By Staff
July 4th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
The full decision was not on line when this report was published. The city however did get its side of the story out just after 10:30 this morning when they announced that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled in favour of the City of Burlington’s application to compel Burlington Airpark Inc. to submit an application for a site alteration permit to comply with site alteration bylaw.
Vince Rossi, president of Burlington Executive Airpark Inc., at a meeting with members of the Rural Burlington Greenbelt Coalition that took place in a barn a couple of hundred yards from the end of his largest runway.
Thousands of tonnes of landfill were dumped on the air park property without a site plan approved by the city.
With the court ruling, Burlington Airpark Inc is now required to file an application for a site alteration permit for the fill deposited between 2008-2013.
“The City of Burlington is delighted in the decision of the court,” said Nancy Shea-Nicol, the city’s director of legal services and city solicitor. “Staff will be meeting with Council to provide them the next steps going forward to address the site alteration issues. The decision gives the Air Park until August. 31, 2016 to file its application with the city for site alteration permit.
The Court has also ordered the Airpark to pay the city’s court costs.”
On Nov. 10, 2015, the City of Burlington’s application regarding Burlington Airpark Inc. was heard by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Milton. The application asked the court to compel Burlington Airpark Inc. to remove all fill deposited at Burlington Executive Airpark between Jan. 1, 2008 and Aug. 2, 2013, not including existing runways and hangars, in contravention of the city’s site alteration bylaw, or submit an application for a site alteration permit to comply with site alteration bylaw.
Airpark dumped more than 30 feet of landfill without a Site Plan. Owner of the adjacent property stands on her property line and wonders why anyone can build a “small mountain” next to her property without getting approval. She is also prettified about what the hill is doing to the value of her property and what the leaching out of the landfill is going to do to her well water.
The Gazette will report on the decision when the complete document is available.
The Air Park does have the right to appeal the decision which they have done in the past. They have been as successful with their appeals as they have been with their court cases.
An application for a site alteration permit at this stage seems like asking him to close the barn door after the horses have escaped. Nevertheless, I, like most Burlingtonians hope this actually means the City gets to decide 1) whether to even consider the application, and if accepted, then 2) what to do with all that questionable earth dumped on the site without a permit.
Alway a terrific day when the citizens are heard. Thank you for all the hard work and dedication of all involved.