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Pitman Patterson

Partner

Toronto
PPatterson@blg.com
416.367.6109

Expertise

Stacie Andrews

Practice Assistant

Toronto
STandrews@blg.com
416.367.6749
416.350.2556

Pitman’s practice focuses on administrative law, with an emphasis on planning and development, expropriation and general municipal law.

Pitman appears frequently at the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT, formerly the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal) in planning and expropriation cases.

Experience

  • Serves as counsel in proceedings before the OLT (including former Board of Negotiation), all levels of Ontario's court, and mediators and arbitrators.
  • Represents private sector clients (developers, pension funds, industry) in a diverse range of planning matters and development charge matters throughout Ontario, including management of, or strategic advice on, development applications; submissions to municipalities and filing appeals; assembling consultant teams; negotiation of agreements; and OLT hearings, mediations and cost sharing arbitrations.
  • Acts for industry and commercial clients in planning matters protecting operations against incompatible development.
  • Acts for public sector clients, including local and upper tier municipalities, school boards and hospitals, in planning matters throughout southern Ontario. For municipalities, cases typically involve higher level policy approvals and site-specific development disputes at the OLT; for school boards and hospitals, most cases involve capital facility development approvals, policy planning or site protection.
  • Prepares all forms of development agreements, including cost sharing, subdivision, site plan, pre-servicing and front-ending agreements, and unique forms of development agreements such as transit station integration agreements.
  • Provides expropriation process and litigation services to expropriating authorities, typically municipalities and school boards. Sample municipal projects include local and regional transit, road and bridge projects; sanitary and water service infrastructure; and special projects and major assemblies for urban renewal and industrial projects.
  • Acts for landowners in expropriation claims against the Province, typically in relation to Highways 401, 407 East, 400, 404, 427 and other Provincial highways and corridors.
  • Provides legal opinions under the Municipal Act, 2001 and other legislation governing municipal authority and action, particularly related to servicing, financing, infrastructure and governance.

Beyond Our Walls

Professional Involvement

  • Member, and former President and Director, Ontario Expropriation Association
  • Member, and former Executive Member, Ontario Bar Association Municipal Section
  • Member, BILD and Urban Land Institute, Toronto Council
  • Member, International Right of Way Association
  • Member, Lambda Alpha International

Awards & Recognitions

  • Selected by peers for inclusion in the 2025 edition (and since 2014) of The Best Lawyers in Canada® (Expropriation Law, Municipal Law, Real Estate Law).
  • Recognized in the 2025 edition (and since 2019) of Chambers Canada – Canada’s Leading Lawyers for Business (Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use (Ontario)).
  • Recognized in the 2024 edition (and since 2022) of The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (Property Development)
  • Recognized in the 2024 edition (and since 2016) of Benchmark Canada - The Definitive Guide to Canada's Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys as a "Litigation Star".
  • Recognized in the 2024 edition (and since 2021) of Lexpert Special Edition: Infrastructure
  • Recognized as "Lawyer of the Year" for Toronto by Best Lawyers in Canada 2020 (Expropriation Law)

Bar Admission & Education

  • Ontario, 1996
  • JD, University of Toronto, 1994
  • MA, in Environmental Science, University of Toronto, 1990
  • B.Sc. (Hons.) in Environmental Science, University of Toronto, 1989