Email lands developer, candidate in hot water

By DOUGLAS GLYNN Midland Free Press October 6 2010
An email sent by mistake to Deputy Mayor George Lawrence has become an election issue in Tiny Township.
The email – from Luch Ognibene of the Remington Group to Mayor Peggy Breckenridge and copied in error to Lawrence -said, in part:
“Mayor and Deputy Mayor -thanks again for taking the time to meet with us on-site to review and discuss the Georgian Drive extension matter.”
Lawrence told The Free Press he discovered the email when he checked his computer Monday, Sept. 27, after returning home from a committee of the whole meeting.
“Can you imagine my shock at getting an email thanking me for meeting with them,” said Lawrence. “I did not even know what they were talking about. They got the wrong George! If the email had not been sent in error, I would never have known about this!”
While he did not return for the evening council session because he was ill, Lawrence said he contacted Councillors Nigel Warren and Andre Claire to advise them of the email’s contents.
(The full text of the email and two other emails -a second one from Ognibene to all council members and one from Breckenridge to council members and CAO Doug Luker are reproduced in the accompanying article.)
Mayor Breckenridge confirmed in a telephone interview the authenticity of the emails obtained by The Free Press.
She acknowledges that she and Coun. George Cornell — a candidate for deputy mayor — met with Christopher Bratty on Sunday, Sept. 26 and that Ognibene had been present.
However, Breckenridge has vehemently denied a statement in Ognibene’s email, which said:”This email will also acknowledge Mayor Breckenridge’s message yesterday evening that she spoke with the Township CAO and confirmed that the construction of the road will be deferred to next spring, to afford some additional time to re-visit this matter.”
Breckenridge described the email as “a mistake, a total error.”
“I don’t know how (The Free Press) got hold of that, because I was absolutely horrified. He sent the email in error to the wrong person and he also got the message wrong. It was a total mistake.
“He has since rectified that. He has apologized and sent the correct email to the correct people and he has straightened out what my message was.”
However, her explanation hasn’t satisfied Ray Millar — one of two other candidates challenging Breckenridge in the mayoralty race.
Breckenridge said that Chris Bratty (of the Remington Group) had contacted her and, “asked me to go out and have a look at his private property. It wasn’t a development issue, per se. I didn’t really know what he was talking about. He said well, come out and I’ll show you.’
“George Cornell and I went out. I wouldn’t go alone.”
“He (Bratty) indicated he was considering not building a development, but keeping the property as a family compound. He wanted to know if council really wanted him to cut down more than an acre of trees” to comply with the conditions of a severance development agreement that requires him to extend a road.
“He just wanted to say, will you look at this and see if this is really what you want to do. Do you want to cut down an acre and a half of trees?'”
She said she told Bratty he couldn’t just contact “me and George Cornell. We are only one voice. You need to go before the council; you can bring something before council if there’s a change.
“George and I both agreed; if he isn’t going to build a development, why put the road through? He was prepared to do it. He wasn’t trying to ask us any favours. He simply said: do you really want to cut down all these trees?
“We looked at it and felt it didn’t make sense.
” I said I’ll ask the staff and see why. You don’t remember these things because it went through in 2008. It was simply to ask our staff what the situation was.” The meeting, she reiterated, “was all about trying to save some trees.
“Then the (Remington Group) planner sends this bloody email out and he sends it to George Lawrence, instead of George Cornell. And he gets my message all wrong. I never said any-t hing about holding off till spring. That never came up in the conversation.”
“We did nothing wrong,” she asserted. “It’s our job to meet constituents. We all do it. George Lawrence and Andre Claire are constantly running out.”
She alleged that Lawrence, Claire and Warren had met someone concerning a road at Dead End Lane.
“The problem is those guys went out together,” she said. “You see the problem with that! That’s a majority of council. I told them, you are not to do that. I said you can go out one at a time or with two people, but you don’t go out with a majority of council.”
Lawrence and both councillors have denied the allegation.
Lawrence said he and Claire had gone out and listened to a constituent’s concerns and advised the constituent to appear before council.
Coun. Cornell corroborated the mayor’s description of the meeting with Bratty, noting there is a development agreement with the township.
As part of the development plan, Cornell said, the lots have to front on a municipal road. To do that, the committee (of adjustment) wanted the road extended.
Cornell said he understood the deadline for carrying out the work was approaching and if (Bratty) didn’t meet the deadline, the township could step in and do work.
Bratty told Cornell that an acre of trees would need to be cut down to extend the road. In addition he needed to build a stormwater drainage ditch between his lot and the neighbour’s lot, which would mean a further cutting of trees to allow for a water runoff.
“He (Bratty) had already surveyed the road and deposited security with the township.”
Cornell said that Bratty had indicated he was prepared to extend the lots to the 18th concession.
“That would satisfy the township criteria” (of fronting on a township road.) “Some neighbours were asking if he was really going to cut the trees.
“He decided to give the mayor a call to see if there was something different they could do.
“We both met him, walked over the property, listened to him, looked at the plans and asked; does this really make sense?
We came back and the mayor asked the CAO on Monday if there could be an extension of the deadline to allow enough time to revisit this.
The mayor, he added, was told Monday evening we would have to bring it forward to council if we wanted to get an extension.
Cornell said Breckenridge introduced a notice of motion concerning the matter at the end of the council meeting.
Cornell said the intent was not to discuss it.
“It was just to say it had been brought to our attention and that we felt there was some merit — from an environmental viewpoint — for council to have an opportunity to revisit it if there was a way to save the trees.”
“The meeting with the developer was straight forward. He had concerns he wanted us to be aware of. There was no deal, or any discussion of a deal. It seemed there could be an opportunity to save the trees.”
Asked if she will bring her motion forward at the October meeting, Breckenridge said she is thinking of withdrawing it, “because I’ve had it!
“I don’t want anything more to do with it, quite frankly; especially now that you’ve called me. I told them (Remington) the ball is now in their court. They have mucked it for me. Thank you very much!”
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Staff report cites developer’s duty concerning road
A background report sent to council members Sept. 28 by Tiny Township CAO Doug Luker provides the details about the Georgian Drive extension.
According to the report the committee of adjustment approved a land severance in 2008 for the Remington Group (Chris Bratty) for the construction of homes on the condition that the developer enter into a severance development agreement for the construction of a access road and T-turnaround for the lots created.”
“This agreement,” the report said, “was approved by a council bylaw (08-074). This agreement calls for the Remington Group to construct storm drainage, road extension (Georgian Drive extension) and utilities/services by October 2010.”
The report notes that council reaffirmed its position in January 2010 following a delegation by Mr. Bratty. It adds that in a letter dated Sept. 16, 2010, to the township’s consulting engineers, Mr. Bratty confirmed the work schedule and his commitment to complete the work by Nov. 15, 2010.
“Should Mr. Bratty fail to complete the work, the township has the right to enter onto the land and complete the work at the owner’s expense,” the report says. “We have securities of $80,000.”
The report also mentions that Mr. Bratty “recently met with township officials regarding his ongoing concern for the number of trees he would be required to cut to build the road extension.
“As the situation currently stands,” it continues, “the severance development agreement is solidly in force as approved by council and can only be amended or voided by a council resolution.
“We cannot force Mr. Bratty to complete the works, but we do have the power to enter on the property and complete the works at the owner’s expense if the work is not completed with two years of signing the agreement (October 2010).
“Should council choose to void the agreement,” the report points out, “the township could be required to build the road at our expense at some point in the future.
“Staff have been working with Burnside Engineering to ensure the work is completed as contracted.
“Currently and based on council’s previous decisions and resolutions and a legally binding severance development agreement, staff have been directed and will continue to ensure that Mr. Bratty lives up to his contractual obligations.
“We will continue to follow this direction until we are otherwise directed by a vote of council,” the report concludes