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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday July 5, 2006 - 5 Developer wants parkway belt designation removed Continued from page 1 boundary -- and the new rules prohibit appeals of requests to expand urban boundaries against a municipality's wishes. The developer, Creekbank Developments, wants to see the land designated urban, but the property involves three orders of government -- provincial, regional and municipal. "Everything has to line up," said Town planner Allan Ramsay. And that has muddied the waters. There are in fact four properties involved. Creekbank has bought a quartet of properties east of Bronte Road and south of Upper Middle Road -- a former right of way next to Bronte Road and a trio of former residential properties. All used to be in the Parkway Belt West Plan -- green space that served as an urban boundary and on which there were restricted uses regulated by the Province of Ontario. Two of the properties have been removed from the Parkway Belt and two have not. Creekbank wants the remaining two removed from the Parkway Belt. Creekbank has asked the Province to remove the last of the former residential properties -- 2362 Upper Middle Rd. -- from the Parkway Belt, as well as the right of way. It has also asked the Town -- if the land comes out of the greenbelt -- to change its Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw to allow for the nine-storey, 207unit condo. Town council has not yet made any decision on the condo. It did ask the Province not to remove the property from the Parkway Belt. The decision is up to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and once made, it can't be appealed. Creekbank however appealed to both the OMB and Environmental Review Board prior to either decision being made -- resulting in the hearing. In early May, legal representatives and agents for the Town, Halton Region, Conservation Halton and area residents led by Beatrix Morrallee of the 130-family members People of West Oakville Residents (POWOR) Association, showed up at the pre- "Some information came out a couple of weeks ago and the applicant (Creekbank) needed time to study it ." Town planner Allan Ramsay hearing to oppose Creekbank. Most had gone to set an issues list and hearing date, but lawyer Stephen Garrod, who is representing the Town, questioned whether the hearing should even take place. Garrod presented a jurisdictional motion questioning if the matter could even be decided by the joint board hearing. He argued amendments the McGuinty Liberal government made to Ontario's Planning Act which became law in November 2004, state appeals can't be made on requests that would extend an urban boundary beyond what a municipality deemed it to be. A four-day hearing was set -- to begin Tuesday -- to settle the jurisdictional matter before the condo case could be heard. Now it will be another three weeks. Late Friday, Creekbank asked for the jurisdictional hearing to be adjourned. "Some information came out a couple of weeks ago and the applicant (Creekbank) needed time to study it," said Ramsay. The new information was that the middle residential property, and the former right-of-way on the far west, which had been thought to be considered urban by Halton Region, are in fact designated greenlands in the Region's Official Plan. In May, it had appeared Creekbank's position would have been supported by Halton Region because, though the Town's Official Plan still indicates the property in question is deemed Parkway Belt, Halton Region's Official Plan was thought to have differed as far back as 1995 when it was amended -- against the provincial call at the time -- to deem the property greenlands. A provincial call on the validity of the 1995 change was never formalized -- it is still pending. And more recently, the Region was said to have deemed the property urban. However, now it appears the Region's designation on the property is greenlands. According to Ramsay, the Region confirmed about two weeks ago that it was an incorrect assumption that the lands were deemed urban, that they are deemed Greenlands B in the regional plan. The Greenlands B designation includes creeks, valley land and open space areas. Morrallee, on behalf of area residents, told the pre-hearing last month that the issues coming forward were exactly those that residents have claimed since the beginning. Residents in the area formed POWOR in response to the Creekbank application. They believe the high-rise, high-density condo is out of character with their nearby single family homes, many of which back on to Fourteen Mile Creek. While Conservation Halton has so far been satisfied on its concerns since Creekbank agreed to meet its demands about the building's setback from the tableland of the nearby, and protected, Fourteen Mile Creek, it will continue as a party to the hearing to watchdog that Creekbank meets its commitments. While the new information may assist the Town's case, the Town is still prepared to argue that the lands -- all four properties -- are to the west and outside of the community boundary (Glen Abbey) as defined in Oakville's Official Plan. A hearing date won't be set until the jurisdictional argument is determined. A date for the jurisdictional argument is likely to be set by later this month. -- Angela Blackburn can be reached at angela@oakvillebeaver.com. Our Best Sale Doctor's appointments arranged VISIT OUR EXPERTS TO REVIEW HUNDREDS OF OPTIONS FOR YOU! 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