[Intro]
(Gated snare hits alone, then tender piano chords and clean electric guitar arpeggios)

[Verse 1]
Registered mail on a Tuesday morning
Thicker than a building permit ever was
I signed the slip with my hand trembling
Knew the planner's signature was final cause
Unfolded pages, carbon-copied reasons
Scarborough Community Council's stamped and sealed
They sent the Director's own Decision Report
And every word just made it real

[Chorus]
This is the Decision Report – Refusal
Regarding your application to amend
Zoning By-law, Official Plan, and all your dreaming
Under Section 34 of the Planning Act, my friend
We regret to inform you, the answer's no
Your parking space turning radius won't go
And that old oak tree's drip line is the final blow
This is the Decision Report – Refusal

[Verse 2]
Schedule A shows the rear-yard dimensions
The radius a fire truck needs to sweep
But the oak tree's canopy extends past the pavement
A non-conforming shadow six feet deep
You could appeal it to the Ontario Land Tribunal
But the Tall Building Guidelines don't lie
The Provincial Policy Statement stands behind them
And the roots hold every reason why

[Chorus]
This is the Decision Report – Refusal
Regarding your application to amend
Zoning By-law, Official Plan, and all your dreaming
Under Section 34 of the Planning Act, my friend
We regret to inform you, the answer's no
Your parking space turning radius won't go
And that old oak tree's drip line is the final blow
This is the Decision Report – Refusal

[Bridge]
I held the letter like a death warrant
Read the planner's looped and cold blue ink
The Community Consultation Meeting is over
Now the only meeting's at my kitchen sink
They talk about secondary suites in Chapter 150
Forty-five percent of floor area, one parking space
But they never talk about the heart you bury
When the drip line takes the dwelling's place

[Guitar Solo]
(A weeping, melodic electric guitar solo soars over a key change, gated snare pounding, piano cascading)

[Chorus]
This is the Decision Report – Refusal
Regarding your application to amend
Zoning By-law, Official Plan, and all your dreaming
Under Section 34 of the Planning Act, my friend
We regret to inform you, the answer's no
Your parking space turning radius won't go
And that old oak tree's drip line is the final blow
This is the Decision Report – Refusal

[Outro]
(Fading piano and guitar arpeggios)
Carbon copies, I'll keep them all
For the laneway suite that never got built at all
That oak tree standing where my hopes should be
Decision Report – Refusal... and me