At an OMB pre-hearing on March 21, information was disclosed by lawyers for the Town of Middlesex Centre, the County of Middlesex and a private developer (Tridon) that have sparked concern there is a systemic flaw in the Ontario planning process that robs citizens of their right to participate in local planning.

Background

  • May 2015 –A public meeting is held to consider an application for Draft Plan from Tridon Group Ltd. to redevelop land owned by Don Black Investments Ltd. in Komoka, Ontario.
  • April 2016 – Faced with considerable public pressure against the development, Middlesex Town Council indefinitely defers consideration of the Tridon application. Shortly thereafter, Tridon appeals Council’s lack of decision to the Ontario Municipal Board.
  • October 2016 – At an OMB pre-hearing on the Tridon appeal, the Kilworth Komoka Rate Payers Association and a developer adjacent to the Tridon property are granted standing in the matter. Lawyers for Tridon propose a second pre-hearing be scheduled for March 21, 2017 and submit they will sit down with all the affected parties with hope they can negotiate a resolution prior to March 2017 in which case the March pre-hearing would become a settlement hearing.
  • Between October and March 21, 2017 – Tridon makes no attempts to contact, or respond to inquiries from, either KKRPA or the other developer with standing in the matter.
  • March 21, 2017 – At the 2nd OMB Pre-Hearing on the Tridon appeal, lawyers for Tridon confess they have not spoken with either KKRPA or the other developer of standing. Tridon does, however, inform the OMB they have been in secret discussions with the Town and County to develop a revised set of Draft Plan Conditions. Neither of the other parties of standing have been informed of these discussions.

The Issue

These “Revised” Draft Plan Conditions have not yet been shared with the other parties or the public. It is possible they may mitigate some or all of the community’s concerns. However, it is also possible they may include wholesale revisions to the original Draft Plan Conditions considered by Town Council previously that give rise to new and original concerns. This raises an unusual and unacceptable paradox.

Although planning is a public matter, intended to be done in a transparent and accountable manner… these revised Draft Plan Conditions (whatever they may be) have been developed in secret as part of a possible negotiated settlement in an OMB hearing. This means no member of the public who does not already have standing in the Tridon matter may appeal them to the OMB.

Normally, citizens will have a chance to view the Draft Plan Conditions when they are considered at Council. Citizens with concerns can appeal to the OMB for remedy. It is possible that a citizen, who was satisfied with the original Draft Plan Conditions and therefore did not seek standing in the matter, may be offended by the revised Draft Plan Conditions and wish to appeal them. However, the window to seek standing in the Tridon matter has closed. Therefore, citizens have potentially been robbed of their right of appeal.

This is not just a local or one-time problem affecting this particular development proposal. It is a systemic flaw in the OMB process.

The developer Tridon has shrewdly manoeuvred its appeal to take advantage of this loop hole and avoid public debate on its revised development. The Town of Middlesex and County of Middlesex are complicit in this manoeuvre, having allowed it to occur through incompetence, malice or collusion.

Request for Investigation

On behalf of the residents of Kilworth and Komoka, we ask that you investigate this situation to determine:

  1. Whether there was any collusion between the municipality and the developer to minimize the public’s right to appeal the Draft Plan Conditions.
  1. Whether the municipality is sufficiently competent to manage development issues on behalf of the public, or whether these matters would better be managed by a regional or other level of government.
  1. Whether this is a systemic problem that affects citizens and developments province-wide and, if so, recommend changes to the development process and OMB mandate to eliminate this loop hole.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Yours truly,

Darren Micallef

Kilworth Komoka Rate Payers Association