Item - 2015.PG2.5

The Planning and Growth Management Committee received the item for information.

The purpose of this report is to respond to Planning and Growth Management Committee's request that the City Manager report back on the feasibility and advisability of requiring relevant professional experience or education as a qualification for appointment to the Committee of Adjustment ("Committee").

The current qualifications for the Committee have specific requirements aside from the general qualifications required for all City boards.  This includes having knowledge in one or more areas of: law, planning, architecture, government, economic development, community development, land development or citizen advocacy.  It is also specified that a minimum of two members of each Committee hearing panel have prior adjudicative experience, administrative public speaking and organizational skills to be able to chair public hearings and maintain order in conflict situations.

A scan of other Ontario cities indicates that most Ontario municipalities do not have any board-specific qualification requirements for their Committees of Adjustment and none require specific professional experience.  In addition, the City's other quasi-judicial boards generally do not require specific professional experience as part of their qualification requirements, though most do have board-specific requirements.

Adding a qualification of specific professional experience for appointment to the Committee could limit the prospective applicant pool and appointees and exclude potential candidates who have other types of skills relevant and appropriate to the Committee.  This would be inconsistent with the goal of encouraging applications for citizen appointment from candidates with a range of skills and experience that are valuable to the Committee such as mediation skills, community development and adjudicative knowledge and experience.

The objectives to have a well rounded set of applicants to the Committee, including some members with relevant knowledge or expertise can be achieved through the recruitment and selection process set out in the City's Public Appointments Policy.