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To the Small Claims Court at Newmarket to see former Newmarket councillor, Maddie Di Muccio, attempt to extract $5, 000 in damages from Regional Councillor John Taylor for allegedly libeling her. Her claim is preposterous.

As is the way of these things, we spend hours twiddling our thumbs, waiting for the matter to come up. We are there at 9.30 a.m. Maddie Di Muccio and her rotund husband John Blommesteyn are sitting on a little bench outside the narrow corridor that leads to Room 2002, the Small Claims Court. Behind me stands John Taylor carrying two large satchel bags jammed full of ring binders and bundles of papers held together with bulldog clips.

Don’t let him in says Di Muccio

The clerk arrives and asks everyone to identify themselves. She says there will be some delay. Di Muccio immediately objects to my presence in Court on the grounds that I write a blog. This objection doesn’t fly and I file into the Courtroom with everyone else at 11.45am.

Deputy Judge Mark Burch is presiding. He has rapidly read through the paperwork and concludes that the parties (Di Muccio, the plaintiff, and Taylor, the defendant) may wish to have another settlement conference. I can hardly believe my ears. Settlement conferences take place to give the opposing parties an opportunity to settle their differences, under the guidance of the judge, without going to full trial. He says a full trial could take two to three days and that could be a year away.  What utter madness!

Di Muccio’s libel action lodged too late

Di Muccio also brought the action outside the period specified in the legislation. It is a bit like sending in your tax return late and expecting the CRA not to notice.

In his September 2015 ruling, Judge Vincent Stabile ruled that Taylor should lodge an amended defence making it crystal clear that (in Taylor’s view) the action brought by Di Muccio was out of time and should be dismissed for that reason if for no other. Inexplicably, the Judge noted in his ruling that the Plaintiff (Di Muccio) “may request a new settlement conference”. And this is precisely what Di Muccio did earlier today. She demands a new settlement conference even though there is no possibility whatsoever that Taylor will offer any kind of apology or move towards her position in any way. If Taylor doesn’t get her action thrown out because it is out of time then he wants a full trial.

Now Deputy Judge Mark Burch is telling Di Muccio and Taylor he wants them to have another stab at settling their differences without going to trial. Fat chance!

The rest of us are politely asked to leave the Courtroom but the argumentative and boorish Bloomesteyn is allowed to stay. The judge tells us he has a pass as the plaintiff’s husband.

No Settlement today

I hear afterwards there is no settlement and the matter will now go to full trial at some indeterminate point in the future, wasting yet more public money and Court time.

So. What else did I learn at Court today? The administration of justice is massively inefficient. People are expected to hang around for hours waiting for things to happen. Judges speed-read huge volumes of paperwork at the last possible moment, and end up being unable to see the wood for the trees.

On trial, M’lud, is not just Di Muccio and Taylor but the whole crazy system.

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Details

The long running soap opera, Di Muccio v Taylor, is back in the small claims court tomorrow (3 February).

Former Newmarket councillor, the fragile Maddie Di Muccio, is trying to extract $5,000 in damages from Regional Councillor John Taylor claiming he injured her reputation and made her an object of ridicule and contempt. The matter was in Court in July last year, then September and here we are in February 2016.

The trial comes up at 10am in Room 2002 in the Small Claims Court at Newmarket, 50 Eagle Street West.

It is a tiny room with space for one or two members of the public and no more. So if you want to see Di Muccio's case collapse, get there early.

You can scroll to the Court papers here.

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Aurora councillor Tom Mrakas has won the unanimous backing of his council colleagues to host a “Municipal Summit” on the redevelopment of golf courses in stable residential areas (see text of motion below). The Town’s attractive Highland Gate golf course is about to be built over by developers hungry for open land in choice urban areas.

He tweets:

@gordon-prentice OMB reform and motion to create and host a Municipal Summit – regarding golf course redevelopment passed unanimously.

2016-01-28, 3.47PM

Mrakas doesn’t let the grass grow under his feet. He wants staff to report back no later than 23 February 2016 on possible venues and dates together with an indication of the interest there might be in such an event.

Whether all this activity will make a blind bit of difference is quite another matter. Many people will shrug their shoulders and say the Summit is too little too late. Others will say the train has already left the station on this one.

The politicians at Queen’s Park could have acted before now but, for whatever reason, chose not to. Perhaps they took their cue from local politicians who allowed themselves to be out-manoeuvred by developers and led up the garden path by their own planning staff.

For months Aurora Council has been going through the motions, arm-wrestling with the developer of Highland Gate whose residents are now, unfortunately, getting the Glenway treatment. Indeed, as part of their planning case, the developer cites Glenway as a precedent.

Elsewhere, the Globe and Mail reminds us that the York Downs Golf and Country Club in Markham sold to a consortium of developers last year for over $400 million. The sale is expected to net the 800 owners of the private members’ club close to $200,000 each. Clearly, it was an offer they couldn’t refuse.

Still, it is to Aurora’s credit that the Town’s councillors have taken this initiative. The great and the good from Municipalities across the GTA will be invited to the Summit. This will give Newmarket Mayor Tony Van Bynen - who was complicit in the Glenway debacle – an opportunity to take centre stage, telling fellow Mayors and councillors what he learned from the whole experience.

Alas, the secretive Van Bynen has yet to confide in those of us who live in Newmarket. At last year’s Glenway Lessons Learned meeting he uttered a few platitudes at the very end leaving us none the wiser about what he knew, when he knew it and what he did about it.

The energetic Tom Mrakas has also called for reform of the OMB. This should be music to the ears of Van Bynen who pledged before the last election to make OMB reform the centerpiece of his third term. He has been strangely quiet about this ever since.

The Aurora Summit seems tailor made for Van Bynen, giving him the platform he needs to speak out.

As if.

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Councillor Mrakas and Councillor Thompson

Re: Municipal Summit

Golf Course Redevelopment

WHEREAS municipal Official Plans contain solid planning principles, adhere to relevant Provincial Policy Statements and are approved ultimately by the Province; and

WHEREAS

municipalities face continuing challenges to their Official Plans through recent applications to redevelop former Golf Courses acquired by General Committee Meeting Report Tuesday, January 19, 2016 Page 14 of 16 residential land developers in the GTA for the purpose of converting “private open space” stable neighbourhoods to “residential” land uses;

WHEREAS

multiple municipalities repeatedly fighting the same planning battle(s) is an inefficient and ineffective use of taxpayer money; and

WHEREAS

a Summit is a meeting of representatives of government which affords the opportunity to advocate for meaningful reform on a wide range of important issues facing municipalities; and

WHEREAS

a Summit provides the opportunity to bring together all municipalities to work collaboratively to find solutions to the increasing pressures of loss of green space within our stable neighbourhoods due to redevelopment applications of golf courses;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED THAT

the Town of Aurora host a Municipal Summit to identify issues and define common principles as it speaks to appropriate redevelopment of former Golf Courses situated within stable neighbourhoods; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT staff extend an invitation to all Elected Officials from municipalities in the Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario and to the Board of Directors of the Association of Municipalities in Ontario; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT

staff report back no later than the last Council meeting in February 2016 to define possible venues, dates, and interest to attend a Municipal Summit on Golf Course redevelopment; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT a copy of this Motion be sent to the

Honourable Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, the Honourable Ted McMeekin, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Honourable Patrick Brown, Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, the Honourable Andrea Horwath, Leader of the New Democratic Party, Chris Ballard, MPP Newmarket-Aurora and all other MPPs in the Province of Ontario, and York Regional Chairman Wayne Emmerson.

 

Details

Yesterday afternoon, as we are getting into our car in the driveway, I am approached by a complete stranger from Smart Care, kitted out in a blaze of orange, clip-board in hand.

He says he needs to check the air conditioning and the furnace. He is quite assertive. I ask if he is from the Government. Not exactly he says but its official and he needs to check the serial number of our furnace. It is all about up-grading furnaces and air conditioners to meet standards. He’s gotta check it all out.

Whoa! Not so fast.

He senses he caught us at a bad moment and says he will come back. I tell myself that’s the last we’ll see of him.

As we drive off I see him join two other Orange Day-Glo people on the street corner. They work in teams.

Now it is 6.45pm and I am in the kitchen preparing dinner. The bell rings and it is Mr Orange Day-Glo again.

I am at the front door in my apron, spatula in hand. I tell him I am not interested in whatever he is selling and he is not coming in. I tell him I’ve checked the website and he is not coming in. He looks mystified.

What website is that then?

The one that says you are not coming in.

He tells me he is an authorized contractor.

I tell him I am not arguing about it and I close the door.

This kind of door-stepping upsets me. It is predatory and dishonest. The trappings of officialdom are all there but we are talking about private contractors inveigling themselves into people’s homes, presumably to tell them their furnace or air conditioning has to be upgraded (if indeed it does).

The Government wants people to use electricity in an energy efficient way. I have no problems with this.

At arms length sits the Independent Electricity System Operator. It is a not-for-profit body, overseeing the electricity market, whose Chair and Directors are appointed by the Government of Ontario. So far so good.

The IESO also offers programs designed to encourage energy conservation through its website www.saveonenergy.ca.  There is a heating and cooling incentive program for people who have purchased eligible central heating or cooling equipment through a “participating contractor”. They offer a $250 discount encouraging you to upgrade your furnace to a high-efficiency one or $250-$400 to install a new “Energy Star” certified air conditioning system.

The part of the saveonenergy.ca website Mr Orange Day-Glo is not familiar with reads as follows:

The Independent Electricity System Operator (EISO) formerly the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) does not call consumers to solicit participation in its programs. No IESO residential programs require door-to-door sales calls or the inspection of any heating and cooling equipment and the IESO does not charge a fee to participate in any of its conservation programs.

I am all in favour of saving the planet. Energy conservation is a good thing.

But I draw the line at sales people, masquerading as officials, insisting they have a right to enter your home to check serial numbers or anything else.

They don’t.

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Bob Forrest has spent five long years on the Clock Tower project. Patiently assembling the land he needs for his giant disfiguring condo in the heart of Newmarket’s historic downtown. But has he bitten off more than he can chew?

Like most developers he takes the long view. He is prepared to sit out the opposition, waiting until they tire, give up and move on with their lives. He stays the course knowing the financial rewards are immense.

Bob is an honourable man

The Forrest Group website tells us “Bob is an honourable man, of conviction and tenacity.” And one of his key strengths is “his ability to look at dirt but see development.”

Bob prefers to deal directly with planning staff. If the public gets involved they bring with them new and unwelcome unpredictability and uncertainties. Better to deal with the professional planners direct. No matter how controversial the proposal, Bob can endlessly ask for their views and re-shape the concept and fine-tune his plans in a bid to get their OK.  He needs the planners to recommend approval.

This is the way our broken planning system works.

Planners and Developers are made to tango

The developers and the planning professionals have a symbiotic relationship. They both need each other. Too often, the planners see their role as facilitating development rather than being the community’s first line of defence against inappropriate development. The planners do not owe their primary allegiance to the Town that employs them but, rather, to their own professional planning credo. If they regard a development as “good planning" or, less likely, "bad planning” they are obliged to say so regardless of what their employer (the Town) may think.

Bob Forrest recognizes the importance of this relationship and sings its virtues in his website:

“By leveraging our strong reputation and existing relationships with municipal staff and politicians we have successfully achieved results for both simple projects and those that present complex structural and environmental challenges.”

The Clock Tower certainly presents huge challenges. He needs Town owned land for the project to proceed as planned. And he faces a large, varied but well organised group of skeptics who believe his condo would be an outrageous desecration of the Town’s heritage conservation district.

The Gospel according to Saint Bob

Fortunately we know what we are up against. The saintly Bob tells us he conducts his business life by following these maxims:

  1. “Treat others as you would wish to be treated.”
  2. “Make no promises you cannot deliver, then deliver on your promises.”
  3. “Never make a deal you would not yourself accept.”
  4. “Acknowledge your errors.”

Bob’s hagiographic website celebrates his commitment to integrity and innovation and his abiding commitment to his business partners and to business ethics.

This is the same Bob Forrest who wants to transform Newmarket’s heritage conservation district by demolishing a number of its historic commercial buildings to make room for a giant out-of-place condo.  

Boarded-up Main Street

In December 2013 Bob had the first of a series of discussions with his business tenants on Main Street, all of whom have now been evicted from the properties they rented from him. These properties are all now boarded up and have been for many months.

The business tenants facing eviction wondered if they could be accommodated in the empty King George School round the corner in Park Avenue, just beyond the library. It was sold by the York Region School Board in 2011 to Chrisula Selfe for $1,275,000 and has been gently falling to bits since. Occasionally you can see a light burning in one of the old classrooms. They ask for Bob’s help.

Bob offers to approach the owner – a person he describes as a Bay Street financial type - but is rebuffed. Bob tells his business tenants the owner of the old school is just going to let it sit there and worry about it some day.

Heritage By Law wrong-footed Bob

Bob tells his business tenants he was wrong footed by the Heritage By Law and didn’t see it coming. It takes him completely by surprise. He says he lodged his planning application before the Town inconsiderately passed its By Law. This complicates things. He tells them he had been working with the Town for two years before the By Law was passed (but, astonishingly, had no inkling it was in the pipeline). He says he appealed the By Law although he is not against the Heritage Conservation District per se – only insofar as it may affect his condo project. He tells them he hates to be in this position.

Because of this unexpected hiccough Bob is prepared to let his business tenants stay where they are a little bit longer.

Bob is asked if he has a demolition permit for the properties at 184-194 Main Street South. No he doesn’t but he can evict them anyway. He tells them it is in their separate leases. He offers a six month extension and then go month by month.

Bob stresses he is trying to be helpful. He says the old buildings will be maintained – to the extent of keeping the water out – and the tenants’ rents will be frozen for as long as they are there.

Bob wants his business tenants out but fears boarded-up shop fronts

Now Bob declares that from a totally selfish vantage point he would much prefer them to vacate the properties. He could then board them up. However, he fears the Town would go apoplectic at the sight of a long row of boarded up properties. He tells them this would speed things up but then says there are all sorts of reasons why he shouldn’t do this.

Bob wraps up by telling them:

I don’t want to at all sound arbitrary but it is very real for me. My business isn’t renting stores. My business is building buildings and I want to get to the point that I can build my building at the earliest possible moment.

Bob’s right hand man, Chris Bobyk, told the Business Improvement Area Board of Management in November last year that Bob “plans to proceed with a new application for (the) proposed multi-storey Clock Tower project early in the new year.”

As I say, the Town’s planners, for their own reasons, may recommend approval of Bob’s grotesque Condo plan. Who knows? They are a law unto themselves.

But, given this possibility and the cauterizing experience of Glenway, Councillors should make contingency arrangements now to bring in heritage-aware planning consultants to defend the Town’s heritage conservation district policy if their own paid employees decide not to.

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