Farm practices board experiences rapid growth in bylaw conflict caseload
Thursday, December 17, 2015
by SUSAN MANN
A growing number of cases involving municipal bylaws is hiking spending at Ontario’s Normal Farm Practices Board.
A trio of the complex bylaw cases currently before board, which adjudicates disputes about farming practices, drove its 2014/15 fiscal year expenses 28 per cent over its $46,700 budget.
And more bylaw cases are on the way over the next three years, board secretary Andrew Jamieson says by email.
Jamieson did not have an explanation for the sudden influx.
Don McCabe, Ontario Federation of Agriculture president, attributes the increase to many municipalities not understanding “agriculture and the job it does.
“There is less and less agriculture involvement on some of these councils for them to actually put together an appropriate bylaw,” he says.
Jamieson says the board first noticed the complexity to cases increasing in 2013/14 when they made up 67 per cent of the board’s active cases. In the current fiscal year, bylaw cases make up 88 per cent of the board’s active cases, he says.
The actual number of cases the board handles, however, remains relatively unchanged, he adds, noting in 2013/14 there were 156 complaints, of which all but three were resolved through conflict resolution. Of the 131 cases in 2014/15, only four have proceeded to the hearing stage.
The trend in complexity is also reflected in the number of bylaw complaints Ontario agriculture ministry staff has dealt with during the past three years, he says. The number of bylaw complaints rose to 11 per cent of the total volume handled in 2014/15 from five per cent in 2012/13.
As of April 1, the board has received three new site alteration bylaw cases, he adds.
In the board’s business plan for 2015-2018, chair Kirk Walstedt says “we expect hearing expense to increase significantly in 2015/16 because of three complex cases currently before the board.”
The board’s budget for 2015/16 is $66,800 and $67,660 in 2016/17. The budget for 2017/18 is $69,830.
Walstedt says in his report the complexity of the cases affects many aspects of the board’s operations including its review of applications to determine if they should be accepted for a hearing.
“The complexity of the application can increase the time required for this review from 15 minutes to several hours, potentially increasing the costs of each occurrence by thousands of dollars,” he explains.
Complex cases can also “increase the need for legal counsel with the associated costs,” he says.
Jamieson says bylaw cases are more complex than those dealing with nuisance complaints because the board has to consider a number of factors in reaching its decision, including the bylaw’s purpose, the effect of the farm practice on adjoining lands and neighbours, and if the bylaw reflects a provincial interest under other pieces of legislation or the Provincial Policy Statement.
The three cases that have been driving up the board’s costs over the past year involve:
- A farmer operating a banana and tropical fruit farm in Huron County seeking relief from the county’s tree cutting bylaw.
- Residents complaining over odour from an anaerobic digester in an undisclosed location.
- A farmer complaint about a Town of Mono municipal site alteration bylaw preventing him from bringing soil onto his farm to improve the operation.
All of the cases are ongoing.
The need for police protection may be on the rise, too.
Jamieson says police protection services are provided when one or more of the parties involved in a case feels threatened and “identifies a safety concern.
“In 2014, police services were retained for one case as a preventative measure, and in August 2015 police services were requested by the applicant in a nuisance application,” he writes.
These instances mark the first time in recent years that police services were needed, he says.
Those services cost the board less than $2,454 — the amount the board’s three-year business plan says was spent on protection and photocopying. BF