sits steps away from John Fisher Public School. The project could potentially displace students temporarily during the construction phase. The case highlights the powers of the OMB as city officials, including Robinson and Mayor John Tory, have been opposing the project for years.

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“Quite frankly, it’s a dinosaur organization,” said Robinson. “Other provinces across Canada do not have organizations with that type of influence and power.”

An OMB spokesperson tells CityNews its decisions at hearings are based on provincial policies.

“The OMB conducts hearings and makes decisions on matters that are appealed to the OMB under specific provincial legislation. Decisions made by the OMB are guided by evidence presented at hearings, provincial laws and planning policies,” the OMB said in email statement.

Following feedback from the public, The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and the Attorney General are conducting a review of the OMB. It is possible that changes could be proposed sometime this spring. The province has conducted these reviews in past years but residents say this time around they want to see more drastic action.

“What I’ve seen is proposals to tweak a system that is broken. I want to see that system completely overhauled, if not dismantled,” said Aaron.

If the OMB is dismantled, there is no equivalent body that currently exists in Toronto that can take over those responsibilities.

“The OMB plays an important role in Ontario’s land-use planning process, ensuring that there is an independent public body to settle land use disputes,” an OMB spokesperson said in a second statement.

According to Coun. Robinson, the city is creating a local appeal board, that will allow the city to take minor cases away from the OMB and put it in the hands of local residents. A similar process has existed for several years in both New York and Vancouver. But while this is a big step forward, it only applies to single-family dwellings, and not the bigger projects the OMB currently oversees.

“If you replace the OMB with a local appeal body, what will that local appeal body look like under the city of Toronto Act?” MacFarlane asks. “The concern there is cost too, will the cost in the end be greater than it was in the beginning?”

Aaron says this town hall is just the first step in ultimately freeing Toronto from the OMB, and he’s hoping members of Queen’s Park will take notice of the increased opposition against the organization.