Appeal On Factory Farm Withdrawn At Hearing

Saturday, February 24, 2001

OMB official awards costs of bylaw appeal to township

By Cathy McKee
CENTREVILLE/For The Whig-Standard

MICHAEL SLACK'S APPEAL OF A ZONING bylaw in Stone Mills Township was withdrawn by his son, Mark Slack, at an Ontario Municipal Board hearing in Centreville Thursday.

The cost of the hearing, assessed at $2,000, will be paid by Michael Slack.

About 60 concerned citizens attended the hearing. Several intended to voice their concerns about a proposed factory farm in Erinsville, where a school and three lakes are near the proposed site.

Among them were Patricia Long, representing the Beaver Lake Preservation Association, Steven Alls, co-ordinator of the replica Irish Village planned for Erinsville, Robert Storring, acting for a number of  property owners, and Patricia Sawyer of Lakeview Restaurant and Tavern in Erinsville.

Mark Slack, on behalf of his father, said he hoped the hearing would clarify the uses permitted in areas in the township zoned RU (rural) and RU-1 (hamlet). When the chairman of the hearing, Norm Jackson, said that clarifying bylaws is not a function of the OMB, Slack withdrew his father's appeal.

Jackson said Slack's appeal failed to meet the board's test of reasonableness, so he will have to reimburse Stone Mills Township for its expenses. These include having a lawyer, Tim Wilkin, and a planner, John Uliana, present at the hearing.

Mark Slack plans to build an intensive pig farming operation on his father's land in Erinsville. Part of the property is zones rural and part is zoned hamlet.

Wilkin, speaking for the township, said both categories permit farming. He said this had been explained to Mark Slack and his father before the hearing.

This was a critical point in Jackson's decision to award costs to the township.

Mark Slack had asked for a letter from the township containing assurances that his proposed farm would be permitted. Wilkin said no assurances could be  given because the township had not yet received applications for a building permit or site plan.

Jackson told Mark Slack, "It's not our function to give assurances. Don't abuse the process."

Jackson emphasized that people have a right to contest a bylaw. The appropriate time for this would have been last year when the township implemented a new official plan.

Wilkin told the hearing that there was public consultation during this process. Neither Mark Slack nor his father attended these meetings. On the last day to file an appeal of the zoning bylaws, November 14, 2000, Mark Slack launched his appeal.

Jackson addressed Mark Slack: "Please, sir, just tell me that what they're telling me is correct."

Slack said that it was.

"The reasonableness test has not been met." Jackson said.

He said a reasonable question would have been to ask the township how the zoning bylaws would affect his planned use of the land.

Wilkin said Slack's conduct throughout the process, not just today, "has not been reasonable."

Mark Slack disagreed. "Whether I submit my appeal on the first day or the last day is irrelevant."

He said he wanted to know if "farming units" are allowed in RU and RU-1 lands and how the township would interpret the zoning laws in the case of his proposed farm.

Once again, Wilkin said that RU and RU-1 lands can be used for farming, but whether Mark Slack's proposal would fall under the usual meaning of the word farm could not be determined without a site plan.

Jackson asked Slack if his father, who was not present at the hearing, was knowledgeable about the process required to gain approval for the farm.

Mark Slack said his father was knowledgeable in these matters.

The chair called a recess so the parties could negotiate the matter of costs.

When the hearing reconvened, Slack admitted that there were grounds to ask his father to pay for the township's expenses. The parties agreed on the sum of $2,000.