It will be interesting if council is going to help fund this performance at the OMB. My bet is that they are, knowing that they will lose. That's what Newmarket did.
Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 18 November 2015 at 18:56
***********************************************************
Aurora did it during the 2006/10 term. Council rejected the Westhill development application for a golf club with seventy-five town houses on Leslie Street.
An OMB Hearing lasting a week followed repeat costly court procedures that failed to compel a Joint Environmental/OMB hearing.
Town costs reported to Council for the OMB procedure were $600,000. Itemized costs were never presented.
The Town failed of course.
Developers Counsel know the law. They are equally familiar with political posturing and when the tipping point has been reached.
Public meetings beyond those required by the Planning Act to consider the plan to develop the Highlands golf course represented nothing more than a charade. The golf course ownership changed to developer fifty years ago.
The only people taken in are neighbour residents who believe things may be going their way.
Each meeting symbolized a pair of Japanese Sumo wrestlers continually circling the ring and never laying a hand on each other.
At the last, Mr Givens was quoted that the developers were awaiting the town to cite plan changes they would like to see .
The town didn't.
Mayor and Council obviously wished the developer to commit to changes to satisfy the residents.
Both knew residents would be pleased with nothing less than continued enjoyment of golf course green space as their neighbourhood.
There is no law and never has been that requires neighbourhoods to stay the same.
Time for theatrics was no doubt allocated by the developer.
When Councillor Humfreys moved yet another meeting, after three without movement,posturing was destined to end.
Council failure to make a decision extended beyond the time limit of three months required by the Planning Act.
Whether this Council will follow its notorious spendthrift predecessor and spend $600,000 additional tax dollars on legal costs to defend the indefensible remains to be seen.
No indemnification will be derived from insurance premiums.
The only certainty is the outcome of the OMB hearing.
Hundreds of thousands of private dollars have already been spent to ensure every T has been crossed and i has been dotted in the application.
The development industry will not foot the bill.
All costs are overheads and recovered in sale prices. The consumer pays.
Neither a faucet ,light fixture nor door handle is reflected in these cost. Nothing of value, public or private has been created.
Everyone in the business is aware of the charade.
The lack of integrity is perpetrated over and over against an affluent and indifferent community.
We fondly imagine there are no social consequences.
ReplyDelete"The only certainty is the outcome of the OMB hearing."
I don't agree that this nasty destructive application will get OMB approval. If it does the entire system is corrupt. Is that what you're saying?
But then, why not? The McGuinty gas plants and the teachers' expenses government paid slush fund.
Ok. So it's not just me knowing that this is all a charade. Council wants this development. The region and province wants this development. The developers have the money, government and law to win. I hope that this ratepayers group understand these facts.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete22:26
It's people like you who roll over that are responsible for the government we have.
MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!
Crap!!!
You're right! It is about money and that's not crap. Fighting this battle is done at the election polls. Hamding your vote to those who have proven to raid your wallet is rolling over. And just to fill you in...I didn't vote for this provincial government, and there is only one person on this council that made the cut to the council seat, and it wasn't our spend thrift Mayor/Regional representative.
DeleteFollow the money and all questions will be answered.
ReplyDeleteThe OMB decision is a slam dunk. There was a bit of wiggle room in the beginning when some general alterations
ReplyDeletemight have been made but the aggressive stance of the neighbours precluded that happening. Only one councillor
got it right when he kept pointing out that neither the neighbours nor the town owned the land.
In the meantime, it's great being able to walk there all the time.
They are still planning to present their alternative plan before Dec first. I have no idea what use it will be but
ReplyDeleteit certainly would have cost a lot of money to prepare. Council knew what would happen from the beginning-
they let it play out, attended the meetings and built their mailing lists. It is incomprehensible that those
people did not study what happened before both here and in Newmarket. They cited all their qualifications
and experiences.
12:35- Cutting off your nose despite your face. It happens to professionals with qualifications all the time.
ReplyDelete@ 14:22
ReplyDeleteAs long as someone else pays the freight, that is no problem for them. Still, this lot got just about
everything wrong,
What should they have done, 15:15?
ReplyDeleteThat OMB bill at the Town of Newmarket was almost a million $.
ReplyDeleteI do not like to whine but why should we pay for an exercise in futility at the OMB ? Not that I would expect to see some
ReplyDeleteback-bone but it sure would be a refreshing change.
16:40
ReplyDeleteIt is not our job to tell them how to do their jobs. Not qualified or willing.
I will just put my tuppence in. It might have been better to cut through all the rhetoric to find common ground &
then try to make some difference. The Timberlane neighbours did not get everything they wanted but they got some
of it. There is still a decent feeling between the two sides so other progress is possible as they move on.
15:15
ReplyDeleteI think they were misled. They will have to decide if that is true &, if so, who might have done it.