No Wal-Mart for Leslieville?

The rightly hated Ontario Municipal Board has had some of its developer-pleasing ways curtailed by the developer-loving Dalton McGuinty government.

As the de facto city planner for every municipality in Ontario, the OMB’s cadre of unelected panelists leans heavily against the desires of citizens and elected officials, much to the profit of developers who can add millions of dollars of value to their land holdings with an OMB ruling.

Some limitations on the OMB began with the new year and one might save Leslieville residents who are opposed to big-box mall development anchored by Wal-Mart on former film industry land on Eastern Avenue.

The current industrial zoning is just fine for the residents around what they are calling the Foundry District site.

In the past the OMB could have ordered that changed.

Under new rules the OMB has no ability to trump the city if it decides that it wants to keep those “employment lands” for industrial uses.