Benny Marotta this week has filed appeals of the recent Ontario Land Tribunal Rand subdivision decision to both the courts and the OLT. SORE’s report on the OLT decision in question can be found on sorenotl.ca
The OLT decision was the result of a multi-week hearing during which the Tribunal heard from over 20 witnesses . In the end, the Tribunal accepted the 850 page report of Town Heritage Planner Denise Horne in its entirety, sided with the Town and SORE in concluding that the Marotta proposal “does not represent good planning” and sent Mr. Marotta back to the drawing board with a number of material constraints imposed on any future development.
Unfortunately, as he has done throughout the now six-year history of his attempts to redevelop the site, Mr. Marotta is once again choosing refusing to accept that there are legitimate and important legal and public policy constraints on his ability to do whatever he pleases with the Rand Estate. This is a proposition that Mr. Marotta has been fighting throughout his tenure as owner of Randwood.
Our assessment is that neither the court application nor the review request to the Tribunal has any reasonable chance of succeeding. We will not be surprised if the OLT Chair summarily rejects the request to review the well-reasoned Tribunal decision without even asking to hear from the parties. We will also not be surprised if his court application never makes it to a hearing.
Instead, we view these appeals as purely tactical on Mr. Marotta’s part. We believe they have been filed to enable his ally(ies) on Council to try to persuade the rest of Council to cut a closed-door deal with Mr. Marotta to avoid further litigation costs. Effectively, we believe that Mr. Marotta is simply continuing his long pattern of trying to bury the Town in litigation until it gives up and bends to his will.
On a separate front, Mr. Marotta’s company has also recently filed an appeal to the OLT of the Official Plan Amendment passed by Council earlier this year concerning the Rand Estate and neighbouring lands. That OPA resulted from the special study of the area by outside experts that the Town completed last year as required by the new Town Official Plan.
We are here to tell Mr. Marotta that his law fare tactics will not work. The Tribunal, standing in the shoes of Council, has now made it clear what is and isn’t acceptable development on the lands in question. The Tribunal has also flagged a number of issues that need further investigation before any Rand development could be considered.
SORE is a continuing party to the OLT proceedings. The Tribunal has directed Mr. Marotta’s company to consult with both the Town and SORE to implement the Tribunal’s decision. It is clear to us that the Tribunal will reject any proposal that does not accord with its decision as well as any process whereby Mr. Marotta attempts to negotiate unilaterally with the Town.
We encouraged Mr. Marotta to stop fighting after the recent OLT decision and come to the table in a cooperative spirit to negotiate the details of a subdivision that respects the OLT decision. Instead, he has once again chosen to continue to fight. So be it. Mr. Marotta will not bully or litigate us into submission. We hope and trust our elected Council is of similar mind.