AWARE Simcoe withdraws Beeton Woods judicial review application

Beeton Woods, in undated photo

AWARE Simcoe news release

A watchdog citizens’ group is withdrawing its application for a judicial review of Simcoe County Council’s decision to allow a developer to clearcut the Beeton Woods.

“The damage has been done, sadly, the woodlot is a fraction of what it was a year ago” said AWARE Simcoe chair Don Morgan.

“Our lawyer advises that, in view of the court’s denial of an injunction to prevent cutting before the judicial review was to be heard in March, 2016, further legal action would only add unwarranted costs and be an unproductive use of court time.”

South Simcoe has lost much of its forest cover and the Beeton Woods was a remnant that provided an important link in a series of shrinking wildlife corridors.

Although Tecumseth Estates (owned by the Rizzardo family) applied under a by-law provision that makes it easy for farmers to bring woodland into crop production, an open development application on the property made it clear that facilitating development was the real reason for destroying a mature hardwood forest that had contained healthy endangered butternut.

Morgan said there was a failure of several arms of government – New Tecumseth, Simcoe County, the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority, the Ministry of Natural Resources – to appropriately assess the Rizzardo application in light of the development application.

AWARE Simcoe became involved after the county refused to discuss Beeton residents’ complaints about unfairness in the second stage of its public hearing and advised them to seek legal advice.

“We felt the process was flawed and a judicial review was warranted, and we hoped that we could preserve the forest,” Morgan said. “It takes a century to evolve the kind of environment that’s been eradicated. Planting seedling trees as compensation for cutting mature species-at-risk trees does not come close to compensating for the loss.”

Instead, the injunction application resulted in costs of $32,000 being awarded against AWARE Simcoe.

“That’s just wrong,” Morgan said. “Public participation has become a sham. It’s not about citizens and their political representatives any more, it’s been taken over by lawyers, hired guns retained by the developers and the politicians, and citizens can’t afford to remain involved.”

He noted that Justice Margaret Eberhard was critical of the county’s handling of the process.

Morgan said AWARE Simcoe members are proud that they took a stand to defend the forest, and do not intend to back away from other situations where the public process is failing the people and the environment.

This Saturday, AWARE Simcoe is joining with the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition to hold a meeting on “Protecting Simcoe’s Water with the Greenbelt”.

Speakers include MPP Ann Hoggarth, Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, Environmental Lawyer David Donnelly and Local Water Expert and past member of the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority Connie Spek.

The free public event runs from 9:30-11:30 at Liberty North, 100 Caplan Avenue, Barrie.