The Government of Ontario passed an Emergency Order (O.Reg. 73/20) under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. This Order is retroactive to March 16, 2020, and will affect proceedings before the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal in the following ways:

• The Tribunal will not schedule any hearing events, including in-person, written, or teleconference hearings, while this Emergency Order is in effect. Accordingly, notice of hearing events will not be provided or directed.

• All hearing events scheduled in the Tribunal’s hearing calendar between the effective date of the Emergency Order and June 30, 2020 will be adjourned to a future date. The Tribunal will revisit and reconsider this three-month period as the circumstances change.

• All timelines within which any step must be taken in a proceeding before the Tribunal, including timelines established in the Tribunal’s procedural orders are suspended for the duration of the Order.

• Any period of time for a person to initiate a proceeding with the Tribunal, or take a step in the proceeding, as set out in a statute, regulation or Tribunal Rule is suspended by O. Reg. 73/20 for the duration of this Order.

If your appeal involved a procedural order that prescribes timelines related to exchange of witness statements, meeting of experts, or similar directions, these timelines are now suspended.

Postponed hearing events will be rescheduled in the near future.

Sarah Hahn, Senior Associate