minor variance staff report
Description:  Staff reports are the main tool used by municipal councils and committees to inform the decision making process.  Municipal experts, including planners, use staff reports to identifying issues, analyse solutions, and offer conclusions for decision makers to consider and base their decisions on.  An essential skill for all planning professionals (and students) is the ability to provide well researched and written staff reports that offer clear and concise recommendations grounded in critical planning analysis.

In Assignment #1 Minor Variance Staff Report, students will take on the role of a professional planner for the City of Toronto and draft a staff report to the Committee of Adjustment recommending approval or refusal of an application for minor variance to the city’s zoning by-law.

Students will select a current active minor variance application from those listed on the city’s Development Applications Information Centre website, found here:  http://app.toronto.ca/AIC/index.do.

Students will then critically analyse the minor variance proposal using the statutory “4 Tests” for minor variance, including applying all applicable provincial policies, official plan policies, zoning by-law requirements, and guidelines, to determine their planning opinion as to whether the application is supportable or should be refused.  Research in arriving at a planning opinion should include a site visit to observe the existing conditions of the property and the character of the surrounding neighbourhood (given the current pandemic restrictions, “virtual” site visits on Google Streetview are permitted).  Students will prepare and submit a 4-5 page (1000-1250 word) staff report communicating their planning analysis, providing a planning conclusion, and offering recommendations to the Committee of Adjustment.  The staff report will be in the standard format used by City of Toronto Community Planning staff.