Say a homeowner wants a sunroom a little closer to the back fence than the zoning allows, or wants to split a lot in two. In St. Thomas, city council does not decide that. The Committee of Adjustment does, and a new City report shows how much that small committee decides on its own.
Council asked for the report in August. Written by Lou Pompilii, the City’s Director of Planning and Development, it was on council’s agenda for Monday, October 19th.
The committee rules on two kinds of requests. A “minor variance” is permission to bend one rule in the zoning by-law, such as a setback or a size limit. To get one, a request has to pass four tests: the change is minor, it keeps the general intent of the zoning by-law, it keeps the general intent of the Official Plan, and it is a good fit for the land or building.
A “consent” is a simpler way to divide land than a full subdivision. It covers things like splitting a property into new lots (usually fewer than four), adding land to a neighbouring lot, or setting up an easement. Bigger changes, such as rezonings and Official Plan changes, stay with council.
Three community members sit on the committee. It meets on the second and fourth Thursday of the month at 10 a.m., when there are applications to hear.
It stays busy. From 2021 to the end of September 2026, the committee received 50 consent applications and 107 minor variance applications, 157 in all. This year, through September, there have been 16 minor variances and 4 consents.
At a council meeting in September, one councillor asked why minor variances seem to get approved all the time. The report does not judge whether the committee’s decisions were right, calling that “highly subjective.” It does say that in all but 2 of those applications, the committee’s decision matched what staff said about whether the request met the City’s planning rules.
Staff are involved from the start. The City’s website says applicants must meet planning staff before an application goes to the committee. Staff tell them if a request should really be a zoning change instead, though the applicant chooses the route. Staff then write a report on each application.
Council cannot overrule the committee, which is not a committee of council. Council does not approve its decisions afterward, and there is no way to bump a request up to council. The report calls the committee’s decisions “final and binding on the municipality.”
The only way to change one is outside City Hall, at the Ontario Land Tribunal, an independent body appointed by the province. The applicant can appeal there within 20 days, and so can council. Neighbours who disagree cannot. Residents lost that right when the province passed Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, in 2022.
The report acknowledges that in a heated case, residents can feel no elected official is overseeing the decision. “This viewpoint is correct,” staff wrote, adding that it comes from how the Planning Act sets up these committees, not from anything the committee or council did.
That leaves the public hearing as the place for neighbours to be heard. The City sends a notice to everyone within 60 metres of the property and posts it on its website, and each notice now also goes on council’s agenda. Anyone can speak at the hearing or send written comments, and councillors can speak there too. You can also ask to be told how a case turns out.
At the October 19th meeting, a councillor said the Committee of Adjustment is the only City committee whose members are paid, and asked why, and why that is not mentioned when the City recruits members. Staff did not have the answer on hand and said they would look into it.
Under the Planning Act, committee members who are not on council serve for the term of the council that appointed them. That means the council chosen in the October 26th municipal election will pick the members for its own term.
Sources: Report PD-71-2026, Committee of Adjustment: Summary of Applications, Process, Planner Involvement (October 19, 2026) · Council agenda, October 19, 2026 · City of St. Thomas, Committees (Committee of Adjustment)
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