Members of Council and Staff:  Please keep this agenda and the accompanying material until the City Council meeting dealing with these matters has ended.  The City Clerk’s Office will not provide additional copies.

Special Assistance for Members of the Public:  City staff can arrange for special assistance with some advance notice. If you need special assistance, please call 416-392-4365, TTY 416-338-0889 or e-mail lsc@toronto.ca.

Closed Meeting Requirements:  If the Licensing and Standards Committee wants to meet in closed session (privately), a member of the Committee must make a motion to do so and give the reason why the Committee has to meet privately.(City of Toronto Act, 2006)

Notice to people writing or making presentations to the Licensing and Standards Committee:  The City of Toronto Act, 2006 and the City of Toronto Municipal Code authorize the City of Toronto to collect any personal information in your communication or presentation to City Council or its committees.

The City collects this information to enable it to make informed decisions on the relevant issue(s). If you are submitting letters, faxes, e-mails, presentations or other communications to the City, you should be aware that your name and the fact that you communicated with the City will become part of the public record and will appear on the City’s website. The City will also make your communication and any personal information in it – such as your postal address, telephone number or e-mail address - available to the public, unless you expressly request the City to remove it.

The City videotapes committee and community council meetings. If you make a presentation to a committee or community council, the City will be videotaping you and City staff may make the video tapes available to the public.

If you want to learn more about why and how the City collects your information, write to the City Clerk's Office, City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto ON  M5H 2N2 or by calling 416-397-7769.

Declarations of Interest under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act

Speakers/Presentations: A complete list will be distributed at the meeting

Confirmation of Minutes: April 29, 2010

Communications/Reports

The Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, recommends that:

1.         Chapter 693, Signs be amended to include provisions for the regulation of mobile billboards on moving vehicles;

2.         Chapter 441, Fees and Charges, Appendix C, Schedule 12, be amended to include provisions for fees with respect to the regulation of mobile billboards on moving vehicles;

3.         Chapter 545, Licensing, be amended to include provisions for the licensing of mobile billboards on moving vehicles; and

4.         The City Solicitor be directed to prepare the necessary bill to give effect to the recommendation in this report.

Public notice has been given in a manner prescribed in the Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 162, Notice, Public.

The purpose of this report to address Council’s direction on a mechanism to regulate, control and/or eliminate third party signs or billboards on moving vehicles.

The growing public interest in the administration and enforcement of sign regulations in the City has suggested the need for up-to-date and consistent regulations for signage.  Recent amendments to the City's sign regulations have focused on permanent signs.  In 2005, the City harmonized the regulations in relation to mobile or temporary signage in the City.  However, over the last several years, the mobile sign industry has evolved from signs that are part of, or attached to, a readily re-locatable wheeled trailer or frame without wheels, to include vehicles that have been adapted to have an advertising sign, billboard or other display attached or painted on, that moves from one location to another.

The City of Toronto currently regulates the mobile sign industry through Chapter 693, Signs, and Chapter 545, Licensing.  Amendments to these bylaws are required to reflect the evolving nature of the industry and enable the City of Toronto the ability to effectively regulate the mobile sign industry in a manner that serves to protect our neighbourhoods and the environment.

Both the Legal Services Division, and the Finance Division’s Insurance and Risk Management Unit have been consulted in the preparation of this report.

The Municipal Licensing and Standards Division currently enforces Chapter 693, Signs, Article III, Temporary Signs, and Chapter 545, Licensing, Article XL, Temporary Sign Providers of the Toronto Municipal Code, regulating the mobile sign industry.  As such, the cost of continued licensing and enforcement is included in the 2010 Operating Budget. 

Annual revenues of $1,641.25 for new licence applications, and $996.85 for renewals is based on an estimate of five additional temporary sign providers that will be required to obtain licences  as a result of the bylaw amendments to the Licensing Bylaw.  In addition, sign permit revenues are estimated to increase approximately $7,875.00 annually based on an estimate of 12 permit applications per year, being made from each of the five temporary sign providers.

The Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer has reviewed this report and agrees with the financial impact information.

A suggested process to bring interested parties together to come up with a fair protocol for the removal of street vendors.

City Council on March 31 and April 1, 2010, referred the following Motion MM47.2 to the Licensing and Standards Committee.

Councillor Davis, seconded by Councillor Perruzza, recommends that:

1.         City Council request the Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards to report to the May 27, 2010, meeting of the Licensing and Standards Committee on the improvements to the Multi-Residential Apartment Building (MRAB) property standards enforcement program that have been proposed by tenants.

The City of Toronto has been working to improve the standard of living for tenants across the City through the enforcement of property standards in multi-residential buildings. The City is conducting enforcement to bring rental buildings up to the standards set out in the City's bylaws, and landlords are being required to make the necessary repairs and upgrades to rental housing buildings and individual units. The MRAB pilot program utilizes a process of targeted enforcement that successfully identified and improved conditions for tenants in those buildings that have been inspected.

In a recent report (EX 40.4: Multi-Residential Apartment Building Audit Program), the Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards outlined plans for the expansion of the program. Tenants across the City have engaged in the process and provided feedback that included ways to improve and enhance this approach, along with ideas for extending the reach of the program.

MRAB program staff have been responsive and engaged with tenants on these ideas, and the recommendation above would provide an opportunity for staff to formally report on some of these ideas and provide an assessment of suggestions for further improvement to the program.

(Submitted to City Council on March 31, April 1, 2010 as MM47.2)

The Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards Division, recommends that City Council:

1.         Approve the addition to Appendix L of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 545, Licensing, of the following Professional Holistic Associations:

(a)        Traditional Thai Massage Association of Ontario;

(b)        International Health Qi Gong Federation; and

(c)        Canadian Natural Medicine Corporation of Ontario.

2.         Direct the City Solicitor to prepare the necessary bill to give effect to the recommendations in this report, effective immediately; and

3.         Authorise and direct all other appropriate City officials to take the necessary actions to give effect thereto.

Public notice has been given in a manner prescribed in the Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 162, Notice, Public.

To recommend to the Licensing and Standards Committee the addition of three Professional Holistic Associations (PHAs) to Appendix L to Chapter 545, Licensing, List of Professional Holistic Associations for the purposes of licensing holistic practitioners and owners.

Staff received three applications to be added to Appendix L from the Traditional Thai Massage Association of Ontario, the International Health Qi Gong Federation, and the Canadian Natural Medicine Corporation of Ontario. These associations were evaluated on three main criteria: (a) Governance; (b) Membership and Membership Services; and (c) Ethics and Discipline.

Based on the applications submitted, all three associations meet or exceed the minimum requirements to be included in the City’s list of approved PHAs.

The recommendations will have no financial impact beyond what has already been approved in the current year’s budget.

The Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards recommends that City Council:

1.         Adopt the amendments to Schedule A of Appendix K of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 545, Licensing, as per Appendix A of this report;

2.         Adopt the following definition for Demerit Point, to be included in Chapter 545:

“DEMERIT POINT – a unit of measurement applied to a bylaw conviction in accordance with Schedule B of Appendix K of this Chapter, for the purpose of administering the business licensing thresholds”;

3.         Make the amendments retroactive to January 1, 2010, the same date that the previous by-law amendments came into effect;

4.         Direct the City Solicitor to prepare the necessary bill, including any stylistic or technical amendments required, to give effect to any recommendations adopted by City Council; and

5.         Authorise and direct City staff to take any other action necessary to implement the by-law amendments.

This report is a staff initiated report arising from: (a) an unintended amendment to the City’s licensing thresholds when the criminal code offence sections were clarified; and (b) a lack of clarity on what constitutes a demerit point with respect to the licensing thresholds.

The errors, because they have not been reflected in the Licensing System, have not had an impact on licence issuing, renewals or hearings. The proposed changes in this report address the issues to bring the bylaw back in line with practice.

The City Solicitor was consulted in the preparation of this report.

Public notice has been given in a manner prescribed in the Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 162, Notice, Public.

There are no financial implications beyond those in the current budget arising from the recommendations of this report.

The Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, recommends that:

1.         the Licensing and Standards Committee receive this report for information purposes only.

To report on the proposed provisions found in the proposed newly harmonized City of Toronto Zoning By-law, regarding the issue of charging for visitors parking at multi-residential apartment buildings.

There are no financial impacts arising from this report beyond what has already been approved in the current year’s budget.

The Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, recommends that:

1.         City Council receive this report for information purposes only.

To report further on consultations with the taxicab industry regarding the by-law provisions governing the leasing of taxicabs contained in the City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 545, Licensing.

There are no financial impacts arising from this report beyond what has already been approved in the current year’s budget.

The City Solicitor recommends that:

1.         City Council receive Confidential Attachment 1 for information; and

2.         Confidential Attachment 1 remain confidential in its entirety as the content relates to solicitor-client privilege.

This report provides a legal opinion regarding the proposal to amend Municipal Code Chapter 545 Licensing to require that taxicab leases be for the life of the vehicle.  This report is to be considered with the report of the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards dated May 17, 2010 entitled "Taxicab Lease Agreements".

Verbal update from the City Solicitor.

(No written material.)