Rizzardo’s win appeal to rescind stop work order in Beeton woods

New Tecumseth Free Press Online

To public gallery shouts of “disgusting” and “follow the money boys, follow the money,” Simcoe County councillors voted 18-9 this morning to lift the stop work order, reinstating the special permit granted in January to Tecumseth Estates (Rizzardo) to clear approximately 30 acres of woodlot on the 9th Line, Beeton.

Below is the motion approved this morning:

THAT having heard the evidence and the arguments with respect to the appeal by Tecumseth Estates Inc. (Maria Rizzardo) of County of Simcoe Stop Work Order 2015-035, placed on lands described as Part of Lots 8, 9 and 10, Concession 9, being 6386 and 6416 9th Line, New Tecumseth, Ontario, and in consideration that:

• The Ministry of Natural Resources provided confirmation that the appellant has complied with the Endangered Species Act, and undertook butternut and companion tree planting in accordance with their agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources;
• The appellant undertook an Environmental Impact Study (EIS), to examine any potential impacts to steep slopes and watercourses on the property and surrounding area;
• Based on the findings and recommendations of the EIS there is no significant impacts to the watershed anticipated;
• Confirmation was received that the NVCA, County and New Tecumseth Planning Departments accepted the conclusions of the EIS;
• The appellant (Tecumseth Estates Inc.) has instructed the Town of New Tecumseth to withdraw her applications for official plan amendment and rezoning by-law for lands described as PART OF LOTS 8, 9 AND 10, CON. 9, FORMERLY TOWNSHIP OF TECUMSETH – PART 1 ON 51R-19818; and
• The Clerk having received additional material which Council having deliberated determined that same should not be considered at this point in the proceeding.

THEREFORE the Council of the Corporation of the County of Simcoe hereby orders that County of Simcoe Stop Work Order 2015-035 be lifted and the Special Permit issued to Tecumseth Estates Inc. (Maria Rizzardo) be confirmed.

The decision flows from an appeal hearing held on April 14, and whose decision that day was to reserve a final verdict until today’s meeting. Though testiimony and evidence by both sides of the issue were concluded last month, as reported here first on April 30, Rizzardo’s upped the ante by asking the Town to close their development application file dating back to 2008. That was significant because the Town’s objection to the special permit, put forward by solicitor Jay Feehely, called it “fundamental flaw” due to “the failure to disclose the nature of the owner’s interest in this property as having active development application before the Town of New Tecumseth.”

“(I)f you want to be a farmer, withdraw your development application, argued Mr. Feehely at the time. “If they cease to be developers, if they withdrew those applications today, I would have to say that’s the end of my argument, because now they’re farmers. They’re only going to be farmers.”

Ian Rowe, representing Tecumseth Estates, would exploit that position in a letter to County Clerk Brenda Clark, noting they had pulled their development application, and poining to Mr. Feehely’s words, sought to have it included as new information.

This morning, County lawyer Marshall Green in his preamble to the hearing’s resumption, said it was his recommendation to Ms. Clark that Mr. Rowe’s letter, and subsequent replies from other parties, not be forwarded to County councillors ahead of time.

“So none of you would have seen that yet, but council should deliberate to see if they want to receive the additional material,” said Mr. Green. At that, County council moved in camera to deal with the “new evidence.”

About 15 minutes later, the session resumed in public, and four options were presented. Oro Medonte mayor Harry Hughes moved Option four, which was to cancel the special permit.

Bradford West Gwillimbury deputy mayor James Leduc said he seconded the motion because “I believe this property is a very environmentally sensitive area. …We made a mistake in the beginning.”

Springwater mayor Bill French said his support “is simply a decision of weighing farm land and canopy cover.”

“I don’t believe in making room for more farmland by cutting down more forest,” said Mr. French. “We should retain the agricultural land that’s there, retain the forest that’s there. It’s quite noticeable once you go into the south of our County there doesn’t seem to be a lot of canopy cover.”

Mike Ross, deputy mayor of Midland, said he favoured the first option, which reinstated the special permit as issued.

“If it was an environmental sensitive area, I have a hard time believing the NVCA would agree for these trees to be removed,” said Mr. Ross. “The permit was issued in good faith, the property in question has withdrawn their subdivision proposal and I have no problem with supporting option 1.”

Gord McKay, mayor, Midland agreed, suggesting, “this comes back to fundamentals in our justice, and the way we have organized real property rights in Canada.”

“Here we have proper title, proper ownership of this property, and the proper use proposed by its owner, and those who do not own the property wish to take a different view as to how the land should be used,” said Mr. McKay. “We often have these discussions in the Town of Midland. And if there’s a public piece of property that some of the neighbours feel they want to use for other purposes, they come forward, but we point out that really, if you want to exercise the rights of the property owner, perhaps you should buy the property. We gave the people of this area (Beeton) a chance to have that discussion. I understand no discussion occurred, or at least it wasn’t a successful discussion, so I’m going to default here to the fundamentals of Canadian jurisprudence about the rights of ownership and property management, and will vote against this.”

Oro Medonte deputy mayor Ralph Hough, speaking in support of option four, called it “a double edged sword, calling it “ironic agencies (NVCA, County, etc) spend large amounts of money planting trees.”

“It’s a known fact there’s way below (forest) cover in the southern part of the County. There is no shortage of farm land in this area, there is a shortage of farmers,” said Mr. Hough. “We have to strike a balance between the owner’s right, but at the same time we have to take a stand and preserve our mature forests that we have in the south part of the County.”

And, in a foreshadowing final plea to New Tecumseth councillors last night, Beeton resident Stephanie MacLellan asked them to at least insist “if the worst case scenario happens tomorrow, and the permit is confirmed, please make sure the Migratory Bird Act to the Ministry of Natural Resources, is upheld.”

“The least we can do is save hundreds of innocent birds that are nesting in this forest right now from being senselessly killed; 61 to 100 per cent of nesting birds will be nesting between this weekend and the end of July,” said Ms. MacLellan. “It needs to be addressed before it’s too late. And not only do we lose an eco system that is irreplaceable, forest cover that will not regenerate for decades, we will also be losing all the migratory birds that are using this mature forest as we speak as a nesting place before they continue to the nearby wildlife corridors. These issues still need our town council’s attention, 15 per cent forest cover in New Tecumseth, is unacceptable.”