Next round of Beeton woods fight is cost recovery application

New Tecumseth Free Press Online

Tecumseth Estates will be seeking a court-ordered award for cost reimbursements from AWARE Simcoe related to the August 19 motion hearing for a temporary injunction of a tree cutting permit pending a judicial review application of the process that issued it last winter.

A Superior Court justice ruled against the injunction calling it “a disproportional response.

“I am in the process of preparing those submissions and no calculations have been undertaken to date,” Tecumseth Estates lawyer Ian Rowe told Free Press Online this morning via email. “Note that at this point it is anticipated that there will not be a court attendance with respect to costs.”

At this post, it was not confirmed whether Simcoe County will follow suit. Council meets next on October 13, when it’s anticipated there will be direction moving forward. A report to County councillors last month showed the upper tier’s legal bill was approximately $20,000 to date for its part in defending the permit approval process. Additionally, councillors approved looking into their options for cost recovery.

AWARE Simcoe is a not-for-profit “citizens’ group that works for transparency and accountability in government and to protect water, the environment and health.” It formed about a decade ago as opposition to the then proposed, since dead, Simcoe County landfill, Site 41 in Elmvale. The group joined Beeton residents in opposing the special permit to Tecumseth Estates to clear about 30 acres of woodlot on its 9th Line property. It took the lead role in pursuing legal avenues to prevent it.

Michael Fleischmann, AWARE Simcoe’s lawyer on this file, told Free Press Online this morning via email, “details are unknown because we do not yet have their written cost submissions. All written submissions should be in by the middle of October.”