 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. July 23, 2013. So – they’re going to court. That’s a place where the wheels turn slowly and evidence gets dragged out of people one sentence at a time.
The city of Burlington and the Air Park have each sued one another and now begin the process of pulling together all the papers that will get put forward as evidence. Each side will prepare their witnesses and the lawyers will prepare their questions.
Somewhere along the way everyone might decide to play nice, nice and each party will back off a little and decide to settle this disagreement out of court.
Burlington and the Region have said they just didn’t know what was going on up at the Air Park. That would be nice if it were true but they did know. They were told in April of 2009 when the Air Park held a neighbourhood meeting. According to the Newsletter the Air Park put out the city’s planner was there, although they don’t name the person.
 Ward 6 Council member Blair Lancaster held some of her community meetings at the air park which was certainly a nice setting. Lancaster maintains that she had not hard from any of her constituents before March 15th of this year. The evidence suggests otherwise. The claim Oakville’s city planner was there as well and that the then council member for Ward 6 was also at the meeting. They misspell her name (Carol D’Emelio) but claim she was there along with 60 “neighbours”.
In its April 2009 Newsletter the Air Park reported as follows:
 The Air Park publishes a Newsletter for its clients. “As you might imagine, the neighbours of the airport have an interest in what happens next
door, or here at the airport. Recently we have been doing some preparatory work on the
west side of the airport including creating a road that will eventually access Appleby Line
and be the main road into the airport and to the proposed terminal building near the infield
of the airport.
“The neighbours rightfully were asking questions of ZBA actions and we were dealing with many rumours and untruths, so Feb 17th at Spectrum’s classroom we held a neighbours information session and presented the future plans of the airport.
Over 60 neighbours were in attendance, as well as Councillor Carol D’Emelio from Burlington City Council, City Planners from Burlington and Managers from Halton Region.
 Vince Rossi, owner of the Burlington Air Park has always played the politicians as hard as he could. At one point he had Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion sending fax messages for the Airpark from her office the Minister of Finance. In this picture, undated, he has Halton MP Lisa Raitt attending an event, believed to be a Christmas party before she became a Minister. Only time will tell if the influence is going to work for Rossi. Raitt is now the federal Minister of Transportation which is responsible for the oversight of Canadian air parks. “We addressed untrue rumours such as our intention to build a “Fuel Depot”, or a “Hotel Complex” on the field. We also addressed the untrue rumour that we are expanding th Length of the runway (while this would be nice, operationally there would be little advantage).
“Some things that were discussed, and that we all have a responsibility to abide by are operational issues and noise management. The Neighbours routinely observe, as do we, aircraft flying too low on final, or not obeying the 5 degree turn departing Rwy 14.
“We’d like to remind you that your considerate operation helps the airport live in harmony with those closest to us: Our neighbours!”
Was this just good corporate PR or did the airpark really reach out to the community? Has there been any undue political influence in the past? did the city know what was happening around their airport? Should they have known?
Are there any limits to what an air park owner can do on an operation that is federally regulated? And just how environmentally damaged is the land fill that has been dumped on the site for the past five years?
And what is the Region doing to test the water that the environmental report from Burlington’s experts has said could be tainted?
The Regional medical Officer of Health has a responsibility to ensure that the health of the community is secure. There is ample evidence to suggest bore holes should be drilled to test the makeup of that landfill.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. July 22, 2013. It is getting nasty out there. And it is getting expensive but the city has taken the position that the dumping of landfill at the Air Park site south of Derry Road between Bell School Line and Appleby Line has to be stopped.
 Were you to drive by this site today the elevation would be considerably higher. The owners of the air park have been dumping fill on their property for more than five years without obtaining a permit which the city believes they must do. Last week the Air Park served documents on the city setting out an application they are making to Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice to have their rights, as they see them, clarified and enforced. In a delegation to city council late in June, lawyer Glenn Grenier, representing the Burlington Executive Air Park, tried to tell Councillors that they had no rights as far as what is done at an Air Park.
 City manager Jeff Fielding, on the left, making his views known to Air Park lawyer Glenn Grenier after a council meeting. City lawyers stand to the right. City manager Jeff Fielding was closed to incensed at the comments and on three occasions that evening advised the Mayor to send the delegation packing. After the council meeting Fielding had some choice words for Mr. Grenier.
Some saw that as a stall on the part of the Air Park. The city would very much like to see the rights the Air Park claims it has judicially confirmed. BUT – in the meantime – stop dumping landfill on the site and to make that point the city sued the Air Park seeking a permanent injunction.
Interestingly, the city filed its claim in the Ontario Superior Court in Toronto while the notice the Air Park served was filed at the Superior Court in Milton.
Can the two proceed at the same time in two different courts? The lawyers will work that one out. What is evident in all this is that the city is not stepping aside. Nor is it waiting for anyone to do something for them.
 Based on a voluntary decision not to haul landfill to the Air Park site you won’t see any King Paving trucks working this location. A bit of positive news is the decision on the part of King Paving to voluntarily stop hauling fill to the site. Kudos to them for taking that position. City Manager Jeff Fielding publicly thanked King Paving for “doing the responsible thing at this time.” This decision on the part of King Paving will certainly fracture their relationship with the Air Park. There was a point at which the Gazette could not get a comment from King Paving without their clearing it with Vince Rossi, owner of the Air Park.
Based on the opinions of a respected environmental testing firm the city now knows there are excessive levels of substances such as petroleum hydrocarbons, lead and zinc in some of the fill. Based on that evidence the city wants:
A permanent injunction restraining the Airpark or anyone acting on their behalf from placing or dumping fill, removing topsoil or otherwise altering the grade or any other form of site alteration at the airpark;
An interim injunction, along the same lines as above;
An order requiring the airport to remove all fill deposited on the airpark lands that does not meet the Table 1 of Ontario Regulation 153/04 standards; and
Recovery of costs.
The city has also asked the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) to review the findings and take the appropriate action on behalf of Burlington residents and enforce any applicable ministry regulations against the airpark owner.
The city commissioned a review of the available environmental testing reports of the fill received at the airport amid growing concerns from residents and City Council.
 The culvert shown here is reported to run the full width of the Air Park property with thousands of tons of landfill for which there are not adequate testing data draining to the culvert and into land on the Cousins Appleby Line farm and into the area water table. According to the city’s Statement of Claim approximately 59% of the landfill dumped since 2011 is contaminated. In a report from Terrapex environmental, the company that did the review of the documents that set out what is in the landfill, there are not nearly enough documents (reports on where the fill came from and what is in it) to be able to give an opinion on just what is in the landfill dumped before 2011.
The only way to find out what is in the fill is to drill a series of “bore holes” throughout the site and analyze the results. The city feels it is up to the Air Park to do this testing at their expense and to make the results available to everyone.
The Air Park uses the fact that air parks are federally regulated – and on that point they are right; they also take the position that “everything” they do on their property also comes under federal regulation and this is where the city, the Region, the MOE and the federal department of transport bureaucrats have parted ways in terms of their thinking.
The Air Park has twenty days to prepare a statement of defense (they can ask for an additional ten days) and then the judicial process begins. If the city can come up with evidence that the contaminants in that fill are of significant and truly endangers public health this whole business can be expedited and a hearing held that could result in an interim injunction until more facts are gathered.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. July 18, 2019. Are we seeing a whole new level of transparency on the part of the city? Are we also seeing a significantly and very welcome difference in the way city hall responds to problems its citizens run into?
The city posted a copy of the Writ served on them by the lawyers for the Air Park; not the kind of thing they have done in the past – they certainly didn’t handle the pier problems this way.
 When the ship is about to sink you throw everything overboard. Air Park owner Vince Rossi puts all its chips on the table and waits to see how the dice play out. With city hall now on a summer schedule and more people away than those at their desks it is difficult for those putting in the hours to stay on top of everything.
The city was preparing for a meeting with the lawyers representing the Air Park people while the Air Park legal team was focused on the wording of a Writ they served on the city earlier today.
The Air Park is seeking a number of court orders including:
A declaration of its rights under the Constitution Act, 1867 and the federal Aeronautics Act;
This is what the fight is really all about; does the Aeronautics Act trump a local bylaw?
A declaration that the City of Burlington’s Top Soil Preservation and Site Alteration By-law does not apply to the airport’s operations and construction of aerodrome facilities at the location;
For the sake of all of us – that had better turn out to be the case or municipalities across the country have real problems to deal with.
A declaration that the city’s order to comply is null and void and of no legal effect;
They wish is the only comment one can make on that one
An injunction to prevent the city from interfering with its operations and the construction of aerodrome facilities at the site; and
The city isn’t interfering; it is doing what is it required to do. The only fault on the part of the city and the Region is that they didn’t tackle this one years ago.
Costs against the city, including HST.
The upside of this one is that the city doesn’t pay the same level of HST as the rest of the world.
 The one consistent thing about the Air Park’s behaviour throughout this real mess is their tendency to bully and intimidate. The piece of equipment was parked overnight less than 50 yards from the home of an Appleby Line resident. It sat on top of a 35 foot + pole of landfill that should have never been put on the land in the first place. That is a very ‘ballsy’ move on the part of the Air Park. With the Environment Ministry buzzing around and the federal ministry of transport suggesting that the airport people do have a responsibility to adhere to some of the city’s rules and regulations and the Region in a position to have their Medical Officer ask some embarrassing questions and demand that the property owners do what has to be done to protect public health – the smartest move for the Air Park was to get out-of-town and into a court room where they can ask for delay upon delay.
The injunction they have asked for could backfire – the city might well ask for an injunction and should that request prevail the Air Park would find themselves under an injunction and involved in a court case that will last years – if it gets to the point where there is actually a trial date. If there is a trial there is going to be some very impressive legal counsel arguing before a judge in a Court room in Milton..
While all this happens the people in north Burlington, especially those whose property has been directly impacted, and wondering if they are going to get sucked into this legal black hole. And what if papers are served on them? They don’t have the deep pockets the city has to fight this fight.
For a city that started out the week with what they felt was a strong consultants reports to find themselves with a Writ in their hands and a date with a judge – it can’t be looked upon as a win.
However, it is far from a loss. Desperate people do desperate things
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. July 18, 2013. The city’s team managing the problems with the Burlington Executive Air Park were to meet today with the lawyers retained by the Air Park. That meeting was cancelled by the Air Park.
Not the best of news for the city but understandable given that the city does not have the Ministry of Environment as on side as they had hoped.
 What was once a small local airport with a grss runway is now in the process of becoming something close to a Regional airport with plans for a helicopter operatation as well as hanger space for very large aircraft that can’t find or afford space at Pearson in Toronto. The development of this much larger operation sort of crept up on everyone – this is what happens when the bureaucrats take their eye off the ball and then the ward co7uncillor is aligned with the air park operator instead of the resident. The city wrote the MOE last week saying:
The Airpark is not in compliance with the regulations made pursuant to the Environmental Protection Act, specifically O.Reg. 153/04 and O.Reg. 347. I have attached the report for your immediate review. From the information we have, you will note they are not in compliance with your regulations. We insist that you take immediate steps to order them into compliance including issuing an immediate ‘stop work order’ on existing filling activities. Further, out of an abundance of caution, for the protection of the health of the residents, we would expect the MOE to exercise its authority to order testing on the groundwater and wells in the vicinity of the park, and any other testing you deem appropriate to provide answers to other potential off-site impacts.
Can you confirm if you have a record of ‘Site Conditions’ in your registry for this location?
We will be presenting the results to our Council Monday evening here at City Hall at 6:30pm. Can I ask that your staff be in attendance to answer questions on your actions as this will also help with the communications to the residents who will want to hear how you intend to force the owner into compliance and manage the potential safety issues arising from what amounts to operating an unlicensed landfill site.
The MOE people were not able to attend the city council meeting; they had had less than a full working day to review the documents and get themselves up to speed.
 The Ministry of environment has to decide if this kind of landfill dumping is permitted under the provinces rules. They also have to decide if the consultants the city hired to advise on what was done by the Air Park have got the story right. The Air Park, understandably, does not agree with the city’s consultant. The MOE decided they would talk to the Air Park people before taking a position. See that as bureaucratic butt covering; what will matter is the position the MOE takes after meeting with the Air Park people.
The MOE has advised the city that they will meet with Burlington General Manager Scott Stewart and brief him on their conclusions sometime next week.
The decision to cancel the meeting is a bit of a bump for the city and a major concern for the residents of north Burlington. Should everyone be alarmed? Not alarmed but concerned.
The Air Park has a lot riding on the outcome of this matter; if they lose, they lose everything, so expect them to use every legal tool available to them. They have advised the city that they intend to take legal action of their own. See that as legal posturing.
What has to be kept in mind is that the problems with these small airport operations are not limited to Burlington – these situations exist across the country which means every municipality with a small airport wants to be at the table. Mayor Goldring is working closely with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities who do the lobbying with the federal government. Burlington’s outside legal counsel has a very strong understanding and a firm grip on how things work at the federal level.
 Newly minted federal Minister of Transportation Lisa Raitt, who is the MP for north Burlington thinks the air park is “not a bad piece of infrastructure” but she wants it to operate within a “social license”. The real concern is a comment made by Halton’s MP, Lisa Raitt, bow the Minister of Transportation who is reported to have said that she realizes small air parks are an issue across the country and that there is some confusion over the rules that apply. Of concern is the comment that the airpark is “not a bad piece of infrastructure but it has to be operated within a social license.”
Is the Minster’s view of a social license similar to that of the residents in north Burlington?
Raitt plans to open lines of communication with the residents, the city and the Air Park people. “it is important” said the Minister “to bring everyone together and to work with each other.”
It is going to be a long hot summer. The city is on top of what is turning out to be a horse that is bucking like crazy. Vince Rossi will not be taken out easily.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. July 15, 2013. The report that tells city hall just how bad the fill that has been dumped on Air Park lands has been leaked. It is not a pretty picture. Representatives from the Rural Burlington Green Coalition are both sick to their stomachs and dancing for joy because now there is, they believe, more than enough evid ence to shut the site down and begin the process of removing the landfill.
The Terrapex Environmental was hired by the city to provide an opinion of fill quality within the framework of applicable federal and provincial regulations. Approximately 500,000 cubic meters of fill has come to the Airport between 2008 and present.
Terrapex has taken the position that because the federal Aeronautics Act “is silent on matters of fill placement at airport sites” and further that if a site is “not owned by the federal government, regulatory evaluations automatically default to the applicable provincial regulations, and in some cases to applicable municipal regulations.”
Up until now Burlington Executive Air Park has taken the position that their project comes under federal regulation and they don’t have to comply with municipal, Regional or provincial regulations.
Terrapex says that Ontario Regulations made under the Ontario Environmental Protection Act (EPA), as well as regulations governing waste management, both apply. These regulations govern movement of waste from shipping sites and transportation of waste on Ontario roadways . Contaminated soil is considered a solid non-hazardous waste.
Should this prove to be the case both the Air Park organization and King Paving become liable under the regulations.
 Terrapex analyzed 56 documents (shipping sites) covering 323 samples (2 indicated material that was rejected; 2 provided no chemical data) thus 52 reports had data to be reviewed; the majority from 2010 and 2011. The Terrapex report suggests “either much of the fill was not tested or all of the data was not available or provided.”
The provincial regulations require that chemical analysis of soils to be received is one sample per 160 cubic metres for first 5000 cubic meters and one sample per 300 thereafter. To comply with these regulations 1700 samples would have been needed for the Airport. The sum of samples was 52 reports covering 323 samples. Thus, Terrapex concluded “the sampling frequency was inadequate.”
Only one of the 52 reports provided any rationale for expected contaminants of concerns at the shipping site, therefore Terrapex cannot conclude that appropriate analyses were completed at the remaining 51 shipping sites. Thus the adequacy of the sampling programs to determine potential contamination “cannot be assured.”
The report differentiates between Table 1 data and Table 2 data. The difference is: Table 1: Full Depth Background Site Condition Standards. (Everything about the site)
Table 2: Full Depth Generic Site Condition Standards in a Potable Ground Water Condition.
Terrapex explains that only materials meeting Table 1 Site Condition Standards are appropriate for the use of fill at the site. Only 134 samples (41%) from 13 of 52 sites met the Table 1 Site Condition Standards (thus, by projection, at best 200,000 or 500,000 cubic meters meets the standard). 17 of the 39 sites yielded failing samples, and “indicated exceedences of Table 1 standards for parameters such as petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and/or metals such as cadmium, lead, antimony and zinc.”
The report has the Air Park owner screening results to ensure fill met Table 2 standards. Only 244 of 323 samples met Table 2. Halton Region has said Table 2 standards “are not appropriate for the site due to the presence of environmentally sensitive sites proximate to the Airport lands.” 
What does all this technical language mean? If the report is valid, and there is no reason to believe it is anything but valid, then the Air Park has been dumping what is classified as waste.
The deposit of waste at the Airport site has essentially resulted in the establishment of an unlicensed waste disposal site, which may have ramifications for not only the receiver but the various shippers and haulers of the waste.”
 John Hutter in the foreground along with Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster, Carey Clarke from the city’s Engineering department and property owner Carl Cousins inspect the landfill at the edge of the Cousin’s farm property and the flooding of the farmland. The city now knows that much of the landfill is really waste. It gets worse. Over the weekend Halton Liberal candidate Indira Naidoo-Harris toured the Cousins property on Appleby Line and observed the dumping of what everyone watching said looked like sludge. Was this material from the flooding in Toronto and does anyone know what was in those trucks?
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. Jul5 5th, 2013. We know about the damage the land fill being piled up on the site of the Burlington Executive Air Park has done.
What is it all in aid of? Are they really building a bigger airport out there? And if there is going to be a bigger airport does the wider community not have some say in what takes place?
Yes, airports are regulated by the federal government – there are very good reasons for that. But methinks the Air Park people have really bent those rules and using them as skirts to hind behind.
The Air Park has never really had a business plan or at least not the kind of business plan that would keep city officials happy. There had to be some kind of a plan to keep their bankers satisfied when they got a $4.5 million mortgage but other than knowing there is a mortgage on the property not much more is known.
 This was the market Vince Rossi wanted to attract to his airport. As what has now become a city problem works its way through the various departments at city hall it is becoming clear that Rossi and whoever is advising him never did know how to approach city hall and talk up their project.
 The more of these, the better was the mission – the idea had merit but the team assembled didn’t have the smarts to pull it off – then the city found out and that may have been the begining of the end to the dream. Rossi did have one meeting with Mayor Goldring. He was intrigued but told Rossi at the time to come back with a much more detailed plan. He never came back. At the time Goldring wasn’t sure if Rossi was looking for financial support or if we he was just getting a briefing.
At the time, Goldring was still quite new to his job and may have failed in not red flagging the project and keeping a watch on it. He didn’t. His former chief of staff Frank McKeown would have had some very clear thoughts on the project assuming he sat in on the discussion the Mayor had but McKeown is no longer on staff.
Rossi was dumping landfill at that time and he just continued doing just that. And for the past number of years, since 2008 at least, Vince Rossi has been getting away with it – and it is going to take some effort to bring a halt to what he is doing and then to clean up the damage.
The “airport crowd” those people who rent hangers, own light aircraft, like to fly and follow the rules appear to be a very decent bunch of people. They are being tarred with the brush that many want to use on Mr. Rossi.
When Glenn Grenier, legal counsel for the Burlington Executive Air Park, appeared before council to state his client’s case, his objective seemed to be to scare the city by telling them what they were up against and he couldn’t seem to understand why the city didn’t read his 10 page plus letter and then just fold.
The city manager, on three different occasions, advised the Mayor to move on with the meeting and dismiss the lawyer. He has nothing for us stated Jeff Fielding – he represents the interests of his client.
When advised that he had just five minutes to delegate he told council that he would need more than five minutes – he didn’t get it.
The city knew next to nothing about what is going on out on the air field. The only source of information was what the locals can pass along and according to Blair Lancaster, ward Councillor for the north Burlington community, they weren’t telling her anything. Lancaster says she didn’t hear anything from the local people until March 5th of this year.
During the Q&A portion of the council meeting Grenier did say that the Air Park’s plans were on their web site. Councillor Lancaster commented that what she saw on the web site were not plans – “not much more than a wish list” from her point of view. Meed Ward, ever the techie. added that the web site was no longer on-line. Grenier said there were technical difficulties. He could also have said they were experiencing some air turbulence.
At the end of the council meeting the Mayor said this was serious stuff and the city would be moving quickly to get something done – even though at the time they really didn’t know what they could do.
 Both the Region and Conservation Halton bought the argument that they had no jurisdiction but Rossi appears to have kept them informed. It wasn’t until Vanessa Warren went public with a delegation to Burlington that the fat was in the fire. Above is one of the early site plans he submitted The issue would get taken up at the Regional level while the city scurried about to meet with the residents and hopefully get Vince Rossi into the room as well.
Vanessa Warren spoke to a Regional government committee and heard nice words and real, genuine concern from members of that Council.
Burlington took three weeks to determine what its strategy should be. They are in a very tricky situation and have to deal with someone who cares not a whit about the community he does business in.
In the middle of all this Rossi announces that the company doing the landfill work has a contract to dump asphalt stripped from the 407 and will be doing so all night long as well. Everyone was astounded at the news. That contract appears to have gone somewhere else.
Tim Crawford appeared before Regional Council to delegate against the decision to have the southern gate to the project closed and was mauled by a number of Regional Council members. (Every member of the Burlington city council is also a member of the Regional Council.)
Oakville Mayor Rob Burton explained to Crawford that the one thing Halton had going for it was its “livability” and they weren’t about to see that lost.
In an interview after his Regional delegation he talked about how he got involved in the air park development. He, like just about everyone involved in this project, is a pilot. He saw great potential for the air park and knew that the Kovachick family wanted to sell the property when Vic Kovachik died.
 Rossi has always had a big picture and as his plans matured he bought up the pieces of land he needed. There was always a plan – what was missing was the capacity to execute on the plan. Crawford had an idea and pulled together a meeting of some 60 pilots and pitched them on the idea of forming a group that would buy the property. Of the 60 people it turned out less than ten were prepared to write a cheque. One of the ten was Vince Rossi who at the time was just another pilot with hanger space.
He seemed to be able to raise the funds and eventually bought the property from the Kovachik family – then quickly learned that the operation was a money loser. Rossi, scrambling to find something, anything that would produce revenue, looked into storing thousands of cars on the site as part of a used car auction operation.
That deal didn’t work out.
 The helicopter training operation was going to go in the location in the lower left corner of this drawing. It would have been 75 yards from Barbara Sheldon’s front door. Given the air port is a federally regulated operation – the city’s bylaws had no impact. Then there was a potential contract to train hundreds of Chinese pilots how to fly helicopters. That contract never got signed.
Then there was going to be a cell phone tower that Rogers wanted to put up; that opportunity created huge resistance in the community and after considerable public resistance and a noisy public meeting at city hall in January of 2009 the proposal to build a 65 metre (213-foot) cell tower on a piece of the Burlington Airpark in the north end of the city was withdrawn” and the company looked for and found a different location.
Crawford talked of his meetings with the Burlington Economic Development Corporation which didn’t go very far. “We met with them but all they seemed to want to do was sell us a page of advertising in a publication they were involved in”. Crawford went on to say that he and Rossi couldn’t get any traction with the economic developers but added that they did buy a page of advertising.
Vince Rossi was able to catch the ear of Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion. News that the Buttonville airport was going to close was known by everyone and, as Crawford explains it, “the distance between Burlington and Toronto is basically the same as the distance between Buttonville and Toronto – that made a Burlington operation a natural business opportunity. And an airport in Burlington would be seen as a plus for Mississauga.
Problem with all this thinking, according to Monte Dennis, one of the original participants in the POP (People or Planes) fight that stopped the Pickering airport plans back in 1972, is that “small airports don’t make any money”; something Vince Rossi is learning. So far he has financed his operation by being paid to have landfill dumped on the site. Many think that the game is really to make money from landfill and when that comes to an end to walk away from the project. Those who know Vince Rossi will tell you that he is passionate about this project and does want to see a bigger airport built.
In a presentation document used by Burlington Executive Air Park the following information is set out:
An estimated $30 Million funding project will provide the airport with, but not limited to the below enhancements that will emphasize the importance of the airport to not only the community, but to all of the GTA.
Further land acquisition to enhance the main runway
Construct a new terminal building and associated aircraft movement area
Complete construction of a new West side taxiway servicing the main runway
Service and construct the west side infrastructure
Enhance safety and protect airspace surrounding the airport
Provide services for Transient aircraft
Construct hangars and office space for GTAA Small and medium business’s
Also in the same presentation document:
 It was a great idea that is about to become mired in an expensive court case. It didn’t have to be this way. Burlington Airport is in transition in an effort to provide the current vital transportation and social services we currently offer, as well as move the airport to the next necessary level to meet the growing demand. As a privately owned business, the financial assistance provided for infrastructure to the municipal owned airports is unavailable, yet we serve the community in the very same manner. Of course, positioning the airport for the future requires focus, precise planning and funding. To date all the funding has come from the Airport Owner, Mr. Rossi, but the ability to meet the future service demand will need other sources of infrastructure funding. Mr. Rossi has invested near 4 Million dollars into infrastructure listed below to enhance the facility.
Rossi has been consistent since the year he bought the airport – his operation is federally regulated and he does not have to comply with provincial, regional or municipal rules or regulations.
The Region and the Conservation Authority appear to have bought into that line of thinking and they have done next to nothing, until Vanessa Warren delegated to Burlington’s city council June 10th. Rossi has run up against a city administration that is determined to be both informed and involved.
The determination of this difference of opinion could we decide what happens to northern Burlington – it will also determine what Vanessa Warren and her husband are able to do with the equestrian school they want to develop – the planned runway extension will be yards from the riding ring they are currently building.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. July 4, 2013— For a document that was to have been available the day after city Council met on Tuesday but didn’t see the light of day until late Thursday afternoon – the statement put out really don’t reveal much.
All we know is that the three lawyers met and agreed to disagree. What took place was that three legal warriors got a chance to look each other over and get a sense as to where each was coming from and then return to their offices to figure out what to do next.
In an agreed upon statement – here is what we have been told:
“Mr. Blue and Mr. Grenier clearly stated their respective legal positions on the applicability of the city’s site alteration bylaw to the airport but agreed to reserve that legal issue until they and representatives of the city and the airport can meet to discuss a possible agreement to address the concerns raised by the city about best management practices for fill at the airport. If an agreement cannot be reached within a reasonable time, the legal issue will be revisited.”
Air Park owner Vince Rossi released a document at the Tuesday city council meeting in which he set out what he was prepared to do and what he needed in return. Basically he said I will do some things you want me to do but you have to agree not to sue me.
What is troubling about the Rossi memorandum is that it came out of a meeting between Rossi, and his associate Tim Crawford and Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster.
Why is Lancaster hammering out an agreement with a business person the city is having serious problems with? Lancaster is seen by many in north Burlington as already seriously compromised. They see their ward council member as being in the pocket of the owner of the Air Park.
 Vince Rossi and Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster sit beside each other at community meeting which many found offensive given that Rossi is the person damaging local property. Lancaster explained later that she needed to sit in a chair with a good back because she had been in a very minor auto collision and that Mr. Rossi chose to sit beside her once she was seated. The view through the large barn doors is to the property onto which Rossi wants to extend his airport runway. Lancaster clearly has a close relationship with Vince Rossi and both meets and speaks with him far more often that she speaks with the north Burlington residents. She did tour three properties on Tuesday and then sat through a CLOSED session of Council at which lawyer Ian Blue set out what the issues were as he saw them. Given the nature of the relationship with Rossi, should Lancaster have taken part in a closed session where strategy is being determined?
In the past Lancaster has stepped away from the Council table when issues related to the downtown core were being discussed; she is the owner of a business in the downtown core.
 Former Beauty Queen still knows how to pose for the camera. Ward 6 Councillor at an Air Park picnic last summer which she turned into a constituency meeting. Lancaster has held community events at the Air Park which we have attended. We were of the impression that Lancaster was holding her constituency event at the Air Park, which we thought was a neat idea – great place for a photo –op and we took a number of pictures. The fact was Lancaster was tagging along at an annual open house the Air Park holds each year. That was never made clear to media people.
 King Paving’s John Hutter in the foreground along with Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster and two city hall staff look at the landfill next to the fence line on the Cousin’s farm property. Hutter said that the drainage culvert that dumps onto the Cousin’s property runs across the full width of the airline property at this point. Had the city had site plan approval this would never have been permitted – and where a drainage culvert runs has nothing to do with the operate of an airport. The culvert is 20 feet + beneath the surface. Do we have a situation where Lancaster is closer to the person the city is close to taking legal action against than she is to the residents she was elected to represent?
Lancaster pointed out in an interview that she got less than 100 votes from north Burlington in the 2010 election. She will be lucky to get one vote from that community next time out.
 Ward 6 Councillor Blair Lancaster trudging through tall grass on the way to look at the landfill dumped on the Cousins Appleby Line far, Many thought Lancaster should have made the trip months ago to see the damage done. Lancaster did not visit the properties that have sustained the damage until July 2nd and maintains that she did not hear a word from any resident until March 5th of this year. Several residents were aghast when they heard this and are in the process of scowering their records to put forward evidence that refutes the statement made.
Barbara Sheldon didn’t think the statement the city put out was “as strong and aggressive an approach as I had hoped it would be.” “Every day” she added Rossi continues to bring in truckload after truckload – today there had to be a couple of hundred trucks. Now he’s got carte blanche for at least another two weeks. Sheldon believes the meeting on July 17 or 18th “will be stalled by Rossi’s people until early August, if not later.”
Burlington city hall tends to shut down for much of August.
The city has hired Toronto lawyer Ian Blue to work with the city’s legal team. Blue met July 3 with Glenn Grenier and Brent McPherson, the lawyers representing the airport, and will meet again with airport representatives on July 17 or 18.
Blue is Ian Blue, the lawyer Burlington has hired and Grenier, is Glenn Grenier, a Burlington resident and a pilot and the lawyer the Air Park has hired. Vince Rossi has beefed up his legal team with an additional lawyer from the same firm: Macmillan. It will take two lawyers to one-up Ian Blue.
City council has seen Grenier before when he over-reached to impress Council with all he knew about things aeronautic and basically saying the city didn’t have a hope in hades of winning so give up now.
City manager Jeff Fielding wasn’t buying that and on three separate occasions during the Council meeting advised the Mayor to dismiss Grenier and send him on his way.
What has Burlington totally ticked is the way the Air Park people have handed the situation. At that meeting Councillor Craven asked Grenier: “Why is your client such a lousy neighbour”.
The city’s legal strategy will have been determined – we will see very little of that strategy – these guys are great poker players. “Burlington” said the city media release ” is moving forward with a legal strategy to address concerns regarding noise and fill activities related to construction at the Burlington Executive Airport on Bell School Line.”
Blue will look for ways to chip away at the “federal jurisdiction” the Air Park has been relying upon the thumb their noses at the city, and make no mistake about this, the very senior level of city hall is furious with the way they are being treated.
 To see a piece of construction equipment this close to your kitchen window was seen as a deliberate and provocative attempt to intimidate property owner Barbara Sheldon. The Mayor is taking a softer political line with statements suggesting that can all be worked out through dialogue and compromise but people like Barbra Sheldon don’t see much compromise when there is a massive piece of machinery parked less than 50 yards from her kitchen window on a hill of landfill that she doesn’t think should be there in the first place.
Most in the community see the parking of that equipment as a deliberate and provocative intimidating act on the part of Vince Rossi.
Mayor Goldring called the damage done appalling when he first saw it.
The city arranged for a meeting of the Rural Burlington Green Coalition as a first step – which may be the only step between the community and the air park owner. Vanessa Warren believes a community wide meeting needs to take place to explain to a wider public the seriousness of this problem. Should there even be an airport in north Burlington and if the answer is yes – then how big should that airport be?
Many believe this is a decision the city and Region should be making and not an individual entrepreneur who has found a loophole in the law that allows him to bypass any city involvement.
The city has hired Toronto lawyer Ian Blue to work with the city’s legal team. Blue met July 3 with Glenn Grenier and Brent McPherson, the lawyers representing the airport, and will meet again with airport representatives on July 17 or 18.
The work being done now came out of a direction from city council June 10th, to develop a legal strategy. It was among the seven recommendations approved by City Council, which include:
The city’s legal staff will develop a legal strategy to address the concerns expressed by City Council and citizens regarding issues with the Burlington Executive Airport and report back to City Council on July 2, 2013
The city’s director of engineering will, by September, review and update the city’s site alteration bylaw 6-2003 to reflect best practices
Mayor Rick Goldring and City Manager Jeff Fielding will jointly contact the federal Minister of the Environment to request soil testing of the Burlington Executive Airport property
Mayor Goldring will work with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to lobby the federal Minister of Transportation and other relevant ministries to develop a process to allow municipalities to have input on airpark land filling operations and expansion plans
The city’s director of finance will arrange a meeting with MPAC representatives and the affected property owners beside the airport property regarding current property value assessment
The general manager of development and infrastructure will request the owner of the Burlington Executive Airport to provide the city with a complete site and grading plan that minimizes impacts on neighbouring properties and will request that the owner modify existing grades to minimize impact on neighbouring properties
The director of planning and building will have staff enforce the city’s dust suppression bylaw 50-2008 that requires consideration be given to neighbouring properties when construction processes generate dust. Staff will also enforce the provisions of the nuisance and noise control bylaw including after-hours enforcement and issuing offence notices as necessary.
The city is grinding away with the limited regulatory tools it has while legal counsel looks for chinks in the Air Park armour.
The Air Park continues to dump landfill on the site.
The residents fume.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. July 3rd, 2013. They went into closed session and stayed there for well over an hour while media cooled their heals in the foyer.
This was the first time city council members got a chance to talk one on one with the legal hired guns the city has hired to steer them through a very sticky set of situations related to the Air Park problem.
 Ian Blue, a lawyer with an expensive pedigree that will serve the city well in a critical fight. Ian Blue of the firm Gardiner Roberts is said to have significant experience in constitutional law matters, including experience in airport fill disputes in Ontario and was involved in the New Tecumseth and Scugog disputes. These two were situations where land fill on airport lands were part of the difference of opinions that brought the lawyers into the room.
Blue is a Queen’s Counsel, an appointment he was given in 1985 when the honorific mattered, and a senior counsel and advisor on complex energy, electricity and environmental law matters that have administrative-law, business-law and constitutional-law issues.
He has acted for both private sector and public sector clients. He has appeared before all levels of courts in Ontario, Alberta, Nova Scotia and the Yukon and before both levels of the Federal Court. He also has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada. In addition, he has appeared before the National Energy Board, the Ontario Energy Board, the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board, before arbitration panels and other regulatory bodies.
Blue has been a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada and as a past Chair of the Administrative Law and Environmental Law Sub-Sections of the Ontario Bar Association. These are significant positions within the legal profession. This lawyer would have run circles around Glenn Grenier, the lawyer Vince Rossi has hired to spin tales of what the city can and cannot do in terms of regulating what happens to land in the Escarpment.
Blue is also a prolific legal writer and speaker on practice and legal topics and is a contributor to various lawyers’ publications. He has also assisted in drafting federal legislation and Ontario legislation and was the draftsman of the Gas Distribution Act, 1999, as well as regulations made under that act, for the Province of New Brunswick.
 Ian Blue studied at Dalhousie University – one of the very best law schools in the country. This guy writes the law that the rest of us have to follow.
He is costing the city a very pretty penny but they would appear to have gotten the right guy to steer council through very complex matters.
Now – why does all this matter? After all – there are really not that many people impacted by what Vince Rossi is doing with his Air Park. If that is your thought – re-think.
What Vince Rossi is attempting to do is completely circumvent the city’s authority to determine how the community grows and what kind of community Burlington wants to be.
If there is an Air Park along the lines of what Vince Rossi wants – that decision gets made by the community.
 If Burlington is going to have the kind of air port Vince Rossi wants to develop – Vince Rossi is going to have to do that development in concert with the city and follow the by-laws the city has in place. economic development is a city and Regional domain – not that of an individual entrepreneur. Mr Rossi has some expensive lessons to learn. This city did not want a highway rammed through the Escarpment and it fought to ensure the provincial government listened to what we had to say.
Burlington had grown to the point where they no longer wanted to be an extraction site for the aggregate industry and fought to ensure that Nelson Aggregates was not given another permit to pen up a second quarry. That fight cost the city millions but there will not be another quarry.
Now the city has to fight again to prevent an entrepreneur from deciding, by himself, how this city is to develop.
If there is to be an airport of any significant side – that decision will be made by city council and the Regional Council who will inform and educate its citizens will decide what kind of development takes place.
 Vince Rossi, owner of the Burlington Executive Air Park at a meeting with members of the Rural Burlington Green Coalition The public is not yet fully aware of just what the ramifications are should an airport that is anywhere near what Vince Rossi wants to build. Mr. Rossi has to learn that the “community” makes these decisions – not a single entrepreneur who has managed to convince a bank to loan him $4.5 million. The TD Bank, the people who put the $4.5 million mortgage on the property, has some explaining to do and in the fullness of time they will pay a price for their decision.
For the immediate future, the city can take some comfort in know they have someone with the depth and the experience to take on this task. The man is also incredibly well-connected. He served as Legislative Counsel to a former President of the Privy Council, the Honourable Alan J. MacEachen, P.C. who was Government House Leader. THAT is impressive. It would seem evident that Ian Blue sees merit in the battle Burlington has on its hands and has decided to bring his talent to bear on that problem. Lawyers of this calibre get their pick of what they choose to do; that Blue decided to take this one on over many others that would have come his way speaks volumes.
Finally Ian Blue studied at Dalhousie University where Constitutional law is taught better than anywhere else in the country. Blue also served in the Canadian Army. The information in his profile suggests that he is a Maritimer as well – and that never hurts.
 REVISED
By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 26, 2013 The city has done its best in meeting with the residents in north Burlington, both individually and with the coalition that was put together by Vanessa Warren and called the Rural Burlington Greenbelt Coalition (RBGC) that is pulls LARA, PERL, and COPE into one tent. The north Burlington community did the same thing with the Niagara GTA fight – they formed SEHC – Stop Escarpment Highway Coalition that had more than 10,000 people who would sign petitions, take road side signs and write letters.
City Hall for its part is happier working with coalitions – it gives them a pipeline to a large number of people with clearly defined leadership.
The RBGC has worked diligently to press their case against the expansion work being done at the airport at both city and Regional council meetings. Burlington is certainly with its residencts, and the Region, while certainly not fully behind the residents, is not doing anything to get in their way. The Conservation Authority seems to be lost in a fog that it created.
 What makes the Halton Region work is that it is a livable community. You won’t find this kind of a property in many other places in the province that are as close as we are to Toronto. We are going to have to fight to keep it this way. The case for no airport was summed up best at a Regional Council meeting with Oakville Mayor Rob Burton said the thing that makes our part of the world what it is – is that this is a livable place – and with an airport this large – we will no longer be livable.
The Buttonville Airport is due to close – the Air Park people saw an opportunity and rather than work within the system they chose to use the fact that they are indeed federally regulated and played that angle to get them to where they are today. But that gig might be up. The municipalities are up in arms, the Region will go along with them. Is there a provincial point of view? Noted is that there hasn’t been a word from Burlington MPP Jane McKenna – expect her to come out with a “if there are jobs then it is good”.
The residents now know they are going to have to do what north Burlington always has to do – get into the trenches and fight just the way they did with the Niagara GTA highway battle and the fight to prevent the Nelson quarry from getting a permit to open up a second quarry site.
This situation came to the city in a bit of a rush even though the dumping of landfill had been going on since 2008 – the problem d idn’t manage to reach the ears of city council until around March of this year. There are residents who claim they have been writing and making phone calls and getting little in the way of response from Councillor Blair Lancaster in whose ward the development is taking place.
The changes are not easily recognized when you drive along Appleby Line. There are just the two property owners who have been badly hurt by landfill that comes right up against their property lines.
One resident whose property is not currently impacted by the landfill but will be if the proposed extension of the north south runway goes forward, formed a coalition and began making delegations to the city. That put the fat into the fire and the city began to look into the problem – and found there was a massive jurisdictional mess that no one fully understood.
However, when city hall began to look at the problem it did manage to move rather quickly. City manager Jeff Fielding put the problem into the hands of city manager Scott Stewart. One of the first things Stewart did was organize a meeting of the residents and the air park owner Vince Rossi which, in the words of Vanessa Warren, chair of RBGC, “it was pretty futile”. Warren doesn’t believe there is going to be any progress with Rossi.
The city decided to move forward on several levels which included trying to work with the air park owners, then working with the newly formed coalition (RBGC) and at the same time develop an overall strategy that would include determining what the legal options were.
The Burlington Executive Air Park had sent legal counsel to city hall to explain that the air park was regulated by the federal minister of transportation and that they did not have to comply with whatever rules, regulations and by laws the city or the Region had in place.
 Glenn Grenier, legal counsel for the Air Park did his best to explain that the city had no jurisdiction with Air Park development. The city wasn’t buying that story and sent him packing. That didn’t go over all that well with the city and during the delegation of Glenn Grenier, the Burlington resident, pilot and legal counsel for the Air Park, the city manager advised the Mayor to dismiss the man – send him home – the city didn’t need to hear him explain what his client didn’t have to do.
 Lawyer Glenn Grenier hears some choice words from Burlington city manager Jeff Fielding while city lawyer Blake Hurley and Nancy Shea Nicol, on the right, listen in. After that Council meeting city manager Jeff Fielding had a ‘corridor conversation’ with Grenier during which he made it very clear that the city was not going to be told by anyone how it was to run its affairs and that if the Air Park could not behave as a responsible corporate citizen it could not expect any cooperation in the future.
The city then set out to get the legal talent it needed to figure out what it could do and what its possible options were.
The city has now secured the services of a person who fully understands the way things aeronautical work at the federal level and happens to be a lawyer as well. The name of that person and his bona fides will be released at city council’s meeting on Tuesday July 2nd.
Don’t expect to learn all that much about the strategy the city will have developed – that will be explained to council in a closed session. Our city solicitor Nancy Shea Nicol keeps her cards very close to her chest.
In the weeks since this issue first came to city council there has been a burst of activity that has included presentations to the Region where they went along with closing the south gate to the site but residents say the trucks just go in other entrances.
It would seem that the differences of opinion are moving to some kind of stand-off – with the city doing everything they can to get a stronger grip on what goes on at the Air Park and doing what it can to enforce its by-laws while the Air Park does as much as it can to stick to their position that they are federally regulated.
Mayor Goldring is setting up a meeting with Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion whose fingerprints seem to be all over this project. “Butt out Hazel” might be an appropriate phrase but Goldring is just too polite say anything like that.
The city can’t get much going with the Conservation Authority people who are apparently sitting on a document that will determine if the Air Park can buy the property to the north which would them give them the room they need to extend the runway and dump more landfill.
Burlington city hall basically shuts down during August – so whatever doesn’t get done in July will sit until September. There is one situation to watch – what the Conservation Authority does with the application it has sitting on its desk. City hall types have not had much luck in having a sit down with the Conservation people. The RBGC people have no problem with Conservation sitting on the paperwork – they just want to be sure a document isn’t issued while everyone is away.
Things are sort of grinding to a halt and what was a dream and a pretty good opportunity might get caught up in the gears of different jurisdictions. Time for some creative thinking.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 26, 2013. Economic development in the city has stalled. Part of the reason is that no one knows how to give the people who are supposed to make economic development happen the enema they so badly need. Burlington hasn’t seen a piece of good economic news for some time.
That may change but it won’t be because the Economic Development Corporation has done anything. They have yet to get past setting out their governance standards and as a result have some members around the table more focused on their individual economic interests rather than those of the community at large.
Serving on the board of an economic development corporation means you leave your personal or employer related interests outside the room; that apparently is not yet the case in Burlington.
 Head of the Economic development Corporation in Burlington, Kyle Benham hasn’t move the dial very much during his tenure. Quite why the city’s banker or the local cable company are on that board is beyond me. The banker’s marching orders are to make sure they don’t lose the city banking business and the cable company wants to be sure it gets the brownie points it needs to maintain the federal government license they have to operate their business.
There are more than a couple of people on that Board who know what has to be done and in the fullness of time they will succeed in totally reorganizing the Burlington Economic Development Corporation and getting it to the point where it is effective and fully focused on the job that has to be done.
That process seems to be taking quite a bit of time. There are some timelines the most significant of which is the AGM next April at which time expect to see a new chair in place.
 Burlington city manager Jeff Fielding came to us from London, Ontario where he was able to maintain development growth. Here he is seen at a London Council meeting where he moved things along rather smartly. He’s in the process of doing the same thing in Burlington. Fielding sits on the BEDC board. The city can`t afford to continue experiencing the current state of economic affairs. City manager Jeff Fielding advised council recently that he expect ICI (Industrial, Commercial, Institutional) tax revenue to be less in 2013 than it was in 2012; not a sustainable situation for the city.
Currently the Economic Development Corporation is a stand-alone operation that gets some of its funding from the city but had to do a significant amount of funding on its own – at which they did rather well by the way, but that funding work took the focus off the really important stuff – getting new business into Burlington.
The governance discussion is believed to be revolving around dissolving the existing structure and bringing economic development back into city hall, where it used to be when Don Baxter headed up that work. He is now a consultant working with corporate clients in the Fort McMurray, Alberta part of the country as well as serving on the Burlington Performing Arts Centre.
 Parking lot # 3 on the corner of Caroline and John Street will be re-developed as a structure that has several levels of public parking. The city will look for an organization to partner with on this. Is there revenue is selling the naming rights to the building? The city for its part is pushing on a number of levels. They have decided to work towards getting better use out of parking lots 3, 7 and 8. The thinking is that the city would look for a partner to build an above ground parking lot on #3, at the corner of John and Caroline, that will serve the shopping plaza just north of Caroline – which should soon be given a major make-over, as well as some of the overflow from Brant Street.
The MedicaOne project, on the corner of Caroline and John Street, which expects to break ground soon will have some underground parking – something in the order of 100 spaces but that will get used by the traffic to the medical offices and the condo owners in that project.
 Situated on the corner of Caroline and Locust any structure on this lot would certainly crowd the Different Drummer bookstore. Lot 8, on Caroline immediately west of Brant, snuggled up to the Different Drummer bookstore and lot 7, on Locust south of Caroline will be made “marketing ready” with the city looking for potential partners. There is a property right beside lot # 7, to the south, that is up for sale and could become part of a land assembly.
 Lot 8 on Locust Street is closest to city hall. It serves people who meet at the Upper Canada location where Regus has been located for years. The city is hoping that if it puts its property in play developers will take up the opportunity and do some building. The problem is that there has in the past been no one at the BEDC that knows how to bring players to the table and close deals. That is a very specialized skill; a combination of hustle, diplomacy and the capacity to schmooze, bundled up with a person who has contacts or knows how to make contacts. There have been some new people added to the BEDC staff but that corporation has chosen not to say anything about these new additions. Not a good sign.
The city also has to make a major decision as to what it wants to do about its own space requirements. The lease it has on the space in the Simms building, right across the street from city hall, is due for renewal – does the city continue to rent or do they build and own?
 Does the city expand on the space it has on Brant Street by adding to the back of the building or putting office space on Civic Square? Or is there a new city hall in the cards for us? Councillor Jack Dennison, who certainly knows about this kind of stuff, believes the city could have paid for an addition to city hall with the money they have paid in rent to the owners of the Simms building.
The city could, some think, build onto the back of the existing building or perhaps build into the current Civic Square space. Or – and this would seem to be the preference of city manager Jeff Fielding, the city could build a brand new structure that would be designed for the city that is now a much different place than it was when city hall was first built.
Parking lots 4 and 5 on Brant and John Streets get all kinds of attention when conversations like this take place.
 The last time Council took part in a ground-breaking event it was for a park in the Alton Village part of town. No tax revenue there. What we are seeing is all kinds of buzz and chatter but there haven’t been any announcements. The property that International Harvest is currently located on at Guelph Line and Harvester, will be vacated soon as they move their operation to Hamilton. We are not only not bringing in new business but we are losing the good ones we had.
This situation has been ongoing for some time – more than a year. Changes needs to be made when there is a situation that has our ICI tax revenue facing negative growth relative to last year.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 26, 2013. There is usually a better way – we often can`t see it because we don`t want to see it. Our stubbornness gets in the way. My Mother used to say to me, when I was about to make a fool of myself again: I see you are going to cut off your nose to spite your face.” It took many years for me to fully understand what she was trying to teach me.
Those people who attended that meeting in a barn hayloft on Bell School Line sat and listened to Vince Rossi, owner of the Burlington Air Park as he said time and again that he would “take it under advisement” whenever people asked him to do something.
To be fair to Rossi – there were some pretty stupid asks but the point was clear to everyone; Vince Rossi isn’t going to do a damn thing unless he is forced to. Many thought the meeting was a waste of time before it was held and are doing the “I told you so” thing. But the meeting had to be held; the community had to show that it would come to the table and listen.
 Vince Rossi, owner of the Burlington Air PArk is keeping pretty good political company. He has Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion in his corner as well as Burlington Ward 6 Council member Blair Lancaster. The ward residents are opposed to the airport expansion. What they heard was a man on a mission determined to make his dream come true and if the property of some people is destroyed, well that’s the cost of progress. Rossi put it rather crudely when he said to one property owner that if they didn’t want airport problems they shouldn’t have bought property beside an airport. Problem with that response was that property owner was there before the airport.
This situation could be handled differently. There is another small airport in Tottenham, south of Barrie just off the 400 highway. They too are expanding and they too are bringing in landfill.
Known as the Volk Aerodrome on Hwy 9 is under new ownership, Tottenham Airfield Corporation owned by Toronto businessman John Bailey.
Bailey brought in a communications group that sends out information. The airport corporation said they were doing “An enhancement of the existing airfield and once a draft master plan has been completed – expected later this year – it will be shared with the local community.”
The news release went on to say: “We believe there is a tremendous potential to provide high quality aviation services at a small local airfield, particularly with the planned closing of the Buttonville Airport in Markham, the increased interest in recreational flying, and the increase in tourism and development in the Simcoe area.”
The Volk Aerodrome has been the subject of intense opposition from its neighbours who have pleaded with the Town to stop the fill operation that had been taking place over the past few months. Growing volumes of truck traffic in and out of the site caught the attention of the Ministry of Transportation which suspended entrance permits until several conditions were implemented.
Volk put together a contractual arrangement with the Green Soils group of companies. Green Soils is highly respected and specializes in the movement and remediation of soil. (…) with this single-source supplier arrangement, a strong level of control can be placed on the amount and quality of soils entering the site, as well as all trucking activity.”
Volk has set up a telephone hotline for enquiries about the airfield. A general manager for the company will be hired in the coming weeks, and the Volk family will continue to manage the airfield and flight school operations.
Tottenham Airfield Corporation Inc. is holding a community open house to seek input into the site plan, provide information about the enhancement project and answer questions from members of the community.
It can be done differently but for reasons that only Vince Rossi understands he is going to attempt to bulldoze his way through this in the belief that he holds the trump card: he is federally regulated.
Rossi has pulled in some powerful allies. His relationship with Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion is strong enough for her to fax material to the federal minister of finance on behalf of the Burlington Air Park.
Burlington’s Mayor Goldring will be meeting with McCallion to see what can be done to have her have some respect for Burlington and allow us to develop our own plans.
 For reasons that only she understands, Blair Lancaster, Ward 6 Councillor chose to seat herself beside Air Park owner Vince Rossi during a meeting between a resident association that is opposed to the dumping of landfill on airport property and would like to know much more about what the long-term plans are for the Air Park. The council member appears to be telling her constituents where she sits Rossi appears to have almost completely co-opted the ward council member. At a meeting of residents of the community and the organization set up to battle the airport plans, Blair Lancaster chose to sit beside Rossi throughout the meeting – not the best political optics but perhaps Lancaster thinks she has the votes she needs to win her Council seat south of Dundas. She appears to be doing next to nothing for the people who have organized themselves to get some information on what is happening to their community.
Lancaster has lost the support she had north of the Hwy 407/Dundas line.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 25, 2013. The banking business has changed. There was a time when they wanted rights to your first-born and they would loan you a reasonable amount of money. Now securing everything that is near and dear to you isn’t quite enough – the banks want to know what you are going to do with the money and if they feel you are making a contribution to society then they will lend you some money with the understanding that they still have a lien on your first-born.
Banks now have a second level CEO – this one is a little softer with not quite the same number of stock options that the real Chief Executive Officer has but it is seen as a socially responsible position while the real CEO had better improve the assets on the books and keep the costs down – even if that means throwing the well qualified Canadian technical workers under the bus and outsourcing all that code crunching work to some guy in a cubicle somewhere in Mumbai where there isn’t a Labour Standards Board because there are no standards.
 This second level CEO is the Chief Environmental Officer. TD Bank has one and she had quite a bit to say for herself in a Globe & Mail interview she gave awhile back.
Karen Clarke-Whistler is Toronto-Dominion Bank’s other CEO – its chief environment officer. The role doesn’t exist in any other large North American bank, and gives her unique power to influence TD decisions in every aspect of its business. Ms. Clarke-Whistler, who spent most of her career as an environmental consultant, joined the bank in the newly created role in 2008 and has helped turn TD into an environmental leader.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 25, 2013. That the meeting actually took place was a surprise to many. Vince Rossi, owner of the Burlington Executive Air Park showed up and listened. Tim Crawford was with him.
Most of those there didn’t come away with the feeling that there were measurable bankable gains; but Rossi did hear what the group of about 25 people, meeting in the hayloft of a barn that had been swept bare, had to say.
 Barbara Sheldon reads her 12 requirements to Vince Rossi at a Rural Burlington Green Coalition. Rossi did not respond. Barn doors were left open to let in fresh air and a breeze, as well as the sound of a small aircraft that looked as if they might fly in through the openings. The Gazette had agreed beforehand not to attend all of the meeting but to show up at the end to pick up some comments. Getting the meeting to take place was the objective. Everyone hoped Vince Rossi would show up – and he did – which will be seen as a success for the politicians and the Rural Burlington Green Coalition plus the residents who took part.
Scott Stewart invited people to make comments and gave Vince Rossi an opportunity to respond. Most of the comments that had an ask to them were taken ‘under advisement’ by Rossi.
Along with Stewart there were two additional city staff and five Council members in attendance: Marianne Meed Ward, Blair Lancaster, Jack Dennison, Paul Sharman and John Taylor.
Many had not met Rossi before and wanted to get the measure of the man and observe how he handled himself.
Scott Stewart pointed out that the meeting was a part of a several layer approach the city was taking to the issue of landfill on Air Park property. City council will hear what the legal department thinks the possible options are and what the strategy should be.
Meanwhile, there are no trucks entering through the south gate but there are certainly trucks entering through other gates onto the property.
When the last person had spoken Appleby Line resident Barbara Sheldon asked if she could read a statement that set out what her requirements were. While speaking for herself Sheldon made it clear that she had the consent of her neighbours as well. Barbara Sheldon speaks in capital letters.
 Vince Rossi, owner of the Burlington Air Park, seen by many for the first time, listened to what the Coalition had to say, shook some hands and left the meeting. BARBARA SHELDON’S CURRENT EXPECTATIONS FOR AIRPARK’S REMEDIAL ACTIONS
1) IMMEDIATELY STOP ALL LANDFILL DUMPING.
2) DECONSTRUCT THE LANDFILL HILLS ON ALL SIDES TO RESTORE THE SCENIC VALUES TO MY PROPERTY – AND MITIGATE ALL NOISE, DUST AND DIRT TO MY LAND AND HOME IN THE PROCESS OF DOING SO, TO MY REASONABLE SATISFACTION.
3) REMOVE ALL OF THE LANDFILL WITHIN 30 METRES OF MY PROPERTY LINE – AND MITIGATE ALL NOISE, DUST AND DIRT TO MY LAND AND HOME IN THE PROCESS OF DOING SO, TO MY REASONABLE SATISFACTION.
4) RESTORE THE LAND, INCLUDING HIGH-QUALITY GRASS (NOT HIGHWAY GRADE), WITHIN 30 METRES OF MY PROPERTY LINE – AND MAINTAIN REGULAR GROOMING OF THIS LAND.
5) INSTALL PROPERLY GRADED BERMS, WITH PROFESSIONAL LANDSCAPING CONSISTING OF HIGH- QUALITY GRASS SEED AND MATURE EVERGREEN TREES, TO BORDER THE AIRPARK’S REMAINING LANDFILL, THEREBY RESTORING PRIVACY TO MY LAND AND TO MITIGATE AIRPARK NOISE AND UNSIGHTLY VIEWS OF ITS OPERATION FROM MY PROPERTY. MAINTAIN REGULAR GROOMING OF THESE BERMS.
6) RESTORE ALL THE NATURAL STORMWATER DRAINAGE PATTERNS TO THEIR ORIGINAL PATTERNS – AND ENSURE THAT NO PONDING EXISTS WITHIN 30 METRES OF MY PROPERTY LINE.
7) THOROUGHLY TEST MY WELL WATER FOR CONTAMINENTS, AS GUIDED BY THE MOH, FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS.
8) REPAIR AND RESTORE MY SOUTHERN ACREAGE TO ITS ORIGINAL CONDITION AND GRADING INCLUDING FULL REPLACEMENT OF THE RICH, FERTILE SOIL THAT WAS THERE BEFORE THE LANDFILL DUMPING OCCURRED.
9) REPLACE AND PLANT ALL VEGETATION, TREES AND BUSHES ON MY PROPERTY THAT WERE DESTROYED BY THE FLOODING CAUSED BY THE LANDFILL DUMPING.
10) REPAIR AND RESTORE MY LANEWAY TO ITS ORIGINAL CONDITION BEFORE IT WAS DAMAGED BY THE DUMP TRUCKS.
11) REPAIR ALL ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE TO MY PROPERTY INCLUDING INAPPROPRIATE GRASSES AND WEEDS THAT HAVE INVADED MY LAND, AS ASSESSED BY A QUALIFIED ECOLOGIST (AT AIRPARK’S EXPENSE) – AND RESTORE MY LAND TO ITS ORIGINAL, PRISTINE STATE PRIOR TO THE LANDFILL DUMPING.
12) PROVIDE COMPENSATION FOR EVERY YEAR OR PART THEREOF THAT THE AIRPARK LANDFILL DUMPING OPERATION HAS DESTROYED AND/OR DIMINISHED MY PROPERTY VALUE AS WELL AS DESTROYED OR DIMINISHED MY ABILITY TO ENJOY, LIVE AND WORK TO THE FULLEST EXTENT IN MY HOME AND ON MY LAND.
It is fortunate that the Sheldon requirements were read out at the end of the meeting. Rossi might well have let his well-known short fuse get lit and use its force to propel him out of the room.
The meeting closed quietly, it wasn`t a screaming match and there were no bodies on the floor when it was all over.
But you will not win any bet that there will not be trucks on the road Tuesday morning.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 24, 2013. They will apparently meet in a barn – during one of the hottest days so far this year. The barn is in a direct line with the north-south runway the Air Park wants to extend once it has acquired the land to the north of the existing Air Park. That land will become a runway ending at the edge of Vanessa Warren’s property where she expects to develop an equestrian facility. Vanessa is not pleased nor are the members of the Rural Burlington Greenbelt Coalition, which is made up in part of LARA, Lowville Area Residents Association, PERL Protect Escarpment and Rural Lands and CONE , Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment.
 Landfill from the Air Park crowds the fence of the Cousin’s property on Appleby Line. The meeting is the first event since the Regional government heard delegations last week from both the Coalition and Tim Crawford who was representing Vince Rossi, owner of the Air Park.
 Barbara Sheldon walks to the south side of her property – only to look up at a 30 foot + hill of landfill that touches the edge of her property and there is apparently nothing she can do about what a commercial operation has done. At that Regional Council meeting Burlington Councillor John Taylor pulled five undertakings from Crawford, who admitted that while he was speaking on behalf of the Air Park he had no authority to actually bind the corporation.
The five undertakings Taylor believes he has from the Air Park are:
1. “Shave” the earth piles back on Cousins and Sheldon properties to improve views;
2. Conduct well and surface water testing under MOE supervision of the surrounding properties for contamination;
3. Provide verification that the 58 soil samples provided are a complete set of all sources for the last five years and are fully representative of each source; if not complete provide other samples;
4. Provide a drawing where each fill source is located on property; and
5. Agree to provide a site development plan for review by City and Regional Planning Departments; and conduct a public meeting to get public input on the plan and review results.
Crawford’s apparent willingness to provide this information and to have the Air Park make the changes set out – is a significant step away from the position that corporation has been maintaining for the past five years and that was that the Air Park is a federally regulated operation which does not have to respond to the wishes, by-laws or rules of either the province, the Regional government or a municipality. They have maintained they are responsible to the federal minister of transportation only and for the past five years they have managed to get away with that story.
Oakville Mayor Rob Burton advised Vanessa Williams that she had rights that had been trampled upon and that there is jurisprudence and precedent in place that suggests her property and that of any other resident can be returned to its pristine condition if damage is proven.
 The Warren property has not yet been damaged, just threatened, but the Sheldon and the Cousins property has certain been severely damaged.
This evening Vince Rossi is expected to meet face to face with the steering committee of the coalition. The meeting is being held in a private home and will be chaired by city of Burlington General Manager Scott Stewart who knows how to manage a meeting with any number of hot-heads in the room.
Many don’t expect the meeting to last much more than fifteen minutes before Vince Rossi blows a gasket and storms out. Others don’t think he will bother to show up but send the hapless Tim Crawford again.
The Regional council meeting certainly, as Mayor Goldring put it,” left Rossi badly overdrawn on his public relations account.”
The attempt at a meeting with the community was to be a first step on the part of the city to begin a dialogue with Rossi. The hope was that if a first meeting could take place then possibly there would be an opportunity for a larger community wide meeting.
Meanwhile the city’s legal department is working through its options and expects to report to a city council meeting with recommendations as to what the city can do. Given the way the legal department in Burlington operates they will ask to hold the discussions in a closed session. This might be one of those instances where the lawyers will be right. Get council approval on a direction, file the papers at the Court House in Milton and have them served on the Air Park and then advise the public on what has been done.
 Air Park Counsel Glen Grenier wasn’t prepared for a city manager like Jeff Fielding who supported his legal team to the hilt and basically suggested the Mayor send the lawyer packing – which he did. Here Fielding and Grenier spar verbally while city lawyers Blake Hurley and city solicitor Nancy Shea Nicol look on. What is abundantly clear is that the different political jurisdictions have Vince Rossi on the run. He can no longer maintain that he is responsible only to the federal government. That position was lost when Burlington’s city council balked at the Glenn Grenier, the Air Park’s legal counsel of the day, tried to push past them when he delegated. Rossi appears to have parted ways with that lawyer. There will be others.
 While the city works on two fronts: determining what their legal options are and what they can develop in terms of a strategy, while at the same time doing their best to work with the people most impacted by the damage being done as a result of thousands of tonnes of landfill being dumped on Air Park property, there is a much bigger question the city and the Region as well as the provincial government has to ask and answer and that is: should there be an airport in north Burlington.
Do we want a “Buttonville” West? There are those who think that would be a super idea and great for economic development for the Region. Oakville’s Mayor Rob Burton tried to draw those for the idea of an airport out of the bushes at the Regional meeting but they chose to stay hidden. Make no mistake – there are those who think an airport would be great.
Rossi certainly has his supporters who have helped him get away with his antics for the past five years. That gig of Rossi’s is over – but the bigger question has yet to be asked publicly and then answered.
We will return to that question.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 21, 2013 It’s an eyesore. It no longer works as a commercial entity and the owners of the property want to re-develop. Everyone agrees that something has to be done – but there is very little agreement on what should be done.
 Pinedale Plaza is all but abandoned; two tenants and a site that is covered with graffiti. An eyesore for the community but residents don’t like the number of units the developer wants to build on the property. The Pinedale Plaza, located east of Appleby Line north of New Street, served the neighbourhood for years but that day has passed. Small shopping plazas have seen their day. This plaza is now covered with graffiti and has few tenants.
The owners, they took possession in 2011, have come up with a plan to develop the site and put 19 street townhouses on the property with 7 of those units fronting on Pinedale and 12 fronting on Wedgewood Drive.
As is usual in these presentations, the residents see that as far too many buildings; something that will change the tone, look and feel of the neighbourhood – they want something smaller.
 That cross walk handles pedestrian traffic for three schools and a community centre. Residents feel that having seven units with driveways back onto the street is unsafe. The units that would front on Pinedale would each have their own driveways – which for the locals is a problem. There is a school crossing guard on the corner and three schools in the immediate area.
This project is certainly intensification – excessive? Not necessarily. Vehicle access from the units on Pinedale is a problem; some redesign might help.
What is close to exceptional is the depth of the lots. There have been development applications that have postage stamp yards. Many of the new, very expensive homes in Alton don’t have yards the size of those being proposed for the plaza.
 Large lots are a feature; the concentration of units on Pinedale is a concern – expect to see that cut back to five – maybe less. The presentation, at what was the required public meeting, where anyone can show up and put their like or dislike forward, is the first time all the parties, the developer, the residents and council members are all in the same place and a sense of the reaction to the development can be gained.
The residents aren’t excited about this one and the driveways that front onto Pinewood are a genuine concern – but every other house in the immediate area has a driveway.
The city’s planners take part in the meeting. The architect and the developer’s planner are usually at the meeting. The professionals listen, take their plans away and look for ways to make the changes that will keep the residents happy, satisfy the city planning department and leave a developer satisfied that the project will be a profitable one.
There is little doubt that the plaza has to go – is the intensification just a little too much? Maybe, but the city has approved projects where people are squeezed into small spaces with very little yard space.
 It is a property that no longer meets the needs of the community. It is time for redevelopment. A developer has proposed a 19 unit townhouse project that will have very large yards. Traffic in the area will increase. There is a senior’s home to the east of the project and three schools plus a community centre in the immediate area.
There is a concern with the quality of the traffic study that was submitted. Residents of the community pointed out that the intersection of Pinedale and Mullins Way is a gateway to three schools, a community centre and a seniors complex and that the study submitted was seen by a number of residents as inadequate at best and misleading (deliberately) at worst.
Expect the planners to be looking at that traffic study very carefully.
The development is located in Ward 5, Paul Sharman territory. He didn’t appear to have strong views one way or the other – which is unusual for Sharman.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 16, 2013. They used to be located on Locust Street, half a block away from city hall – just a bit further from the Performing Arts Centre. The service they offered was delivered from that location but the overhead was – well too much.
Debra Pickfield called the place THiNKSPOT – a place for groups of people to get away to and think – think differently and work “outside the box”, a phrase that is terribly over used but does describe what gets done at THiNKSPOT.
 THiNKSPOT is a place for people to gather in small groups and large groups to talk. Breaking the boundaries that tend to determine what people can and should do at whatever work they do is not easy. Management tends to want things to run smoothly – no disruption please. Pickfield argues that disruption is exactly what is needed if organizations are going to be moved out of the complacency she feels smothers many operations.
 The feature that makes THiNKSPOT work is the setting and the level of facilitation, Pickfield works as a facilitator and from her perspective, location and setting for meetings is critical. Meeting in a stifling hotel meeting room where the setting isn’t much different from the office is not, according to Pickfield, conducive to bringing about a change in the way people think.
So – off to Lowville she went, where she rented a nice space. The setting is pleasant. The grounds are really nice with a sculpture garden yards away and, if people need to get out for a walk to talk, the paths and streams of Lowville Park is just across the road.
 While the setting is important – people use THiNKSPOT to transfer knowledge and exchange ideas and use the latest in technology to make it happen. One of the draw backs was the amount of meeting room space. Quite a bit but at times not enough for larger groups. What Pickfield didn’t know when she decided to move her operation to Lowville was that there was an old school-house literally on the other side of the road. Once Pickfield saw the space she met with city property types and put together a rental arrangement. She now has a very small meeting space, a larger meeting room and now one of those large school-house rooms as well.
Pickfield explains: “We focus on shifting the way people think and the way they work together. When you connect all the various intricate pieces of the puzzle – the people, the process, and the place – you create a sort of “sweet spot” where we can collaborate and think creatively and find solutions to complex problems.”
So – what do they do up there in Lowville?
Pickfield is holding an event to introduce people to the setting and to give them an example of how it all comes together. She is holding – not sure what to call it – let’s say an “event” which Pickfield describes as a unique way to experience THiNKSPOT and then extends an invitation:
We hope you can join us, and look forward to catching up and seeing everyone on June 20th as we introduce THiNKSPOT 2.0 Take part in a Summer Sockstice in the idyllic world of Lowville for a time of storytelling through Art.
A wonderful selection of artists will share their creativity and encourage you to recognize the creativity that resides in all of us.
Join Walt Rickli, sculptor, Fred Magie, songwriter/musician, Kevin Sutton, spoken word and drummers Tribal Thunder for an evening of creativity through music and stories.
 Admission – a half a dozen or so pairs of socks – there are people out there experiencing homelessness and a pair of socks is a big deal for them. Want in? Click here and reserve a spot.
There is no admission – there is the request that you buy a bundle of socks that will be distributed to people experiencing homelessness. That’s why the event is being called a Summer Sockstice.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 12, 2103. So here’s the picture.
There is a lady who lives on Appleby Line. She has a small piece of property with a century old house and a spring fed pond. She used to be able to sit in her kitchen, look out the window and see as far north as Rattle Snake Point.
She can’t see that part of the country side anymore because of a wall of dirt that is more than 30 feet high and less than 50 yards from her house.
This lady is not happy but she is doing all she can, working within the rules to bring about a change.
Yesterday she happened to be on the very edge of her property where it abuts to the property that is having all the landfill dumped and meets a man she assumes is the site supervisor for the company that is doing the landfill dumping for the property owner.
She engages the man in conversation and learns that he is a contractor who is going to install runway lights at some point. “I truly enjoyed learning about the runway lights” she says.
Shortly after the conversation with the contractor the lady with the house on Appleby Line gets the following email from Vince Rossi, owner of the Burlington Executive Air Park and the man who has been dumping landfill on his close to 200 acre property.
Hi Barbara Re your questioning on the airport staff of today’s date.
Kindly refrain from entering our property as of Today, if You have any questions regarding the airport or any item related there to feel free top contact the Proper person to answer any questions. So this is Your notice not to enter airport property without My authorization, failing which You will be charged with trespassing.
Vince Rossi, Burlington Executive Airport.
The lady with the house on Appleby Line responds:
I am not sure why this conversation offended, but being the good neighbor that I am, I will certainly respect your wishes.
To that point, you, your representatives and your contractors have entered my property without my authorization many times. Now however, I ask for the same respect – and this is your notice. If you, your representatives or contractors set foot on my property without my permission, in advance, You will be charged with trespassing.
To which Mr Rossie responded with:
Let the good lord direct every wish you have in life. Just stay away from ours,and above all stay off of our property. is that clear?
The word “property” is set as a link to a web site that has something to do with travel to Iceland – go figure.
The lady in the house on Appleby Line sleeps a little less soundly at night.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 12, 2013. Tracy Burrows, the city’s by-law enforcement office got a “heads up” phone call from Milt Farrow, who works with Vince Rossi, owner of the Burlington Executive Air Park, who wanted to advise her that trucks would be trucking in asphalt from highway 407 at night and on to the grounds of the air park.
It is not clear if Farrow is an officer of the Air Park corporation or working in some executive capacity or just some guy on the payroll but it is clear that he is a pipeline from the Air Park corporation to the city.
In a follow-up Memorandum to the city, dated June 7, Farrow sets out what they are going to do:
“The Ontario Ministry of Transport is resurfacing part of the 407 in or near Burlington. Some of the old asphalt material to be removed from the 407 is suitable for use as the sub base for the runways, taxiways and aprons being constructed. Further, the ability to reuse this material as part of the permanent finished product of the airport construction is also general beneficial as it will not other wise need to be disposed.
 The original position of the Air Park people was that they could do what they wanted when they wanted – which meant they could use construction equipment around the clock. While not admitting that the city might have some rights in enforcing their by-laws the Air park is believed to have said they will not use heavy equipment at night. “As you can appreciate” Farrell goes on to say, “most, but not all of the 407 re-surfacing is done at night. WE are required to accept the materials as it is removed from the 407. The timing is not something under our control, but it is obviously under the control of the MTO. While we anticipate some of the materials will be made available during the daylight hours, we understand that much of it must be done at night when traffic on the 407 is light.
“To minimize the noise at night, we are told by the contractor that the following measures will be observed:
a) The trucks to be used will not have banging tail gates
b) Work flow will be arranged so the drivers can deliver and deposit loads while driving forward without the need to stop and back up. As a result, the beeping back up alarms will not be sounded, and
c) To the extent possible, the night-time work will ne conducted on those areas of the site furthest from neighbours. Areas of work closer to the neighbours will be planned for the daylight hours.
d) We anticipate the work will commence on June 10th but we have no end date as it depends on weather but it will take two to three months on an intermittent basis.
Again, the airport takes the position that our construction activities are not subject to municipal by-laws because of the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government over aeronautics, including the construction of permanent facilities at the Airport. Further, we are advised by our counsel that there is a specific case wherein it was held that a Toronto noise by-law did not apply to activities at the Downsview airport.
 It was going to be close to around the clock truck traffic because of a highway 407 asphalt removal contract – but there seems to be some common sense and decency creeping into the behaviour of the Air Park owners. Notwithstanding, we want to be a good neighbour. We understand that in some cases exemptions are given further to the Burlington noise by-law and thus, the City must have some experience in minimizing the noise impact of night-time construction activities, when same are necessary. As explained above, it is necessary in this case. We would be pleased to receive and consider implementing any other noise abatement measures you care to offer
All this was BEFORE the city Council meeting where the Mayor said that the Air Park people may be good at hiring lawyers and constructing airports but that they know nothing about “public” relations. Councillor Craven prefaced his questions to the Air Park lawyer with the question: “why are your clients such lousy neighbours”.
It is close to standard practice for the city to give professionals delegating to Council the time they need to state their case and engage in plenty of Q&A. Glenn Grenier, counsel for the Air Park and a resident of Burlington didn’t get much of that courtesy.
Some of the ire of the city appears to have gotten through to the airport people. While they have consistently maintained they can operate outside city by-laws they are said to have advised the city they will follow the noise by-law and NOT truck in fill after 11 pm nor will they do any construction on the site outside the hours of 7 am to 7 pm.
A usually reliable city hall source said it was good news – but “we have had all kinds of problems with these guys broken before so we will just have to wait and see”.
Maybe just a trickle of civility.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 12, 2013 PERL Executive Director, Roger Goulet asks: “Since when is it allowed to bury asphalt waste into landfill, especially above a drinking water aquifer?
“Why is 407 asphalt “waste” being land filled into the Burlington Airpark?
The risk is the contamination of the drinking water and the streams in the area.
Asphalt waste is should be recycled at asphalt recyclers like Nelson Aggregate or other recycling plants. It is a reusable recyclable resource. Why is the Provincial Ministry of Transportation not recycling this resource? Other jurisdictions are recycling removed road asphalt in place.
These kinds of non-sustainable road maintenance and land filling practices are causing unnecessary demands for more aggregate and oil based pitch.
When will our governments treat waste as a resource? In nature, NOTHING is waste.
 Highway 407 asphalt is to be dumped at the Air Park as land fill. Who approved the land filling of 407 asphalt into the Burlington Airpark?
This must be STOPPED; and the asphalt already dumped into the Airpark REMOVED.
The Greenbelt is not to be treated as a waste dump. Our water resources are not to be subjected to contaminants.
Again, this argues for regulations, oversight and inspections of land filling onto airparks and agricultural lands. Our governments must be more diligent in inspection and enforcement, whether issues are in their jurisdictions or not. What is right and ecologically sustainable in the long term? Who will protect the Greenbelt from ecological damage, before it impacts our human health?
The unfortunate and very uncomfortable answer to the question – can they do this? is , yes they can. While what they are allowed to do because they are federally regulated is legal, is it not, as Monte Dennis pointed out in his delegation to city Council Monday evening, just.
The Air Park has hired a lawyer with years of experience in the field of aeronautics law who tried to convince city council that they didn’t have a case and that while the Air Park people have been lousy neighbours (Councillor Craven’s words) they were prepared to cooperate with the city, providing what the city wanted didn’t get in the way of what the Air Park people wanted.
It is an extremely complex issue with every possible jurisdiction involved. Mayor Goldring told the public via the Cogeco broadcast of the council meeting that the city is on the case and that it is going to take some time to resolve this one.
 Glenn Grenier, lawyer for the Air Park, a pilot and a resident of the city got a little more than the time of day from a city council that decided they didn’t have all that much time for him. The city has served notice that it is not going to just lay down and let the Air Park people run rough shod over them. The first thing the city has to do is figure out exactly what they are up against.
One thing they are up against is an arrogant lawyer who thought he could steam roll city Council. Glenn Grenier, a Burlington resident on Couples Drive since 1995 and a pilot as well, was put in his place a number of times. Grenier feels he has 60 years of legal precedent on his side. Guess he has never heard of the Jefferson Salamander.
There is more to this story. Stay tuned.
 By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON. June 10, 2013. It`s a grind. There are so many levels of jurisdiction that it gets difficult to figure out who is responsible for what, but the city of Burlington is on the case and they are ferreting out information at a pace that is indeed remarkable for a municipal administration. Kudo`s to them for that.
Now to figure out what they have gathered in the way of information and what potential action there is for the city to take.
The city got into this when city council heard complaints about landfill operations that were taking place at the Burlington Executive Air Park. The work has been taking place since around 2008 but no one seems to have taken their complaints to the city until Dr. Teri Jaklin wrote a letter to the Council member for Ward 6, Blair Lancaster, who didn`t do much for the Dr. Jaklin wither response. Barbara Sheldon, the Appleby Line resident who has suffered the most damage, then wrote Lancaster a scathing letter
When Vanessa Warren created the Rural Burlington Greenbelt Coalition and made a delegation to city hall the wheels started moving. Up until that point no one had been on Barbara Sheldon`s property to see the amount of landfill that had been dumped. Lancaster has yet to see the property. Councillors Meed Ward, Taylor and Sharman have visited as has the Mayor who was appalled at what he saw.
 The is the view of the south side of the Sheldon property on Appleby Line. Trucks were dumping the day the pictures were taken. Sheldon is a major piece of business: direct, no-nonsense, no crap – do not speak to this lady with a forked tongue. Not a woman to be trifled with. The only relief she has had is a small reduction in her tax assessment – which at least has one government organization saying something has been done to change the value of this property.
On May 21st City Council issued a Staff Direction to the General Manager of Development & Infrastructure to contract with an aviation consultant to report on: The standards, processes and requirements of Transport Canada and other Federal departments for the development and expansion of aeronautical facilities; and to identify any opportunities for individual, municipal or provincial involvement and input in said Federal processes, and to expedite the presentation of recommendations to address the immediate issues of land fill, noise and expansion at the Burlington Airpark. Those were the marching orders.
So – what do we know?
A lot of information has been gathered and in the report General Manager of Development and Infrastructure Scott Stewart will make to Council this evening we learn of what has been done and what has not been done.
To put it mildly – Stewart didn’t manage to pull many teeth from a hen.
Information is being made available to the city by people who represent Vince Rossi, owner of the airport. Meetings have taken place between the City and Airport representatives (Mr. Milt Farrow and Mr. Tim Crawford) to facilitate a cooperative approach to addressing the City’s request for information regarding the past and current filling operations at the Airport site. Information is being delivered in dribs and drabs but at least there is some movement.
During all this jabber, jabber the airport people maintain that their operation – the Burlington Executive Air Park, comes under federal Department of Transport jurisdiction and so the city can just take a hike, legally.
We have been seeking an interview with airport owner Vince Rossi – he used to email us – we don’t hear from him anymore. He has learned what media people now call the “Rob Ford approach” – say nothing no matter how bad it looks. Stonewall, obfuscate, put out platitudes but don’t say anything direct. Send others to represent your interests; helps if one of them is a lawyer.
Rossi’s people did communicate with the city through the office of Councillor Lancaster, who many in the community feel is far too close to the airport owners. The email, sent to city staff May 27, 2013 by Councillor Lancaster advised that the airpark informed her that the city would receive a letter with soil test samples and they will work with the City on the esthetics of the berm. To date a letter has not been received.
Councillor Lancaster would be well advised to direct the airport owners to communicate directly with the city.
 While all the jabber, jabber goes on Barbara Sheldon watches as the pile of landfill on the north and south side of her home gets higher and higher. More than 32 feet on the north side and no one knows how much higher on the south because they are still dumping. The city wants data on past and current filling operations at the site. They have also requested a grading and drainage plan, current and past soil test reports, the continued maintenance of silt fencing around the work area, securities to ensure contractor performance and permission for City staff to access the site.
The city argues this information would be required for review by City staff to reach a conclusion that a site alteration permit could be issued if one was applied for. Rossi and his people have taken the position that they don’t need permission from the city – they are federally regulated.
King Paving, the company that is hauling in the bulk of the landfill these days, has the majority of the original soil reports. Milt Farrow followed up with King to organize the reports and to have them photocopied. The first batch of the photocopying of the reports was not completed until May 31st. Mr. Farrow delivered 5 reports to the City on May 31, 2013 at 4:15 pm. An additional 15 reports were delivered on June 5, 2013 at 1:30 pm.
The city points out that soil test reports undertaken years prior are unacceptable because the City has no knowledge of what has occurred on the source site since the tests were undertaken.
There is not a lot of trust between the city and the air park operators.
Whenever changes are made to property a process called Environmental Assessments come into play. There are phase 1 assessments and phase 2 assessments; it’s all kind of arcane and difficult for parents who want to get the kids to soccer on time, but a process fully understood by planners and lawyers who know how to exploit these processes to the fullest.
Milt Farrow advised the City that last year, as part of a potential financing arrangement, the Toronto Dominion bank was provided with additional soil test reports and a Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment (ESA).
The air park position is that the city has no jurisdiction and is not entitled to stick their noses in and ask for data and Environmental Assessments but if you want financing from the bank – guess what – the required documents appear.
In the criminal world investigators always tell you to “follow the money”. In times past it was “follow the babe” but times have changed.
Mr. Farrow has apparently agreed to try and get the soil reports back from the bank and provide them to the City. He would also ask Mr. Vince Rossi (Airport Owner) for permission to provide the Phase 2 ESA.
Clearly a pressure point is at the bank level. Drag them into this and let them feel the ire of the community. Banks just can’t loan money with no concern as to what the funds are going to be used for and what good or harm they will do to the community. The days of loaning money and getting the best return are over – there is now a social responsibility element to all this. Being socially responsible is also good business. For all of those who live in north Burlington and have accounts with the TD Bank – mention your concern to your branch manager and write the head office.
A “DRAFT” Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) was provided by Rossi yesterday to city hall as opposed to the Phase 2 ESA previously discussed. A formal request for the Phase 2 ESA report has been made by the city. If this were a typical Site Alteration Permit process, the City would not be in a position to issue a permit because the typically required information has not all been provided.
Rossi and his representatives argue they are federally regulated. Well are they?
Transport Canada is being co-operative. The city was in contact with them May 14, before the Williams delegation was made, to pose some basic questions regarding jurisdiction over the fill operations at the airpark and the approval process should the airpark expand.
On the issue of fill, the city was advised that there were no specific rules or legislation pertaining to fill, but made it clear that anything integral to aviation was under federal jurisdiction. Transport Canada indicated that importing fill to an aerodrome to build aeronautics facilities would be subject to federal jurisdiction. However, they Transport people, also indicated that fill could be subject to other authorities (local, provincial, conservation authority), citing specifically the ability to regulate the quality of fill. Transport advised that fill could fall within federal jurisdiction if it pertained to aeronautics, giving the example that if fill contained magnetic material, Transport Canada would have an interest as this could impair aeronautics.
Transport Canada, advised that on the matter of expansion and approvals required there are different rules for the different types of operations. Burlington Airpark is a registered aerodrome, and that there is a distinction between registered and certified aerodromes.
Registered aerodromes are registered with Transport Canada, which publishes the Canada Flight Supplement. Aerodromes are required to comply with Part 301 of the Canadian Aviation Regulations. Transport Canada does not typically inspect these facilities, unless there is a need to do so. In terms of expanding or modifying the airpark, Transport Canada advised that there is no process that the owner would have to follow, except to notify Transport Canada and change the published information in the flight supplement.
Gets complex. People who want to make changes that others don’t want exploit these complexities and get away with it. Something one wants to know and never forget – don’t mess with city hall. They have long arms and even longer memories.
Certified aerodromes must comply with document TP-312 – Aerodrome Standards and Recommended Practices. Transport Canada requires an aerodrome to become certified under the following circumstances: . Aerodrome has regular passenger service; Aerodrome is within a “built up area” – no hard rules on this, but opinion is usually there is “built up area” on 3 sides minimum. Deemed to be necessary in the public interest by the Minister.
Burlington Airpark used to be certified. It is believed the certification was removed around the time the airpark was sold in 2006-07.
This exchange of information led the city to asking: Is there a functional or regulatory difference between “airport” and “aerodrome” as defined by Transport Canada? The city also wanted to know if calling themselves the “Burlington Executive Airport” signifies anything from a legislative or regulatory perspective.
The city also wants to know if there is anything in the Transport Canada rules that outlines Transport Canada’s position with respect to the City’s ability to enforce its own by-laws?
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