[All] OMB is flawed.

[Randy B. McLean]

Jan:

In a recent gravel pit issue the question came up as to who enforced OMB 
decisions.  The OMB responce was that the municipality enforced the OMB 
rulings.
That is a hard one to swallow when the municipality is taken to the OMB by a 
private citizen or group, ruled to go against their plan and then expected 
to change
and manage their plan at extra cost to the themselves.

Municipalities are too pro-development and have become developers 
themselves.

Someone has to sit down and re-think this system.

Randy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jan Liggett" <jkliggett at rogers.com>
To: "Gregory C. Michalenko" <gcmichal at uwaterloo.ca>; "Deb Swidrovich" 
<deswid at gmail.com>; "GREN" <all at gren.ca>
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 1:49 PM
Subject: Re: [All] Reminder of Open House, Jan 20th re: Bald Eagles


> Greg,
>
> Myself and Claudette Millar (with  my husband Les Kadar working behind the 
> scenes with her since he was being called as a witness), were the agents 
> at that OMB hearing, acting on behalf of Heritage Cambridge and the Grand 
> River Valley Co-alition respectively.  We are well versed on that case. 
> If it weren't for private citizens, the environmental protection on that 
> property would not be what it is today.  The gc architect kicked and 
> screamed the whole way through (I am happy that from what you say Owen has 
> finally come on board) and the City of K kept citing the Audubon way of 
> designing golf courses.  What most don't realize is that the REAL Audubon 
> Society for the protection of habitat and birds is NOT the same as the 
> Audubon group set up to create golf courses.  Politicians and bureaucrats 
> constantly believe that they are and were uninformed in this case as was 
> drawn out during testimony. The chairs hands were tied for part of the 
> ruling and did only what they could legally do to stop where the tees 
> could go.  Personally I think that they didn't want the golf course there 
> at all.  "rare" by the way was not involved in the OMB hearing, nor did 
> they appear as witnesses.  The reason that the seasonal restriction is in 
> place is because of the work we all did. It was a 5 week hearing by 2 
> citizens acting on behalf of the people and the environment, and 5 lawyers 
> for the government bodies.  As for the trail, that was a contentious issue 
> because of the number of archaeological sites located on the property and 
> the habitat for waterfowl.  The trail was also restricted and some people 
> on EEAC know why.  The chairs cleared the room of observers and I asked 
> that all of the evidence be put under lock and key for these sites because 
> of professional and amateur robbers.  All parties agreed.  The chairs also 
> in their rulings stated that any trail had to be constructed with a 
> certain type of material because of impact on any sites affected should a 
> trail go in in the future.
> The region would never have been a party in the case if I hadn't on behalf 
> of Heritage Cambridge filed against them at the hearing.  They certainly 
> weren't the good guys at the time.  It only got going because the City of 
> Cambridge turned down the City of Kitchener for the zone change and 
> Kitchener filed an appeal at the OMB.  I was able to piggyback on that 
> because the region had opened the door for the zone change to happen.
> The trail people also kicked and screamed about the seasonal restrictions 
> we demanded for the eagles.
> For those who wish to traverse the 401 in that area to continue their 
> hiking, I suggest the 1.7 million dollar pedestrian overpass a feet feet 
> to the west.  It was paid for out of all of our municipal taxes so that 
> the trail could be continuous.  In the meantime people in Cambridge 
> continue to die trying to walk and ride bicycles back and forth to work 
> etc. from the Hespeler part of Cambridge to the rest of their city because 
> there is no proper route other than that which is frought with danger. 
> Recreation vs. necessity, another example of politicians making bad 
> choices.  And we as human beings continue to selfishly demand that we be 
> allowed to infringe on the small areas of wildlife habitat left.  I ask 
> the question, who should have the real rights, "reasonably well off" 
> golfers, hikers of "modest means" or the wildlife.
> As for being a model for future golf courses in the area, let us hope 
> there are no more.  If you interview the private golf course owners they 
> will tell you that the city of Kitchenr has an unfair advantage as they 
> use tax dollars to pay expenses while hiding other expenses through 
> different departments.  The association of private Golf Courses was 
> originally also a particpant, but pulled out under pre-hearing when 
> Kitchener agreed to open their books and change how they did them.  I have 
> heard that that is still not being done.  This is a case of government in 
> competition with private enterprise.
>
> All is never what it seems.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jan
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Gregory C. Michalenko" <gcmichal at uwaterloo.ca>
> To: "Deb Swidrovich" <deswid at gmail.com>; "GREN" <all at gren.ca>
> Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 11:48 AM
> Subject: Re: [All] Reminder of Open House, Jan 20th re: Bald Eagles
>
>
>> Dear Grenwiches,
>>
>> There may be an appropriate solution to this.  The eagles come to roost 
>> in the winter.  I am on EEAC (the Environmental and Ecological Advisory 
>> Committee to the Region) and one of the most interesting controversial 
>> cases we have had to consider was the OMB- approved extension of the Doon 
>> Valley golf course onto the south side of the 401 next to the Grand 
>> River, on a property that has an environmentally sensitive policy area, a 
>> provincially significant wetland, and the largest breeding  population of 
>> least flycatchers in the Region.  The bald eagles were also an important 
>> issue, but easily resolved.  Luckily golf is a summer activity so the new 
>> portion of the golf course is closed to one and every human being from 
>> November through to April at which time the eagles happily depart to 
>> their summer haunts.  We were also faced with the problem of making 
>> recommendations to control non-indigenous species of plants on the 
>> property.  One of the prime roosts of the eagles is the old Manitoba 
>> maples along the river there, which are not native.  We found a nifty 
>> solution to that too.  Manitoba maples are what biologists call 
>> "dioecious", literally "in two houses", and have separate male and female 
>> plants.  Our proposal is to cut down all the female trees, leaving the 
>> mature male ones, and replant with native sugar maples or black willow. 
>> These can start growing and meanwhile the aging male Manitoba maples will 
>> eventually fade away.
>>
>> The golf course architect is a follower of the classical old school that 
>> believes in fitting the courses into the landscape rather than carving 
>> the landscape to suit the golf course.  I was given a personal tour late 
>> last fall and was very interested to see how much had been preserved and 
>> the thoughtful measures that had been put into place to unobtrusively 
>> keep the golfers where they belong.  For example, on one walk ( 
>> accompanied by Bill Wilson, the noted bird watcher who works with "rare") 
>> we found a nice group of yellow lady slipper orchids, and EEAC 
>> recommended that a small fence be put in to keep the golfers on the 
>> adjoining tee from straying into the orchid meadow.  On the fall tour I 
>> noticed that the architect had an even better solution:  instead of a 
>> fence, he just inserted a sliver of water wide enough and deep enough to 
>> discourage human beings unless they want to soak their pants and get 
>> their shoes mucked up. I think the new golf course will set a precedent 
>> for ecologically-minded golf course construction in our area -  in so far 
>> as such things are possible.
>>
>> EEAC did discuss the matter of a public trail, which had been proposed, 
>> and had some differences of opinion.  I'm a strong believer in equity for 
>> the public good. I myself had concerns that golfers, who tend to be 
>> reasonably well off, were getting a better deal from the project than 
>> hikers, some of whom have modest means.  I've been numerous times along 
>> the old rail line trail thrugh "rare" and have talked to hikers and 
>> cyclists, and found that some didn't have cars of their own, so trails 
>> accessible from adjoining urban areas were important to them. I felt that 
>> a trail would be okay for May through October, after which the access 
>> restrictions to look after the welfare of the eagles on that stretch 
>> should apply to one and all.  My arguments were not shared by the 
>> majority or EEAC members who turned down the proposal for a trail.  There 
>> was some feeling that a public trail would disrupt breeding waterfowl on 
>> that stretch of the river.  However, I went on two walks at dawn and 
>> early morning along that stretch of the river in May and June, and did 
>> not see any evidence of duck or other waterfowl broods on the river or 
>> the banks at that point.  It seems that the river there has most 
>> importance for wintering waterfowl and eagles, than summer breeding. (An 
>> osprey pair nested quite happily on a provided platform by the river off 
>> fountain St. The Walter Bean bunch do have a point that it would be nice 
>> to have a continuous trail without a break caused by the golf course.
>>
>> The MNR brought in a recognized bald eagle expert from Vancouver to 
>> discuss the situation of the eagles and the consultations with him  were 
>> very valuable for addressing various development issues concerning the 
>> eagles in a stretch of the river several km long.  A report was produced 
>> that has maps showing all recorded eagle sightings in the area.  It is a 
>> public document and I'll check to see if it is available online.  EEAC 
>> also was asked to consider a new subdivision on the other side of the 
>> river that has a high bank.  We recommended appropriate setbacks from the 
>> river with restricted access because of the eagles.
>>
>> It's not clear from Neil's message which jurisdiction is proposing the 
>> trail this time around.  The land south of the 401 is Cambridge, and 
>> north of the 401 is Kitchener.  The Doon Valley golf course is owned by 
>> the City of Kitchener, so we will now have a  City of Kitchener golf 
>> course in the City of Cambridge!
>>
>> I will try to attend the open house.  Please contact me if you want to go 
>> and need a ride. I live in uptown Waterloo.
>>
>> - Greg Michalenko
>> ________________________________________
>> From: all-bounces at gren.ca [all-bounces at gren.ca] On Behalf Of Deb 
>> Swidrovich [deswid at gmail.com]
>> Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 11:02 AM
>> To: GREN
>> Subject: [All] Reminder of Open House, Jan 20th re: Bald Eagles
>>
>> Hi everyone:
>>
>> I would like to thank Neil Taylor and Louisette Lanteigne for bringing 
>> attention to the planned trail and bridge near the wintering grounds of a 
>> number of bald eagles near Doon in the City of Kitchener.
>>
>> I must admit that I am not a big fan of trails, but I do support trails 
>> that are planned properly for recreational enjoyment and especially, to 
>> direct human traffic away from sensitive habitats and wetlands.  It is my 
>> understanding that bald eagles do not function well in close proximity to 
>> humans, and there is a very real risk that these magnificent birds may 
>> not continue to use the present area as wintering grounds should the 
>> trail and bridge be built as planned.
>>
>> As many of you have experienced in your dealings with planners and 
>> consultants, the displacement of birds and animals is often considered 
>> acceptable in terms of the return to humans.  In this case, it is 
>> particularly disappointing to learn that the plan for these trails was 
>> initiated and financially supported by the Walter Bean Grand River 
>> Community Trails Foundation.
>>
>> Please try to make it out to the Public Information Meeting on January 
>> 20th, from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Banquet Room at the Doon Valley Golf 
>> Course Club House to learn more, and to voice your opinion to those city 
>> planners/councillors who may be in attendance.  It is critical that we 
>> remind them of the importance of placing these creatures first.
>>
>> See you there,
>>
>> Deb Swidrovich
>> 519-746-8403
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> All mailing list
>> All at gren.ca
>> http://gren.ca/mailman/listinfo/all_gren.ca
>
>
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