By Pepper Parr
June 8th, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
The wheels of Justice move slowly – not at a glacial pace but there is no rush to judgement – at least not when it is the city and the Burlington Air Park sending their legal warriors into a Court Room to do battle
On April 4th, the Gazette reported that “a member of the city’s legal staff advised council that a Judge at the Court House advised the city that Justice Gibson anticipates he will be in a position to release his decision by April 30th.
April came and went, we got into May and no decision and now we are into June and we are advised that a decision will be released June 30th
Trucks were driving in and out of the Air Park property dumping loads of landfill that was reportedly un-inspected with permits allowing them do to do.
The Air Park and the city have been going at it for some time. The story came to the public’s attention when the Gazette reported in 2012 on the number of trucks that were roaring up and down Appleby Line and leave a terrible mess on the road and disturbing the peace and quiet of the country side with the clanging of truck tail gates.
Literally hundreds of trucks were taking landfill onto the Air Park property. City hall wasn’t aware of what was going on nor did anyone at the Region know very much.
When it came to the attention of people at city hall they could find no record of any permits being issued.
Turns out the Air Park didn’t seek any permits – they had taken the position that the Air Park was federally regulated and they didn’t have to ask the city for permission to do anything.
Former 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.
The city saw it differently and one court case, and an appeal later – Justice Murphy clarified that situation. The Air park is subject to city regulation.
An Appleby Line resident looks at a 35 foot high pile of landfill that she believes is toxic that was dumped next to her property without any kind of permit from the city. She is standing on her property line.
The landfill pilled on the north side of the Appleby Line residents property – put in place without any permitted permission.
At this point the dumping of landfill had stopped but it was too late for an Appleby Line resident who had landfill that she believed was toxic, piled 35 feet or more high on either side of her property.
The city then began to press the Air Park to submit a site plan for approval and to begin providing some data on just what was in that landfill and what impact was it having on the water table. Was it polluted? Many people in northern Burlington thought is was and they wanted water and soil samples taken.
Getting a single picture with most of the players in it is unusual. On the far left is outside counsel Ian Blue who won two court cases for the city and has been brought in to stick handle the most recent legal issue. To the rear of Blue is Blake Hurley who is with the city legal department. Scott |Stewart chats with rural Burlington residents Robert Goulet, Ken Woodruff and Montre Dennis. Vanessa Warren looks over their shoulders. Warren, Dennis and Pepper Parr, publisher of the Burlington Gazette have been sued by the Air Park. That case has yet to get before a Judge. .
The good folks at the Air Park were not only taking exception to the demands the city was making but they took exception to what the Gazette and its publisher had written along with the comments of two citizens: Vanessa Warren and Monte Dennis. We were all sued for libel.
The libel case is still before the courts. The defendants are asking for financial data from the Air Park; the Air Park didn’t want to give any data – a Judge will decide on that matter sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Both the Region and Conservation Halton bought the argument that they had no jurisdiction but Rossi appears to have kept them informed.
Meanwhile the city is awaiting a decision on their request that a Judge compel the Air Park to submit a site plan for approval and that the landfill that was dumped on the property without any kind of permit be removed.
It is the decision on that case that everyone has been waiting for. Many believe that whatever the Judge decides the losing side will appeal and that this case could go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada
There are those who believe that the Air Park is not in a position to move more than a couple of truck loads of fill – they have already spent a reported hundreds of thousands of dollars on the various court cases – and all the bills aren’t in yet.
Might the Air Park be getting close to being tapped out?
