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The Oakville Beaver, Friday March 31, 2006 - 5 OMB hearing pits Oakville against GTA development sector Continued from page 1 Council goes in camera, or behind closed doors, and is allowed to do so under the Municipal Act, on matters involving land acquisition, personnel and litigation. Mulvale said Monday the Town is committed to public consultation and will do what it can. The special meeting was called after a nearly four-hour council infor mation session was held -- again with the warning that much of it would be in private -- Monday morning. The anticipated nine-month OMB hearing set to begin Aug. 9 is a chal lenge by a group of developer/landowners of Oakville's tardiness in implementing a second ary plan for north Oakville lands east of Sixteen-Mile Creek. The challenge is expected to cost the Town up to $13.2 million -- a por tion of which was included in this year's budget passed Monday. The price tag is to come from taxes starting in 2007 and spanning a decade. Council allocated $6.6 million from the 2005 budget and set aside another $6.6 million from the 2006 budget. The cash is to come from reserves until it can be added to the tax bill in 2007 -- when it's hoped some of the growth north of Oakville can contribute through those proper ty taxes. During Monday's budget debate there were questions and challenges that the legal costs should be borne by development charges. While the'T ow n had previously committed to see if the costs could be borne by development charges, or come from somewhere else, Town Treasurer Patti Elliott-Spencer said the Town's legal advice to date indi cates OMB legal costs are not eligible to be covered by development charges. In the wake of numerous pre-hear ings, the date was set by the OMB as lawyers for all parties work on carving out an issues list for the hearing. At the crux of the challenge is dis agreement between NOMI and the Town over what development in north Oakville, east of Sixteen-Mile Creek, will look like. This appeal follows a settlement of an OMB appeal of Official Plan Amendment (OPA) 198 -- the Town's rezoning of north Oakville from agri cultural to urban uses to conform to regional and provincial requirements. The Town is working on ifTNorth Oakville Secondary Plan (NOSP) while NOMI has its own secondary, plan. NOMI has charged the Town is tak ing too long and has appealed to the OMB to allow the developers' plan to be used in northeast Oakville. Developers are also now filing sub division plans, which would follow the secondary plan. In 1978, the Town refused growth north of the QEW and communities like Glen Abbey and River Oaks were designed according to plans appealed to the OMB by developers instead of Town plans. Both Town and developer plans call for north Oakville to be higher density and transit-friend ly compared to the rest of the town -- a plan ning style dubbed New Urbanism. At the heart of the dispute is the amount and location of green space. The Town envisions a Natural Heritage System while developers favour less green space that would allow less dense residential develop ment. The Town has committed to see if some of the estimated price tag can come from develop ment charges -- or the Province of Ontario since Oakville will lead the charge in defending new provincial planning rules that emphasize greenspace and natural heritage linkages. The Town's plans for a natural heritage sys tem fall in with new provincial rules however NOMI contends its application should be judged according to the old provincial rules -- in place at the time NOMI filed its application. A flurry of development applications was filed with the Town the day before new provincial rules came into effect. 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