We, along with our lawyer Sylvain Rouleau, were very pleased with Friday’s meeting and its outcomes. The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) member assigned to the CMC was Rick Makuch who is Ottawa based. The virtual call lasted about an hour and was without major issue.
News, News, News and an At-home Dinner.
LPAT Decisions from the Case Management Conference(CMC) – October 9, 2020
The Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition (KGPC) and our lawyer Sylvain Rouleau were very pleased with Friday’s meeting and its outcomes. The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) member assigned to the CMC was Rick Makuch who is Ottawa based. The virtual call lasted about an hour and was without major issue. The KGPC received Party status and the 6 Participant requests were granted as well. An anticipated Hearing timeframe of 6 weeks was agreed to. There were upwards of 58 people online for the virtual call.
The impact of the 40% Agreement legal case on this LPAT matter was discussed. It was decided that Member Makuch will receive an update from the parties after the Labrosse decision on the 40% Agreement is made. Makuch was also made aware of the City’s intention to seek a stay of this LPAT proceeding should Justice Labrosse uphold the City (and KGPC) position. The KGPC supports this position. Appropriate discussion will occur at that time.
Mediation was raised by Mr. Makuch during the discussion and we have received some calls about that. The LPAT process for all hearings includes a mediation component which may be made mandatory if the LPAT Member decides it to be appropriate for resolution of the issue(s). It can be an alternative once the most complicated and contentious aspects of a matter are resolved. While Mark Flowers stated that ClubLink had given him instructions to mediate, Sylvain Rouleau (KGPC) and Tim Marc (City) confirmed that they did not have similar instructions from their clients. The meeting was adjourned, and LPAT subsequently provided the following hearing dates:
LPAT Hearing: Monday, January 17, 2022 concluding before Friday, February 25, 2022 (6 weeks)Now that the LPAT hearing dates are set, and of course pending the legal decision of Justice Labrosse which may supersede the need for the LPAT hearing entirely, the KGPC will continue to prepare for next steps. We are focussed on securing expert opinion in our areas of greatest concern – stormwater management and site contamination. More on that down the road.
The City’s Technical Comments on the ClubLink resubmission are out!
Councillor Sudds released the City staff’s second round Technical Comments on Friday night. The KGPC wants to thank the City staff, led by Laurel McCreight, Planner on what was clearly another encompassing effort at review and analysis. We were very pleased to note the inclusion of all the major issues we raised in the City document.
The 46 pages include 163 comments, about 2/3 of the number in the first round Technical Comments. The staff indicate that there continue to be many unaddressed issues outstanding from the initial application as well as interpretive and technical disagreements on key issue areas such as design, stormwater management, site contamination and forestry to name a few.
We have reviewed the document and condensed it to two pages of highlights should you not have the time to wade through all of the detail. Last week we were informed that staff are preparing their recommendation(s) regarding the ClubLink/Minto/Richcraft application for the November 26 Planning Committee meeting. Given the number of large scale issues outstanding in the Technical Comments, we are hopeful that this signals a staff intention to recommend dismissal of the ClubLink application at that meeting.
So, we’re crossing our fingers but we will be prepared! As mentioned last week the Coalition will be making both written and oral presentations on November 26. We are looking forward to working with the community to organize a thoughtful series of presentations which reaffirm our community passion and unity on the protection of our Greenspace. It is especially important to have an organized and unified slate of oral presentations which is big on content and minimizes duplication. Please reach out if you have an idea or plan for your presentation.
City Planning Committee Meeting – Thursday, November 26 at 9:30 am
Review and Approval of Planning Staff recommendation(s)
(Written and 5 minute oral presentations allowed)
City Council Meeting – Thursday, December 9 at 9:30am
Review and Vote on Planning Committee recommendation(s)
(No presentations allowed)
Un-Dinner Party tickets are available online today!
What great value! You get a fantastic dinner and the KGPC receives a valuable contribution to fund the fight to SAVE OUR GREENSPACE!
Connect safely at home. Enjoy fabulous food from Aperitivo and live music by Jeff Rogers with none of the work.
Date: Monday, November 2nd (Free delivery within 5km of the Kanata Golf Club)
Only 50 delicious take-away dinners for 2 are available, so reserve yours today!
Details and tickets are available on our website.
As always, we hope you and your family remain safe and hopeful in these difficult times as we continue to face down Covid-19.
We’re better together!
Barbara
Barbara Ramsay
Chair, Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition (KGPC)
chair@ourkanatagreenspace.ca