GUELPH/ERAMOSA – A residents’ group formed in opposition to a massive refrigeration plant approved for Jones Baseline is facing a David and Goliath legal battle as they proceed to the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).
On June 7, Jones Baseline Community Inc. will be heading to a case management conference at the OLT for an early hearing of their appeal of Minus Forty’s 264,000 square foot refrigeration and freezer plant approved for 5063 Jones Baseline by Guelph/Eramosa council last fall.
Jon Pigozzo, a spokesperson for the opposition group, explained the upcoming meeting gives both sides the chance to show how many expert witnesses and other people involved in the appeal there are and what information will be presented to get a handle on how long the case will take.
Ahead of this, Pigozzo said the group is cautiously optimistic things will work out in their favour but acknowledged it won’t be easy.
“A lot of this is just going to come down to money and we’re a small community group of people who have other jobs and have just been through a pandemic,” Pigozzo said. “We’re trying to raise funds out of our own pockets to pay for a lawyer and to try and get our own planner.”
Meanwhile, the group is up against Minus Forty, a major corporation now owned by an American equity group called Ronin Equity Partners.
“They have deep pockets, so they’re going to be able to pay for more lawyers, more experts, more everything,” Pigozzo said.
A request for comment from Minus Forty officials was not immediately returned.
Pigozzo said one of the only “stones” they have to throw in their “David versus Goliath” battle is the group believes a decision made 30 years ago was ill-informed that lead to the approval of rezoning the 28 acres from agricultural to rural industrial land.
A press release from the group stated the former Township of Eramosa was “forced” by the provincial government to designate the lands as future rural employment in the early 90s and no changes were made as the Jones Baseline neighbourhood grew and earned an official hamlet status.
“We’re disappointed that it’s even come to this, we were hoping the Guelph/Eramosa council and the Wellington County councils and planners would have seen the issue that local residents have with basically dropping a massive industrial factory into the middle of a residential neighbourhood,” Pigozzo said.
After the case management conference, Pigozzo said the group will be reevaluating because at that stage they’ll have a better idea of what their costs will be and how much they can afford to spend.
“Nobody here wants to go into debt but we seem to be the only ones standing up for the right thing to do,” Pigozzo said.
More information on Jones Baseline Community Inc. can be found here.
