WHAT HAPPENED AT THE OMB THIS WEEK

Includes extracts from Jem Cain's daily updates ......

Monday

46 people from our community showed up at the OMB Hearing Monday morning. We over-filled the room capacity. There was seating for 16-20 people. They ran out of chairs. Some people were standing along the walls, and some people were outside in the corridor because the room was so full they couldn’t get in.

The lawyer from the City of Toronto was really pleased with the strong show of support for the City and TRCA-Toronto and Region Conservation Authority opposing the development. 

One community member is going to attend all five days of the hearing as a “Party” to the hearing. He will be able to give evidence and cross-examine witnesses from both sides. Some people will be attending for the five days just to monitor the proceedings.

Sixteen people asked to be considered “Participants” and present their comments on 51 Lake Shore at the OMB Wednesday. Lawyers from both sides can question participants – we do not have the right to question any of the other witnesses and we do not have to attend all five days of the hearing.

Tuesday 

Mr. Ketcheson said that Dunpar would be requesting a hearing adjournment at the OMB first thing tomorrow morning. There is an existing survey of the 51 Lake Shore Drive property from 1909 that Dunpar had access to. The 1909 survey is significantly smaller than the survey Dunpar provided to the City with their application. The lot has increased in size since 1909 probably due to landfill and protection put in place after Hurricane Hazel. There are questions about whether they own all the land they show on their site plan, or if they own all the land they show on their more recent survey.

The OMB Chair said that if the hearing moved ahead he would probably rule on the more conservative lot size based on the 1909 survey. He cannot rule on land that Dunpar may not own.

He said we need to have one set of property lines to work from before we can talk about planning issues.

The Chair asked Dunpar if they wanted to request an adjournment to the hearing so they can settle the questions on land ownership and lot size.

The City lawyer wants to move ahead with the OMB hearing.

The Chair ended the hearing early this afternoon and he told Mr. Ketcheson that - Tomorrow morning you need to come in with direction from your client on whether or not he wants to adjourn this hearing.

An adjournment does not mean that anyone has won at the OMB, or that Dunpar’s proposal has been stopped.

This is not a dead issue – an adjournment gives the appellant Dunpar an opportunity to clearly define the property they own so that they can come back to the board for a decision on their application.

Wednesday

The OMB hearing on 51 Lakeshore Drive was adjourned today at the “reluctant request” of Dunpar’s lawyer Bruce Ketcheson.

The hearing was adjourned because there are two surveys for 51 Lake Shore Drive. The  survey from 1909 that shows the original property without landfill, which is a significantly smaller property. Dunpar did a survey in October 2006 and included the lake fill and wall along the shoreline identifying it as their property. They could not provide proof that they have a title or deed to the land reclaimed from the lake. The landfill could be owned by Dunpar, the City or the Province.

They will spend from now until March trying “to identify and certify the property”.

There is a prehearing set for March 12 2010 at 9:30am downtown at the OMB which will decide if the hearing will continue

None of the community members who came to the Board today were allowed to present. The application could stay the same, change or be withdrawn depending on who owns the land at the lake front.  The residents were able to indicate that many of them would prefer to not see it adjourned but dealt with this week.  The Chair was also asked by residents to change his final disposition to read a “substantial discrepancy” rather than “some discrepancy” between the two surveys.

It was recommended that if you are a participant you may want to attend in March 2010 so that when they set the date for the public presentations you can speak up if the date is not good for you.

The OMB Chair who seems to be a fair and thoughtful individual made everyone aware that though he is on the Board until 2012, he expects to be leaving in August of 2010. If the hearing has not concluded and the Chair leaves, the entire hearing process starts over again with a new OMB member chairing it.  The City lawyer and planner assure us that they will also be there after the adjournment, as will the TRCA

Land ownership issues can take a long time to resolve, and that in March Dunpar may not have been able to resolve the questions around ownership.

The lawyer for Dunpar reserved the right to present a motion for cost at the conclusion of the proceedings. Many of us from the community found this puzzling - since no one wanted to go to the OMB, but Dunpar. They went to the OMB rather than work with the community and the City Planning Department. 

Maybe the community should ask for costs from Dunpar for the hundreds of cumulative hours spent and work missed in the last two years challenging them over a development application on land they haven’t even made sure, in the Chair's mind, that they actually own!