Denise Baker

Partner

Toronto
416.947.5090Oakville
905.829.8600

Denise Baker

Experience

Practice Areas

Denise Baker's practice focuses on municipal and land use planning issues and related litigation.

She has acted on behalf of municipalities, private landowners and resident groups. She advises landowners and municipalities with respect to land use planning and development matters including municipal finance matters, Planning Act applications and appeals and Heritage Act matters. Her practice also includes municipal licensing, Building Code Act and Provincial Offences Act matters.

Denise appears regularly before municipal councils, Committees of Adjustment, the Conservation Review Board, the Ontario Municipal Board as well as appearing before the Ontario Court of Justice and the Divisional Court. She is actively involved in using mediation and negotiation to effectively resolve disputes between parties.

Denise is the past Chair of the Municipal Law Section of the Ontario Bar Association and speaks at Law Society and Ontario Bar Association seminars.

Denise is also a member of Lambda Alpha International (Simcoe Chapter), and sits on the Oakville Hospital Foundation Board.

Notable Mandates

She has acted on:

Numerous land use planning matters on behalf of the Town of Oakville, including the resolution of numerous appeals and ultimately approval of the Town’s Livable Oakville Official Plan.

Numerous Heritage Act matters including negotiating and preparation of heritage easement agreements.

Appeals to municipal official plan “conformity exercises” in the Regions of Halton, Waterloo and Durham as well as several local municipalities in York and Halton

Reviews of Educations Development Charge By-laws and By-law amendments

Challenges to and approvals of interim control by-law matters in the City of Windsor and the Town of Oakville

Infill residential zoning and subdivision matters in Oakville, Toronto and other GTA municipalities

Employment and Commercial Development applications in Halton, Durham and Peel municipalities

Awards

Recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada as a leading lawyer in Municipal Law (2018, 2019)

Repeatedly recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as a leading practitioner in Property Development

Professional Activities

Past Chair, Ontario Bar Association, Municipal Law Executive

Instructor, Planning Law at University of Waterloo

Called to the Bar
  • Ontario (2003)
Education
  • LL.B., Queen's University, Faculty of Law, 2002
  • M. Pl., Queen's University, 2000
  • B.A., Mount Allison University, 1997
Affiliations
  • Ontario Bar Association
  • Canadian Bar Association
  • Lambda Alpha International (Simcoe Chapter)

Community Involvement

Oakville Hospital Foundation Board Member

Speaking Engagements

Speaker, "Planning to be a better Planner under Bill 139: the impact of LPAT and changes to the Planning Act", 2018 OPPI Symposium, Sudbury, ON, October 11, 2018
Speaker, "The Planning Justification Report and Municipal Staff Report: What Will They Look Like Under Bill 139", WeirFoulds LLP Municipal and Planning Law Practice 2018 Seminar, April 12, 2018
Speaker, "5 Minute Advocacy for Municipal & Planning Lawyers", Canadian Bar Association, Toronto, ON, March 6, 2018
Speaker, "What Would Thomas Adams Do*? An Interactive Discussion about OPPI's Professional Code of Practice and OPPI's Complaint Process", Ontario Professional Planning Institute Conference, Collingwood, ON, October 3, 2017
Speaker, "Review of Proposed Changes to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe", WeirFoulds LLP Municipal and Planning Law Practice 2016 Private Sector Seminar, May 18, 2016
Speaker, "Site Plan Approval Process", WeirFoulds LLP Municipal and Planning Law Practice 2016 Private Sector Seminar, May 18, 2016
Speaker, "Proposed Revisions to the Development Charges Act, 1997", The Six-Minute Municipal Lawyer 2015, Law Society of Upper Canada, May 28, 2015
Speaker, "Education Development Charge", BILD, Mississauga, September, 2014
Panel Member & Chair, "Navigating the Municipal and Planning Law Landscape", Ontario Bar Association Institute, Toronto, February 7, 2014
Speaker, "Municipalities and Solicitor-Client Privilege", Ontario Bar Association Institute, 2011

Publications

Legend: GeneralLitigationPropertyCorporateGovernment

News

Legend: GeneralLitigationPropertyCorporateGovernment

Events

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