Unhappy with a recent setback at the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal (LPAT), the environmental group Friends of Simcoe Forests is now taking the tribunal to divisional court.
Friends of Simcoe Forests (FSF) is one of three listed appellants in the County of Simcoe’s quest to build an Environmental Resource Recovery Centre (ERCC) in the Freele Tract of a Simcoe County Forest. The project is currently going through the LPAT process as three groups have come out in opposition to the proposed location on Horseshoe Valley Road in Springwater Township.
The ERRC project was first proposed by the County of Simcoe in 2010 as part of its waste management strategy. The facility would receive the county’s organics and recycling to be broken down into compost, fertilizer, or fuel for use in the county.
The LPAT provided a partial ruling on Sept. 18, which dealt a blow to the FSF’s case, where vice-chair Susan de Avellar Schiller made a determination over what issues could be argued as part of the hearing, which is expected to take place in April 2021.
Schiller ruled that the site selection process could not be argued as part of any appellant issues list, as well as the province’s decision to add a transitional regulation in 2019 to exempt the ERRC project from changes to the provincial Growth Plan.
On Oct. 19, FSF filed a divisional court challenge against the Sept. 18 LPAT decision. They have requested the court case be tried in Toronto.
“We believe that the transitional regulation was intended to circumvent the normal planning rules from applying to our case,” Mary Wagner, president of FSF, wrote in a news release this week. “It is a targeted regulation that has eviscerated our core grounds of appeal.”
Marshall Green, senior legal counsel for the county, said the transitional regulation item is a normal process. As regulations put out by the province change regularly, he said it is common for the province to put transitional regulations in to make sure projects currently under dispute aren’t affected by those changes.
“When the new growth plan came in, what’s normally done is the minister will exempt a lot of matters that are ongoing,” said Green. “He exempted the Simcoe County OPA2 (the ERRC project), as well as about 10 other municipalities that had ongoing projects.
“The FSF argued that they should still be allowed to use those exempted sections. The vice-chair of the board said no,” he added. “This simplifies (the case), to a certain extent. Not having to justify the site selection process was a positive thing for us. This will possibly shorten the hearing as well.”
While the LPAT has not completely approved the project through the partial ruling, it has indicated it is an appropriate project to go forward for review.
Green says he was pleased with the ruling.
“They have indicated it is an appropriate site to go ahead and be reviewed on appropriate grounds,” he said.
The ERRC project has a long history, starting back in 2010 when it was first proposed.
After the county said it considered more than 100 sites for the facility, it applied to the province for permission to build the facility in the middle of the Freele Tract of the Simcoe County Forest after receiving approval on the location from county council.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing approved the county’s request earlier this year and granted an Official Plan amendment to allow the facility in the forest. However, three groups appealed the decision: the owners of Nicholyn Farms, which is adjacent to the Freele Tract, Edward Kracjir, and local environmental advocacy group Friends of Simcoe Forests.
All three appellants have stated publicly they don’t oppose the ERRC project as a whole; they only oppose the site chosen by the county in the middle of a Simcoe County Forest.
The project has been in a holding pattern while it goes through the LPAT process.
While the county applied for a minister’s zoning order (MZO) earlier this year, that request was denied.
According to the update from the County of Simcoe posted on its website earlier this year, the county anticipates that if the project goes through the LPAT at its current rate, it will likely add at least two more years to the process, and it has already cost taxpayers more than $1.6 million to get the project to this point.
A provincial grant received for the project from the Continuous Improvement Fund brought in a total of $2.2 million. If the facility is not operational by the end of 2023, the county will lose that funding.
Debbie Korolnek, the county's general manager of environment, planning and engineering, said this week that the project is essential for the county.
“We feel we have the best site. The province agreed with us. They further supported it with transition regulations. Now LPAT has also, through their ruling, supported that the site is appropriate,” she told BarrieToday.
“There are still many opportunities for the public (to provide input) and there are many issues that will be resolved through the LPAT process," Korolnek added. "We’re proceeding with this project recognizing that it’s the best thing for the county, and it’s the right thing to do.”
While county councillors received an updated timeline for the project during their Oct. 13 meeting that would see construction begin in 2023 and a potential opening date of January 2026, Korolnek says the timeline is still speculative and is a moving target.
Korolnek says the timeline is intended to aid in annual budget deliberations.
“The purpose of those schedules was really to give council an idea of the tasks that are still before us, and what potential timing there is for that. We cannot and will not do any site preparation work until we have the proper approvals in place,” she said.
For more information on the county’s ERRC project, click here.
