Wednesday August 7: LPAT to focus on waste facility at Freele Tract

From Friends of Simcoe Forests

The Friends of Simcoe Forests (FSF) along with 2 other appellants are diligently preparing for the Case Management Conference (CMC) scheduled to be conducted by The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) on Wed. August 7, 2019 at 10am. This is open to the public and will take place at Springwater Township Administration Centre at 2231 Nursery Road in Springwater, ON.

The purpose of the case management conference is to work out the procedural rules that will apply to the appeal.

The County of Simcoe released a project update on the Environmental Resource Recovery Centre on July 17, 2019 https://www.simcoe.ca/errc. However, the update provided by the County is quite vague and appears to omit pertinent details.

On March 26, 2019 the County of Simcoe filed an appeal with LPAT for non-decisions by the Township of Springwater re: Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-Law Amendment required for the development of the ERRC in The Freele Forest. It appears it was the County’s intentions to expedite the appeal process by merging this matter with the LPAT hearing re: County Official Plan Amendment 2 involving FSF and 2 other appellants. On April 24, 2019 LPAT completed its preliminary screening of the County’s appeal and made a determination that the appeal is not valid.

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/bcea49_93b5d52e086d4448a0f50eee45191350.pdf
The County and their lawyers (Marshall Green) submitted extensive materials with supporting case law documents contesting the not valid determination. On July 11, 2019 the Tribunal released their decision on the County’s appeal and upheld the initial ‘invalid’ finding.
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/bcea49_a1b0c16751ba4fdea2812305c81f7f9f.pdf

What does this all mean?

It appears that the County is unable to legally pursue the Township for non-decision on the local Official Plan Amendment and the Zoning By-law Amendment until the LPAT case involving the 3 appellants (FSF being one) is concluded. Of course, if they or either of the 2 other appellants are successful through the LPAT hearing process, the matter of the OPA and ZBA at the local (Springwater) level will not be necessary.

Update on Province’s proposed Transitional Regulation…

The comment period closed June 1st re: The Province’s proposal to make the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, 2019, apply to the County of Simcoe Official Plan Amendment 2. As unbelievable as it sounds, if the proposed transitional regulation is passed by the Province, it might be interpreted to mean that no natural heritage protections would apply to the specific case of the ERRC in this Significant Woodlot. At this time the transitional regulation has not yet been published.

Thank you to everyone who sent their comments to the Province and voiced their concerns on this extremely controversial matter.
https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-0018
https://www.simcoe.com/news-story/9402743-springwater-group-opposed-to-compost-facility-fears-appeal-under-attack/

Background

FSF at Springwater Council Meeting  June 5, 2019

Link to township video
Item #4.2 Friends of Simcoe Forests, delegation to Council presented by Jennifer Lawrence, MCIP, RRP re: ERRC starts at approximately 19 minutes into the meeting. This delegation is followed by a 10 minute question and answer period which includes ERRC content. Item #10.1 3) ERRC – Information and LPAT status update was pulled and discussed immediately following the Q&A.