Selections From OMB Decision: Page 36 and 37

A key element of the City-adopted version of OPA 10 is the concept of “healthy interaction and balance” between and among what Council envisions to be a three-node commercial structure. From east to west, then, the regional-serving commercial structure of Stratford is composed of the existing Ontario Street East Commercial Area, the Downtown Core itself and the West End Commercial Area. Mr. Goldberg and the other experts supporting the Avonwood proposal reject completely the concept of a balanced 3-node commercial structure along an east-west axis. As noted, Avonwood sees a 2-node commercial structure – one part is centered on the current Ontario Street East Commercial Area and the second on the Downtown Core. ...

Again, the evidence from the parties represents two diametrically opposed visions of appropriate land use planning policy. The Goldberg Version of OPA 10 reacts to what may be termed the imperative of the marketplace. Confirming the land use planning opinions of Messrs. Clarkson and Goldberg, Avonwood’s retail market expert witness, Mr. Parsons, told the Board that the Ontario Street East Commercial Area exists primarily because it’s where the market determined it should be. ...

The Board was told that the City-adopted OPA 10, on the other hand, takes a pro-active approach to development applications. It directs development (most especially commercial retail) to where Council has determined it will best serve the

public interest, which is consistent with the policy-led approach to land use planning advocated by the PPS (Part 1, Preamble). The City’s expert witnesses contend that the Ontario Street East Commercial Area has succeeded as a shopping area because shopping centres and large format stores were permitted to develop there during the

past few decades, which has been an era of unprecedented growth in disposable income and automobile ownership. ...

After consideration of all the evidence, I find that the City-adopted OPA 10 will protect the planned function of the Downtown Core by limiting the amount of lands designated to commercial retail development in the Ontario Street East Commercial Area to what currently exists. This has been Council’s policy for decades. The Board was told that the result of this policy direction has been the preservation of downtown Stratford, one of the few smaller city centres that have managed to survive the changes in contemporary shopping practices including the introduction in the past 10 years of “power centres” composed of multiple large format retail stores.

Colin Hefferon