Tannery Hearing - Summary

What's next?

The 24-day hearing on the planning applications for the Tannery Land ended on Friday afternoon, March 8^th.

These were the facts agreed to by the three parties to the hearing.

Over the five-week hearing, the Tribunal Chair, Stephen Cooke, heard from 14 witnesses for the appellant, 2606609 Ontario Inc., a company owned by local developer, Jay Patry. Eight of these witnesses were professionals hired by the applicant and six were people working for the City of Kingston (three), Cataraqui Conservation (one), Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (one), and Parks Canada (one).

The City of Kingston was present to defend City Council’s decision to say “no” to the planning applications. It called five witnesses.

Community-group No Clearcuts Kingston had party status and was represented by the Canadian Environmental Law Association. It called four witnesses.

The next step is for each party to submit written submissions to the Tribunal.

The applicant has until March 29^th to file its arguments that cannot be more than 60 pages.

The City and No Clearcuts Kingston have until April 19 to file their arguments, which cannot be more than 30 pages each.

The applicant has until April 30 to reply to the City’s and No Clearcuts Kingston’s arguments. The reply is limited to 15 pages.

It is then up to Mr. Cooke to make a decision to support the appeal and overrule City Council’s decision or to agree with City Council and No Clearcuts Kingston and say “no” to the development application. There is no timeline for this decision.

No development may take place on the property, in any case, until the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks approves a remediation plan for the property and a Record of Site Condition is filed to confirm that remediation according to the plan has taken place.