By Pepper Parr
Burlington, Ont. – Jan. 31, 2013—They are learning – they are trainable. They are capable of being transparent.
Burlington city council is usually pretty timid when it comes to talking about how much they spend on legal fees – we’ve not heard a word about how much we’ve spent on the attempt to recover $7.5 million from the people who screwed up the first attempt to get a pier built at the bottom of Brant Street. But we now know how much was spent on legal fees to fight the application for a second quarry.
This is the quarry that is currently being mined. Its productive life will end in a number of years and over time fill with water. The city and the residents of north Burlington have an opportunity to decide what they want to see this property become.
$2.1 million and while there will be some grousing – this city will get very good value for those dollars.
Burlington spent $2.1 million on legal and consulting fees to protect the Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO biosphere reserve, from a quarry proposed by Nelson Aggregate Co.
In a unanimous decision released on Oct. 11, 2012, the consolidated hearings board (Joint Board) dismissed Nelson’s application for permits that would allow a new quarry and aggregate processing on the Mount Nemo plateau.
“For protection of the unique and sensitive ecologic areas of the Jefferson Salamander habitat, particularly the two known breeding ponds within the prescribed habitat area, the Joint Board finds that Nelson had not made sufficient provision for the protection of these unique ecologic and environmentally sensitive areas in the event that Nelson’s projections are wrong,” the Joint Board decision stated.
This is a topographical map with the existing quarry that is currently being mined outlined in orange. The patch at the south of the current quarry is the land Nelson wanted a permit to quarry in the future.
In December 2011, City Council approved a policy that allows Council to disclose legal costs following the completion of a matter, as decided on a case-by-case basis.
Details of the city’s legal process, including services provided by legal counsel Rod Northey of Fogler Rubinoff in Toronto, were shared with City Council in a confidential meeting in December 2012. The city’s legal costs for the Nelson Aggregate matter were approved in segments between October 2008 and January 2012, with funding coming from a contingency reserve fund.
The Joint Board’s decision was released after a four-year hearing process, including several preliminary hearings and a main hearing that lasted several months and included nearly 300 exhibits. The board heard from 60 witnesses, including 47 experts and 13 members of the public. The city retained nine expert witnesses who appeared before the board and provided evidence covering hydrology; hydrogeology; biology; wetlands; salamanders; agriculture; air quality; human health; and planning.
“I am impressed by the efforts of city staff, including the legal team, on behalf of the Niagara Escarpment,” said City Manager Jeff Fielding. “The city has worked collaboratively with other levels of government and community groups, such as Protecting Escarpment Rural Land, to keep this treasure intact.”
Burlington now has to decide what will become of this property once it has been mined out. There is an opportunity here for the city to create something that will invigorate the northern part of the city and still keep it rural.
PERL, Protect Escarpment and Rural Lands, the group that led the fight, would certainly like to see someone pick up the significant legal tab they incurred; when they announce their fund-raising event – be sure to attend.
Nice comment from the city manager but it is really a canned statement which he probably didn’t write. As impressive as Fielding is – he wasn’t the city manager when this battle took place. Better to have said nothing than permit a statement like this to be made on his behalf; almost as bad as a photo-op.
Big bucks; one tenth of what the pier is going to cost but this time we are getting long-term value.
Much of the detail in this piece came to us as a media release from city hall.
