This week saw a very interesting Ontario Municipal Board pre hearing in the City of Pickering regarding Geranium Homes wanting to put a development in Claremont within the Greenbelt and in the Oak Ridges Moaraine.Geranium Homes figure as they were tossing the idea of 26 homes around in around 1990 that they should get a "minor rounding" of in excess of 70 homes......not going to happen.
The Greenbelt and Oak Ridges Moraine cannot be changed by the Ontario Municipal Board and come October 30th when the next hearing is, I am sure the OMB will dismiss this case.
What has absolutely blown me away is that residents of Claremont that oppose the development have been legally threatened, this is an absolute affront to democracy. No resident can have his/her rights taken away from them from a cease and desist letter.
The next Greenbelt review is in 9 years, Geranium can come back then, but many other developers that have good cases to come out of the Greenbelt that are not on the Oak Ridges Moraine are in a pecking order and waiting in line.
The developer is professing that the new homes will take care of drainage issues in Claremont. Let me be very clear....land use planning is not to be used to correct current engineering deficiencies, that's not how it works.
The residents of Claremont have my commitment that I will ask Regional Planning to oppose the Geranium Homes development if all goes well in October.
Till next week
John MuttonPresident and CEO
Municipal Solutions - Energy and Infrastructure
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