[Innsertnamehere]

The province gives the city 4 months to make a decision on an application then the developer has the ability to appeal it to planning court, which can choose to approve it without the city’s approval.

4 months is essentially an impossible timeline to meet for approvals. Absolutely no development gets council approval in that time.

Some developers just appeal as soon as they legally can as they figure it’s easier to get approvals in the courts than at council. Most don’t do that though, as it’s still typically slower and more expensive than council approval. Usually developers do it if the city planning department doesn’t approve of the application and is looking like they will be issuing a refusal recommendation to city council.

There are a dozen different “real” reasons a developer will appeal a project, but the technical legal reason is almost always “lack of decision”.