Condolences to those who had to sit through last night’s 45-minute Open House on Benny Marotta’s latest assault on the Rand Estate.
For background, see our earlier post.
At the Sept. 2 Open House, Mr. Marotta’s planner confirmed that this was all about asking Council to approve a panhandle subdivision street that Council already turned down in April of 2023 in accordance with the Denise Horne report recommendations. And that was definitively turned down by the Ontario Land Tribunal last October after a 7-week hearing.
Mr. Marotta’s transportation engineer claims to have “solved” the traffic safety issues that were only one of five reasons the OLT concluded in October that a 200 John panhandle subdivision street was not viable. We are doubtful given the seriousness of the issue but SORE’s traffic engineers are reviewing this assertion.
What Mr. Marotta’s new street OPA asks Council to do is simply ignore (for now) the other four reasons the OLT turned down a panhandle street as unviable. Essentially the pitch is “give us approval in principle for a panhandle street (as well as a Charlotte emergency street) and we’ll address the four remaining issues later behind closed doors.”
In a word, this is ridiculous. Mr. Marotta, the Town and SORE went through a very lengthy hearing just 12 months ago. Everyone had lawyers and experts. Everyone gave it their best shot. The Tribunal ruled unequivocally that a panhandle subdivision street was a non-starter for several reasons, only one of which Solmar now purports to address.
In what universe does it make sense to tie up our already hard-working planning staff on something both the Town and the OLT have already said NO to? The clear answer is this makes no sense other than we have someone who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word NO. We trust Council will explain that to Mr. Marotta at their earliest opportunity.
Public Meeting
A public meeting om this request is scheduled for 6 pm, Tuesday, Sept 9, in the Council Chambers. You do not need to register to attend that meeting but if you wish to speak at the meeting, which we encourage, contact the Clerk’s Department at clerks@notl.com or call 905-468-3266 by noon on Monday, September 8.