After the March 4th Public Planning Meeting, neighbours of the Westhill Development decided to request a joint board hearing.
Coucil decided to join in that . I asked for the implications.
It means the Ontario Municipal Board and the Ministry of Environment jointly hear the appeal.
It also means the time for the hearing would expand to seven weeks or so. The cost would be three times that of a regular board hearing.
The cost of a regular board, considering all the experts to be heard would likely be a couple of hundred thousand dollars.
When I posited a joint board hearing might cost upwards of half a million dollars, it was not challenged.
The application was denied by the O.M.B.
The neighbours then decided to appeal the decision to the Ontario Divisional Court. Again the town joined them
The Divisional Court referred the decision back to the O.M.B. on the basis of errors .
The O.M.B. reviewed the decision again and came to the same conclusion a second time. Once again a joint board was denied.
Exactly that result would have been achieved by the neighbours of the Westhill Development project taking these steps without Town support. I shudder to think of tax dollars needlessly expended on this process.
We still have the cost of a couple of hundred thousand dollars for a regular board hearing facing us.
Whatever impact the development might have on the neighbours of that development, it will not be shared by the majority of residents of the town.
The neighbours have a right to fight to protect their own interest.
But not at my expense.
The sight of a golf course on Leslie Street will not affect my view. The burden on municipal
services from wealthy occupants of seventy-five, self-sufficient, luxury town-homes alongside a golf course will not make a whisper of difference to my life-style or anyone else I know.
Spending hard-earned tax dollars on legal fees for something I cannot see, feel ,use or benefit anyone I know, is not my idea of careful management of our corporate affairs.
On the other hand, assessment dollars flowing from development into town coffers is something I understand and appreciate.
And so should anyone who reads this post.
Who among us is so bloody well off, we can afford to turn our noses up at revenue that will keep our taxes down.
Pshaw....
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