A local residents' group is celebrating a recent legal decision that will not require the group to pay a developer’s legal costs.
The Harbour West Residents Group based in Thornbury is pleased with a recent Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) decision that did not award costs to the developer in the recent appeal of the Abbotts subdivision case.
The decision means the residents' group will not be on the hook for close to $170,000 in costs incurred by the developer during the hearing.
“We were overjoyed,” said group director Christina Eaton. “We think it’s a victory for neighbourhood groups all around.”
On June 10 2022, the OLT ruled in favour of the developer – Tammy Abbotts – on the actual development file. The majority of the appeal dealt with the Town of The Blue Mountains request that the 20-unit subdivision include affordable or attainable housing units. The town’s request that the proposal include affordable or attainable housing prompted the proponent to appeal the matter to the tribunal.
The residents' group was involved as a party during the appeal and presented evidence on environmental, tree preservation and neighbourhood character issues it had raised.
After the OLT’s decision, the developer sought to have the residents' group pay its cost for the hearing of more than $168,000.
In his decision on the matter, OLT Vice-Chair David Lanthier ruled that the residents' group had not acted in bad faith during the appeal.
“The tribunal finds that there was nothing unreasonable, frivolous, or in bad faith in regard to the conduct of the residents' group in the whole of the hearing in relation to the advocacy of its planning issues or engineering and transportation issues,” Lanthier wrote in his decision.
Al Burton was the attorney for the property owner, Tammy Abbotts, on the file. In an email, he declined to comment on the OLT decision.
“With respect to the costs decision, neither my client nor I have any comment on this matter,” he said.
Eaton said the decision shows that local community groups and organizations can have a voice in planning matters when they act responsibly.
“It’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s an important thing to do. The OLT as a mechanism is created to give everybody a seat at the table,” said Eaton. “It helps legitimize the OLT itself. If you can’t have a voice, why have [the OLT]?”
Eaton said the entire episode for her was an eye-opening experience.
“It’s made an activist of me,” she said, noting that she has joined the Escarpment Corridor Alliance to continue advocating for environmental issues in the community.
Eaton praised members of the residents' group and her local neighbourhood for their commitment to the issue.
“We have a tight neighbourhood. We care. We need to do what’s right,” she said. “We were very motivated.”
Eaton also said she hopes the entire situation is a lesson to all parties: developers, municipal government and local residents.
“The moral of the story is: everyone wins when everybody sits down at the table,” she said. “Had (the developer) come to us, maybe we could have avoided that whole process.”
