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(Posted 9:30
a.m., Feb. 13)
City council to revisit decision to block sub-division
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
Reports
coming out of city hall indicate Mayor Larry O’Brien wants city council to
reconsider their decision to limit the expansion of the urban boundary to 250
hectares which was made last spring while he was embroiled in his influence peddling
trial. The
decision was made contrary to a staff recommendation to expand the urban boundary
by 850 hectares. At the time, several councillors who supported the staff recommendation
warned that council was setting themselves up for a lengthy and expensive Ontario
Municipal Board battle with developers should they vote for the lesser amount. After
the city’s lawyers advised council the OMB would likely reject any appeals,
they voted 12-11 to limit expanding the urban boundary to 250 hectares. As a result,
Ashcroft’s plans to build a 4,500 house subdivision just east of Cardinal
Creek between Old Montreal Road and Innes Road were put on ice. Now
comes word that at least two dozen development companies and landowners plan to
appeal council’s decision, which has many of them starting to reconsider. In
order to ensure due diligence has been carried out, the city has sought a second
legal opinion from an outside firm, and although their findings have yet to be
formally presented to council the word circulating around city hall is that they
are a great deal more pessimistic than the advice offered by the city’s legal
team. For
one, they believe the OMB will allow at least some of the appeals. If so, there’s
a very real likelihood that the city’s planning staff who recommended the
urban boundary be expanded to allow for an additional 850 hectares of development,
will be legally compelled to testify against council’s decision to limit
expansion to 250 hectares. A
lengthy OMB hearing would also cost the city a good deal of money without any
assurance they would win the day. The
bid to reconsider council’s original decision is being pushed by the Mayor
who says that if he hadn’t been embroiled in a court case, would have voted
against the smaller number which means the staff recommendation would have been
approved on a tie vote. If
council does elect to reconsider, reverting back to the staff recommendation would
require two additional votes because they would be voting against the original
decision, so a tie would be in favour of maintaining the status quo. Reconsideration
could have huge ramifications in the east end where Ashcroft Homes wants to build
a 4,500 home sub-division on the east side of Cardinal Creek. Residents
living in the Cumberland Village area are vehemently opposed to the sub-division
and they let their voices be heard during the debate last spring. Their
main concern is the impact the project will have on their quality of life in terms
of the additional demands it would place on existing infrastructure. In
order to allay the local concerns, Ashcroft agreed to a number of pre-conditions
including the planting of hundreds of trees, the provision of additional green
space and the construction of a recreational facility. The
provisions were ultimately rejected, however, when council decided to limit the
urban boundary expansion to 250 acres. The
motion for reconsideration will likely be brought forward during the next council
meeting on Feb. 24. (This
story was made possible thanks to thie generous support of our local
business partners.) Return
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