7/24/2019 Planner as Expert by Geordie Gordon, NRU Publishing Inc.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2015 Vol. 19 No.4

Steve Paikin

When planning

and politics collide

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Height reduction

Board rules on

LuCliff Place

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Dollars and cents

Transit funding

challenge

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INSIDE

Professional-political divide

PLANNERAS EXPERTBy Geordie Gordon

City o oronto chie planner Jennifer Keesmaat told an

audience o planning proessionals that planners need to

reclaim their role as experts and not be swayed rom their

proessional opinion in the interests o political expediency.

Te proession needs to reocus itsel on planner as expert,

and away rom planner as acilitator.

Speaking to members o the Ontario Professional Planners

Instituteat its annual conerence this week, Keesmaat talked

about the relationships between planners and elected offi cials.

She called on planners to not let the work that they do be

compromised by what she called the proessional-political

divide.

Speaking withNRUafer her keynote address, Keesmaat high-

lighted the ofen contentious work environment that planners

have to navigate.

Planners are immersed in an environment that, by necessity,

is raught with constant tension. Our opportunity is to bridge

the administrative-political divide by embracing evidence, data,

negotiation and leadership in our planning practice.

Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tamagrees that planners

ofen work in environments where

TORONTO EDITION

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Addressing Torontos challenges

FEDERALROLEBy Leah Wong

City o oronto leaders are seeking a ederal partner tha

will help address its biggest challengesaffordable housing

transit, gridlock and preparing the city or the impacts o

climate change.

Te ederal leaders are paying attention to oronto. Give

the citys shif away rom being a Liberal stronghold in th

2011 ederal election, the parties all see opportunities to win

seats in Canadas largest city.

With changes to the ederal ridings shaking up the down

town boundaries, candidates rom all parties are looking t

take advantage o changing demographics in three key ridings

Spadina-Fort York, oronto Centre and University-Rosedale

With the creation o new downtown ridings oronto is gettin

an additional representative in this election.

While Liberal MPs Chrystia Freeland and Adam Vaugha

won their ridings or the Liberal Party in recent by-elections

the boundaries have changed signicantly since then.

Freeland is running in University-Rosedale against broadcas

journalist Jennifer Hollett (NDP), lawyer Karim Jivraj (Con

servative) and lawyer Nick Wright (Green Party). With Freelan

running in the new University-RosedaleCONTINUED PAGE 5 > CONTINUED PAGE 6

7/24/2019 Planner as Expert by Geordie Gordon, NRU Publishing Inc.

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CITY OF TORONTO EDITION FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 20

consensus on a particular topic is never a certainty. But they

should remain committed to their proessional opinion,regardless o what end result o the political process may be.

I [the chie planner is talking] about ensuring that

planners uphold their proessional opinion and stand by the

integrity o their proessional opinions regardless o what

may or may not happen on the oor o council, I think thats

what they should do. Tey should always adhere to their core

planning principles, recommendations inormed by good

planning, regardless o what direction the political winds may

send them in, she told NRU.

Keesmaat warned that planners, when ocussed on what

they think can realistically be accomplished, may be losingsight o what their proessional opinion should be.

In some instances, weve gotten so used to [the

proessional-political divide] that we dont even begin with

recommendations that are rooted in the idealism o creating

great communities, weve actually become a bit trapped. We

lessen our own aspirations or our city, or our planning

work, because we dont have the condence, the belie that

the gul between proessional practice and politics will ever be

bridged, Keesmaat said.

Wong-am says that occasional disagreement between

council and planning staff is part o the ramework in whichmunicipal planning takes place. Furthermore, political

decisions are not made based solely on planning evidence.

I have over 100 development les, and I can tell you that

the planners that I work with in downtown, midtown oronto,

are extremely proessional, extremely intelligent, they

know exactly what theyre talking about, and we have, more

ofen times than not, agreement on where they land on their

planning decisions.

And then there are times that we may disagree. But Ill tell

them, you write the report that you need to write, because its

the right thing to do, because that is what you honestly believein your proessional opinion, and perhaps I may need to make

a different political decision, she said.

Wong-am also says that the prospect o an OMB hearing

has a signicant impact on the relationship between planning

and politics. She characterizes the OMB process as problematic

when it comes to land use planning and development in

Ontario and the threat o an appeal is ofen used by developers

as way to get what they want.

Whatever the context, Keesmaat stressed the importance bridging the divide but not blurring the lines between planne

and politicians.

Id like to suggest that this political-administrative divid

does exist, and we do have tools to bridge the gap. But th

most common tool weve used, mysel included, is the lea

effective: We loosen our grip on our vision, we loosen our gr

on our idealism, on our belie that achieving something gre

is in act possible. Tat is one way to bridge the gap, but, m

oh my, its dangerous. Its consequences are ar reaching an

undamentally undermine the overall integrity o our experti

as proessionals. In act it is a way o bridging the divide thsimply blurs the lines, she said.

I planners go too ar in adjusting their positions, Keesma

warns, We begin as planners to resemble politicians. Politicianhave a critical and important role in our democratic proces

but it is not [a planners] role. I were going to act politic

instead o acting proessional, we might as well be politician

we might as well run or offi ce. nru

PLANNER AS EXPERTCONTINUED FROM PAGE1

In some instances, weve gotten so used to [the

professional-political divide] that we dont even begin

with recommendations that are rooted in the idealism

of creating great communities, weve actually become

a bit trapped. Jennifer Keesma