Details

Yesterday, the highlight of Day 4 of the Glenway OMB hearing pits Ira Kagan, the swaggering lawyer for the Evil Empire (aka Marianneville Developments) against Christina Bisanz, the Chair of the Glenway Preservation Association.

There are 38 members of the public present when she steps forward to give evidence. She will be quizzed first by the hesitant James Feehley, counsel for the GPA. She is composed and confident as she takes the stand, swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. There is prolonged enthusiastic applause.

“I don’t think that applause was for you Mr Feehley” says the affable, on-the-ball Adjudicator, Susan Schiller. That much was never in any doubt.

She gently reminds us of Hearing etiquette. No more applause.

We learn that Christina Bisanz moved to Glenway in 1990 and then moved again within the neighbourhood in 1992, paying a $10,000 premium for having a golf course as her backyard. We are told that Glenway was the first such planned neighbourhood in the GTA.

Glenway’s clubhouse was the beating heart of the local community. And then the apocalypse. In 2008 it was announced that Glenway golf course was up for sale. Her case is that the new owners, Marianneville, presented their proposal for development of Glenway as a fait accompli. There was no opportunity for the community to respond collectively.

Kagan cross examines

Kagan, who has a reputation for not taking prisoners, now cross examines. Should the “subject lands” (ie the old golf course lands) be retained as open space? Preserving parks and open space – would that be the GPA’s preference?

Bisanz is not taking the bait. She says the likelihood of Marianneville retaining the lands as a golf course is minimal.

Kagan tries again. But what if the Board says the principle of development has been met and there should be some development? Would the GPA have nothing to offer, to add or to say on Phase 2? What would the GPA like to see in the way of development if that is going to happen?

No mandate

Bisanz won’t be drawn. She has no mandate to go down that road. The GPA wants a Town led planning process. “It is premature to speculate on the use of the lands without a public consultation process.”

She tells Kagan she disagrees with the Town’s metronomic external consultant, Ruth Victor, that development of the Glenway lands could be done by way of a site-specific application. She recites endlessly the mantra that any proposed development requires first a comprehensive Town led review.

I see people around me nodding with approval. Bisanz is more than holding her own.

It is an accomplished, measured performance. There are no threats to lie down in front of the construction trucks to stop the development in its tracks. “Bulldozer Bisanz” is nowhere to be seen.

Getting personal

Now, clearly frustrated by the intelligent stonewalling, Kagan gets personal.

He starts by asking her why she considers it a privilege to live in Glenway. I could answer that. It is a nice place to live.

He wants to know if Bisanz and her family were golf club members. No she says. Now he is telling her in as many words that she can’t complain about the closure if she didn’t support it.

Kagan asks if she challenges the right of the golf course owner to do what they want with their own lands if they can’t make a go of the business. He wants to know if the Glenway Community made any effort to purchase the golf course lands or the Club House that everyone was so fond of. Bisanz says it was a closed bidding process so she has no idea if any Glenway people put in a bid.

Did the Town make a bid to purchase?

She doesn’t know.

Did anyone ever ask the Town to stop the demolition of the Clubhouse?

No idea.

Kagan asks if the lands should be in public ownership if they serve the Town and not just Glenway. She says the course went from being private to public. It was used by people from all over town.

Property Rights

Now he is getting into property rights. “Do you believe residents have the right to use the lands without the current owner’s permission?

Kagan impertinently tells her that there is nothing in her property deeds that gives her the right of access on to the golf course lands “because we have checked”.

She says no one ever formally objected to public access. This line of questioning fizzles out.

Now we hear Kagan go through the chronology of meetings hosted by Marianneville. He is trying to show that Marianneville bent over backwards to engage the community and get their feedback. He wants to challenge the GPA’s view that Marianneville’s consultation with the public was inadequate.

Bisanz says the consultation meetings were not specific to the application. Marianneville were asking for views on the proposed “executive golf course”.

She says their strategy all along was to “bifurcate” the community, inviting groups of Glenway people to briefings, never getting everyone together all in one room.

Now we are hearing about meetings called by the Glenway people way back in 2011 where the Mayor, Chris Emanuel and other council notables were present. So what? Now we hear Kagan quoting from an ancient Chris Emanuel blog where he pledges to fight to the last breath to keep the land open space. Emanuel’s face splits into a gigantic grin. His blog has been officially recognised!

Kagan is trying to suggest that councillors’ minds were already made up even before the Marianneville application was lodged with the Town. So what? Seems to me they have every right to argue for open space to remain as such.

Kagan stumbles

Now Kagan asks a bemused looking Bisanz about the GPA’s request for financial help from the Town to the tune of $100,000. Her face is blank.

We learn the request came from the Glenway Community Group which, says Bisanz, has nothing to do with the Glenway Preservation Association. The GPA is the only incorporated not for profit organisation fighting the Marianneville proposals.

We hear a loud hissing noise of air escaping from Kagan’s pricked balloon.

Still he gallops on, going through a long roll call of names asking if any of the people named have anything to do with the GPA.

No, says Bisanz. No. No. No. No. She is my neighbour. No. No. No.

What a damp squib that was! Poor research from Kagan, a lawyer previously lauded for his mastery of detail.

The Settlement Offers

Now he changes tack and asks about Marianneville’s settlement offers, made without prejudice, allowing the public to get engaged. He says the way these things generally work is that the settlement offer is made to councillors behind closed doors, a decision is made, and the public is cut out of the process entirely. (He used precisely the same script with Slessor Square).

He recites the long list of “concessions” offered by Marianneville and asks Bisanz what she thinks of them.

Again, she is not going down that road.

The promise of a golf course for 15 years on part of the Glenway lands with the Town being offered the first chance to buy is a good thing. Surely?

Bisanz dismisses this as speculative. No-one knows what position the Town is likely to take on the issue in the distant future. And, in any event, she tells us the GPA was uncomfortable with the settlement offer because it just looked at the western part of the so called subject lands and not at the impact of the 730 residential units on the rest of the Marianneville lands.

Feeble and meandering

Now Kagan ends his cross examination with a series of feeble, meandering and unfocussed questions about a public meeting held by the GPA in Crosslands Church just a few weeks ago where the Town’s solicitor spoke about the OMB process and procedures and took questions from the floor. The Mayor, regional councillor, and Chris Emanuel were on the platform.

If Kagan wanted us to see something sinister in this public meeting, he failed. His cross examination peters out.

Sensing this, the Chair calls a break and Kagan darts out of the room explaining loudly as he goes that he drank too much tea over lunch.

This is too much information.

I screw my eyes tight shut and think of putting greens and fairways and wide open spaces.

 

 

Details

Councillors at Newmarket’s Committee of the Whole last night agreed to go out to public consultation on the revised draft of the long gestating Secondary Plan.

An amendment proposed by Regional Councillor John Taylor dramatically reduces maximum building heights. He argued for a 17 storey cap with the possibility of  another three storeys from bonussing.

He says this more accurately reflects the view of the community.

Planners, out on a limb, had been pushing for a maximum 30 storeys with bonusing.

Taylor’s position puts him on a collison course with Daryl Wolk who says planning applications should be considered on a case by case basis with no pre-determined height caps.

Taylor also argued that Queen Street should be removed from the Secondary Plan area. He said six storey buildings would not sit comfortably with single family dwellings.

More to follow.

 

Details

The OMB’s Glenway Hearing kicks off today and I am in the basement Conference Room of the Best Western Voyageur Hotel sharing the space with 33 members of the public, assorted highly paid lawyers, more modestly paid professional planners and a large number of huge lever arch files bulging with reams of documents.

The most important person in the room is Susan Schiller, the adjudicator, who has an easy manner and smiles a lot.

First up is Ira Kagan, the lawyer for Marianneville Developments. The acoustics are terrible and his clear-as-a-bell voice makes a huge difference. Counsel for the Town, Mary Bull, and James Feehley, should take a leaf from Kagan’s book and project their voices. This conveys confidence, even if they don’t know what they are talking about.

Kagan takes control

Kagan immediately takes control. He moves the centrally positioned lectern to the wall, telling everyone this will improve the sightlines for those at the back of the room. Now he puts his laptop on top of a cardboard box on the table in front of him. He runs through the history of the Marianneville application. 

The developer’s case, he says, can be concluded within the first week (and the hearing is not sitting on Thursday 20th March).

He says that he will be calling four witnesses, including Ruth Victor, the outside consultant brought in by the Town to handle the Glenway file. She is called “under summons” and we learn there is no witness statement but rather a “will say” statement. This is all new to me. The non-lawyers are all on a very steep learning curve.

Glenway not needed to meet intensification targets

Mary Bull for the Town now summarises her case. The Marianneville lands are not identified in the Town’s Official Plan for any intensification.  She says there is an anticipated 12,000 increase in the Town’s population by 2031 and if Glenway gets the go-ahead it will contribute a whopping 16% of this. She says she will be calling Eric Chandler to give evidence. He is a recently retired top planner from Tecumseth.

Next up is the croaking James Feehley, representing the Glenway Preservation Association.  He will be calling two witnesses. He is losing his voice so no opening statement. This is alarming.

Now the lawyers are trying to reconcile the numbering of the documents in their huge ring binders. They are losing their way. Some documents are out of sequence!

As they compare their numbered notes, the adjudicator tells the lawyers: “The back of the room is laughing at us now!”

Kagan replies: “With good reason.”

Facts not opinions

Now Kagan calls Richard Zelinka, his first witness, who is a planner retained by Marianneville in February 2010 to do the spadework and provide land use planning advice on the development of Glenway. His job is to provide facts on the proposed development, not opinions.

The developers bought Glenway in January 2010 yet the golf course remained open for business until October 2011. We are told there were only 40-50 memberships, about 5% of the community. The Clubhouse was removed in summer 2012.

We are told Marianneville bent over backwards to be fair to everyone.

Kagan asks if at any point Town staff advised him that the proposed development should await a Town led review. Answer No. And did Ruth Victor, the outside consultant brought in by the Town to handle the Glenway file advise him so? Answer No.

Now Kagan tells Zelinka he is now going to use his laser pointer: “I shall try not to hit you.” At the time this remark seemed amusing.

Kagan’s brilliant red beam hits the Ray Twinney Centre. Zap! What’s this? And now moving to the GO bus station. And what’s this? We are told that 95% of the proposed new residential units will be within 400 metres of a bus stop. That’s where the questions are going. All this new development is within staggering distance of public transport.

Settlement Offers

Now Kagan coaxes us down into the big black hole of the Settlement Offers.  Marianneville put these to the Town last year (unsuccessfully) in an attempt to close the deal. Mary Bull says these are irrelevant and should not be considered by the OMB. There is much lawyerly argument about this while the rest of us examine our fingernails.

Now we are hearing about the meetings requested by Marianneville that were turned down by the GPA on the grounds that no development should take place at all. This is designed to paint the GPA as absolutists, unwilling to compromise.

Now it is the turn of Ruth Victor, Kagan’s star witness.

She is sitting next to me in the body of the Kirk as she waits to be called to give evidence. She is looking at a webpage displaying a selection of lamps and light fixtures. I marvel at her insouciance! I find myself thinking about her taste in home décor.

Now she is called up front and is telling Kagan that she was retained by the Town on 20 April 2012 through the consultancy “I plan”. She says she was a “sub consultant”. Her contract ceased on 25 November 2013 when the recommendations that went to Council were not hers. (She wanted to refuse the Marianneville application on technical grounds, not on the principle of development.) However, she is still retained to advise the Town on Phase 2 issues – should we get that far.

Now matters turn comedic.

Kagan sends her witness statements from those who will be called to give evidence, but Victor chooses not to read them, explaining “I am here today under your subpoena.”  She is not obliged to read anything Kagan sends her.

Kagan ties himself in knots

Kagan is now tying himself in knots, paraphrasing what these witnesses say and asking for Victor’s response. She delivers what he wants on a gold plate.

The Glenway lands are developable. The Marianneville application was not premature. There was no policy basis to deny development of the Glenway lands. Victor’s staccato delivery hammers each point home.

Now we are talking about population projections. The Town’s 2006 official plan anticipates a population of 98,000. York Region talks about 97,000. (Both grossly out-of-date.) Victor tells us: “These numbers have an element of fluidity to them.”

Too true. These are fairy tale projections. In a carefully tailored understatement, she tells us later that all the population numbers are “lifted” through OPA (Official Plan Amendment) 10 on the Secondary Plan. Newmarket could be growing to 130,000 and beyond.

Kagan asks us to assume a forecast of 98,000. He asks Victor if that number would cap residential development within the built boundary of the Town. No, she says. Forecast population numbers are not caps. There is more, much more, in this vein.

Planning babble re-surfaces

Now Victor is on a roll speaking with assurance and certainty. Planning babble starts to appear. We hear about “planning constructs”. Planners are there to promote the efficient use of land. Glenway is indeed developable. The only way to preserve the open space at Glenway is, she says, through some form of public ownership.

She sums up. The proposed development amounts to the intensification of existing residential. What is important is the interface between the new, proposed residential and the existing stable residential neighbourhood. There must be like-to-like and compatibility between the new and the old. But, at the end of the day, she tells us the development of the Glenway lands would assist in meeting intensification targets.

Now it is the turn of James Feehley, the GPA’s lawyer, to cross-examine. I am expecting great things but, alas, I am underwhelmed. He must get his voice back and raise his game.

Feehley tells Victor the Municipality should lead the intensification process. Victor looks bemused. The Town’s Official Plan allows for the intensification of lands that are within the built boundary.

She says this with a certainty that invites no contradiction.

Ruth Victor won’t be back. She has done her bit to sabotage the Town’s position.

Now the adjudicator wraps things up and we go home.

 

Details

She’s at it again!

Newmarket’s increasingly fragile Ward 6 councillor, Maddie Di Muccio, is threatening to sue local journalist, Chris Simon, for this piece published in the Era today.

The paper reports that wannabe regional councillor, Darryl Wolk, is accusing Di Muccio of threatening Stephen Somerville. (Haven't we been here before?)

Di Muccio, who routinely threatens perceived opponents with legal action that never materialises, is all bluster. This is what she tweeted earlier today:

Maddie Di Muccio ‏@MaddieDiMuccio 3h

@csimonwrite I find your story and your tactics both contemptible and outrageous. I'll be speaking to my lawyer a/b defamation of character.

 12:40 PM - 14 Mar 2014 · Details

The damage inflicted on the Progressive Conservative brand in Newmarket Aurora by this prolonged vicious and very personal in-fighting must be absolutely immense.

Opposition parties will, no doubt, be squirreling away all the sordid details, every charge and counter charge, for possible use in the General Election, if provoked.

The sole candidate for the PC nomination, Jane Twinney, serenely floats above it all. Her coronation is on 20 March.

So far as Di Muccio is concerned, her defamation action will be going nowhere.

Truth is an absolute defence.

 

Details

Newmarket’s hyper-active developer and self styled entrepreneur, Bob Forrest, told the Town’s Planning staff in October last year that Slessors’ former car dealership site had been sold and that the sale was conditional for 60 days.

We are now on day 139 (give or take a few) and the Ontario Land Registry records no change in title.

However, it shows that the Slessors, who originally owned the land outright, have chalked up huge charges in anticipation of a sale and are draining million of dollars out of the equity.

On 6 December 2011, PACE Savings and Credit Union paid the Slessors $4,500,000. A second tranche was paid on 22 January 2013, this time for $1,800,000.

And then a further $1,200,000 was paid.

A consolidated sum of $7,500,000 is shown on Land Registry records on 14 February 2014 as a charge on the Slessor property.

All this begs the question, what has happened to the sale?

Elsewhere… On 14 November 2013, Slessors’ lawyer, the ubiquitous Ira Kagan, told the OMB:

“My client is still working with Town and Regional staff to come to agreement on the conditions of draft plan approval. If we are unable to do so then we will request that the Board hold a hearing to deal with the conditions.”

On 24 March the OMB will be requiring a “status update” from the Slessors and the Town on how the proposed development is progressing.

 

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