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Coverage of the OMB decison, the appeal and follow-up, courtesy of the Guelph Mercury - we urge you to subscribe
Coverage of the OMB hearing final arguments, courtesy of the Guelph Mercury - we urge you to subscribe
Coverage of the OMB hearing evidence, courtesy of the Guelph Mercury - we urge you to subscribe
Here's how
Our witness statements
David Douglas - planner - pdf)
Stephen Rodd - planner - pdf)
Rev. Jean Mitchell - priest - pdf)
Olga Protz - chaplain - pdf)
The famous elephant ad (appeared in the June 15 Guelph Tribune - pdf)
The famous front page story of the "last ones standing" (appeared in the June 19 Guelph Mercury - pdf)
The famous front page pic of Chris Jess and the cast from the August 5 demo at the OMB public night(appeared in the August 6 Guelph Mercury) The Jesuit case - pdf)
media release

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Memberships, donations
Memberships can be purchased for $10 from Thomas Entertainment.
If you want to send a donation - made out to Residents for Sustainable Development in Guelph, Suite 100, 127 Wyndham St. N, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1H 4E9 - we'd certainly appreciate your support.
Or, we are accepting donations at Thomas Entertainment, the Flour Barrel and Planet Bean in downtown Guelph. Wouldn't you know it? Trying to save your community is considered "political" so we can't give tax receipts.)

More news updates

February 21 update
Leave to appeal hearing moved to Toronto, to be heard March 22, 23
RSD's leave to appeal will be heard March 22 and 23 at the Divisional Court of Ontario in Toronto. Originially set for Brampton, RSD agreed to 6&7's request to move it to Toronto on a "no costs" basis. This means that if RSD fails in its motion, it will not be subject to the other parties' costs, as is often the case in court appeals.
January 12, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RSD SEEKS LEAVE TO APPEAL BIG BOX DECISION
Residents for Sustainable Development in Guelph (RSD) will seek leave to appeal the December 29 OMB decision allowing a Wal-Mart in the north end of Guelph.
Documents filed today (Wednesday, January 12) with the Divisional Court of Ontario focus on the Charter arguments raised at the hearing regarding apparent conflicts in compatibility between the proposed development and neighbouring lands used for religious purposes, particularly the Ignatius Jesuit Centre.
"The interaction between planning law and Charter rights has been a matter of real controversy at the OMB before" said Eric Gillespie, RSD's legal counsel. "This appeal will hopefully give the courts the opportunity to clarify the law for Guelph and across the province."
Support for an appeal has been overwhelming.
"We have consulted with a lot of people in this community in the past week or so and the response has been unanimous. Everyone has told us to carry on," said Ben Bennett, spokesman for RSD.
"Clearly, a lot of people believe that placing a Wal-Mart at Woodlawn and Woolwich would be a terrible insult to the adjoining cemeteries and the Jesuit Centre, not to mention a traffic nightmare," he said.
"No one is disputing the fact that a lot of Guelph residents want a Wal-Mart store. It is, and has always been, our position that there are better places for it in this city. We believe the commercial policy review currently being undertaken by the council will show there are several places a Wal-Mart could locate - places close to where young families with new homes actually live. These are, after all, Wal-Mart's primary customers."
Bennett noted that a judge will ultimately decide if there are sufficient grounds for an appeal. That decision is expected this spring.
-30-
Click for RSD's leave to appeal document

January 3, 2005 report
OMB finds for Wal-Mart
To no one's real surprise, the Ontario Municipal Board has approved the proposed Wal-Mart big box development at Woolwich and Woodlawn in Guelph. We will post the full decision as soon as we have an electronic version.
We're obviously disappointed but given the Canadian Tire OMB decision in 2001 and all that's happened since this was not exactly unexpected.
The big question now is whether we appeal and what form that appeal would take. There will be more on that when we know.
Click for the decision (32 pages in pdf)

October 21 report
Hearing over
More than seven years after its first pre-hearing conference, the Ontario Municipal Board hearing into a proposed Wal-mart in Guelph's north end finally ended today.
"You have presented me with probably the biggest challenge of my life, " said OMB chair Box Boxma as the hearing came to end.
Today was the third day of argument from lawyers representing the developer, 6&7 Developments, the City and Residents for Sustainable Development in Guelph (RSD), which opposes the project. The evidence was presented back in August, after which the hearing was adjourned to allow lawyers more time to respond to case law from RSD which suggested the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (freedom of religion) should be considered in this case, because of the unique nature of the proposed Wal-mart site between two cemeteries and the Ignatius Jesuit Centre.
The OMB reserved its decision.
RSD spokesman Ben Bennett said he doesn't expect a decision for several weeks.
"They have a lot to think about," he said. Bennett said he fully expects there will be an appeal, whoever wins, "but it will depend on the wording of the decision."
"Let's just say I'm not putting my files into long-term storage just yet."

September report
Big box hearing adjourned as charter issue is raised
The ongoing Ontario Municipal Board hearing into a proposed Wal-Mart big box store in Guelph's north end, expected to wrap up Sept 1 and 2 at Guelph City Hall, has been adjourned until October 19. In a statement, OMB chair Bob Boxma said a charter issue has been raised which will require more time for the lawyers to prepare their arguments. All parties agreed to the delay. The issue relates to the right to freedom of religion. Three days have been reserved to hear the final arguments on both the planning and charter isues, beginning with 6&7 Developments, October 19.
Statement read by Bob Boxma, September 1, 2004. "RSD intends to argue that the Board, in considering whether to approve the planning instruments for the 6&7 lands, must have regard for the right of freedom of religion that is protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Charter issues, once raised, can be complex and may require the Board to consider the ambit of the Charter-protected right in question and its application to the facts at hand. To ensure that the parties are able to provide a complete analysis that will be helpful to the Board, the Board agrees that final argument should not proceed today. Accordingly, the Board has rescheduled final arguments until October 19-21, 2004, being the first dates after today that the Board and counsel are all availalbe."

Hearing adjourned to September 1 and 2.
A legal issue has arisen which means the lawyers need more time to prepare their arguments. The rest of the hearing is complete (i.e. the evidence is now in. That part wrapped up on Tuesday.
Wow - about 400 showed up to attend the public night. 70+ on the speakers list. All but 5 on our side. You have to love this city! We start again on Monday at 9:30 a.m.
About 200 attended the August 1 Walk of Faith; there was a sell-out for the e-Bar fund-raiser August 3 and we've had media coverage in spades. Not a bad start...

June 24 report
Hearing set for August 3, Guelph City Hall
The OMB hearing on the proposed Wal-Mart at Woolwich and Woodlawn will start August 3 at Guelph City Hall. It will run for about a week. 6&7 will make its case first, followed by the City, RSD and then the Jesuit Centre.The public night will be THURSDAY, August 5, at 7 p.m., Italian Canadian Club. See below.
At a pre-hearing conference June 24, the Issues list was reduced to 7 issues, covering incompatibility with neighbouring use, the prospect of the development becoming an unplanned regional centre, the premature nature of the development (i.e., before the city has completed its Commercial Policy Review) and the environmental, health, social and financial impact of vehicle use.
RSD has withdrawn its objection to the Zellers on Stone Road, so that will likely be approved after a short hearing July 19, 10 a.m., city hall.
***Anyone wishing to speak to that should attend July 19 and send their name, address and phone number to Catherina Lisiak at the OMB click here) ****
Please note: the OMB will NOT ALLOW recording equipment of any kind to be used during the hearing (including small tape recorders). We objected to this but were over-ruled.

June 21 report
Another pre-hearing conference will be held at Guelph City Hall, THURSDAY, JUN 24 at 10 a.m. We should have the chair's decision on the Home Depot issue (is it still in or not?), and results of the mediation session held last week - that being a reduced issues list. Cheques and memberships have been coming in since the ad ran in the Tribune last week. Keep 'em coming !

June 15 report
At a one-day hearing at Guelph City Hall, Monday, June 14, on RSD's motion to adjourn the hearing pending resolution of certain legal issues, lawyers for the parties agreed to a mediation session at the OMB this Friday, June 18. Another pre-hearing will be held in Guelph on Thursday, June 24 to see which of the issues have been resolved. The main hearing has been tentatively set for the first two weeks in August.

May 26 report
Council rolls over
Last night (May the Guelph City Council sat through 42 delegations on the big box issue - 37 of them opposed. The only ones to ask questions of speakers and the only ones to actually make any statements about how and why they would vote were councillors Laidlaw, Burcher and Downer, who oppose both developments. There was no word from any of the other council members. Nothing. The scale of this arrogance is hard to describe and articulate. Suffice to say at the point RSD is the only party opposing the developments, Armel having mysteriously withdrawn its (previously strong) opposition last week. The parties had previously to that advised they were no longer opposed to each other. Not a good week. So, now we have some thinking, planning and most definitely some fund-raising to do. We hope others will take the lead on the fund-raising aspects.

April 20 update
Council sets May 25 for a public meeting on big box
A public meeting has been set for May 25, at a location yet to be determined (city hall may be too small). At the meeting, staff will present a report on the outcome of the "settlement" discussions. After three months, no agreements have yet been reached among any of the parties although it is widely rumoured that Zellers and Wal-mart are close to a deal - but they said that six weeks ago...(these guys are lawyers, don't forget).

February 14 update
Parties still talking (although we're not)
As parties in the hearing, RSD (and Dr. Griff Morgan) got to sit down with the city's lawyers recently to see if there was room to negotiate. There wasn't - although we did suggest they should be talking to Wal-Mart directly. The lawyers have advised city council that talKs with other parties are ongoing.

January 16 update
Furfaro motion means more delays

Guelph Councillor Furfaro is bringing the following motion to council this coming Monday.
"Be it Resolved that Council directs the City Solicitor and Aird & Berlis LLP to undertake discussions and negotiations with the parties to the hearing to determine whether and on what terms settlement with some or all of the parties may be achieved and to report back to Council for further discussion on or before February 10, 2004" This motion means the OMB mini-hearing on whether the market issues should include the possibility of a power centre developing in the north end is put on hold, effectively delaying the main hearing another two or three months. Now we are looking at the summer.

November 2003 update
More delays - till March at least
At a routine (we thought) procedural pre-hearing meeting in Toronto in October, Ros Houser, the lawyer for 6&7 developments asked that the market guys not be allowed to look at the potentil impact from the inevitable power centre that would develop if Wal-Mart and Home Depot were allowed (even though there is no application - yet - for a power centre, on the books). The OMB chair, Bob Boxma, agreed..
In response, the U ofG, the Bay and Armel have asked for a judicial review of Mr. Boxma's decision. They claim, essentially, that he made a msitake. So the OMB has now granted a review, which means the same argument will be made in front of another board member. That will be in January so we are on hold until this is resolved. Should be at least a 50-60 day delay but could be more if one or other appeals the OMB decision to the next level.. So, the end of March at the earliest... In the meantime, we now have a very pro-big box council and mayor and can expect a review of the City's position very soon.

August 13 2003 update
Hearing will resume January 13, 2004!
The OMB hearing will resume on January 13, 2004. The parties have reserved four to six months for the hearing, which will be held at the Gueph City Hall council chambers. 6&7 Developments will go first, followed by the University of Guelph, The Bay, Armel Corporation, Residents for Sustainable Development, Dr. Griff Morgan and then the City. Then 6&7 and the U of G get to respond. The Participants will have their chance to speak, probably at a "public night" like they did at the Canadian Tire hearing. No date has been set for that yet. All this is open to the public. The hearing will not sit on Fridays and each day usually starts at 10 a.m.

JULY 2003 UPDATE
Phase One of the hearing over - parties agree Wal-Mart would do $505 per square foot
The first part of the OMB hearing, dedicated entirely to determining how much Wal-Mart would sell in a Guelph market, has finished. After months of testimony and delays, the OMB finally told the parties to try to come to an agreement amongst themselves as to what Wal-Mart would do. And they have. A joint statement issued July 18, and now made public, the parties agreed that Wal-Mart would do $505 in the first full year of operation (expect to be 2006 - if they win)and $640 per square foot by 2008. There wil be a pre-hearing August 12 to schedule Phase Two - the real (planning) part of the hearing - and it will be in public! Planning and market evidence will now have to be updated so the hearing will not likely resume until late fall.

LATE SPRING 2003 UPDATE
Maybe the fall for the planning part of the hearing, maybe later
The in camera part of the OMB hearing, which has been dealing with market issues (how much Wal-mart would do in a Guelph market, primarily) has been dragging on for months, intermittently, and is now delayed again because one of the witnesses is very ill. As a result, the parties are participating in a mediation session, attempting to agree to some numbers that way. Why this wasn't done before we don't know. At any rate, that process is ongoing and continues June 17. Once we do get an agreed number for Wal-Mart sales (which we think will be between $450 and $550 per square foot), there will be more delays while planning reports are updated. We will not get to the public planning part of the hearing therefore until at least the fall.

SPRING UPDATE
Looks like a summer session in Guelph
The OMB hearing has been running for several months, in camera, in Toronto, to talk about market issues. There have been all kinds of delays for various mundane reasons. It looks right now that that part may be finished by May Then there wil be a decision for the Board about what kind of sales a Wal-Mart store would do in Guelph. Then there will be a 30-day delay while the market reports are updated and then there will be a 30-day delay so the planning reports can be updated. Then we can start the main, public planning part of the hearing in Guelph. So it looks like July-ish.
January 2003 update - Wal-Mart nailed for $50,000 in costs
The decision on court costs in connection with Wal-Mart's action against Bob Onyschuk, and the Guelph Mercury has now come down. The OMB awarded costs against Wal-Mart - $50,000! The essence of the decision seems to be that the Wal-Mart lawyers took too long and wasted everyone's time. The in-camera sales/markets arguments are continuing and we expect the planning (public) part of the hearing to start late ths spring. Of course, you never know what else can happen between now and then...

Fall 2002 update
In camera sessions to finally proceed October 7
After a bizzare month where the in-camnera arguments about market issues and numbers were stalled, the hearings resume, in camera, on October 7. On September 4, the Guelph Mercury published some confidential sales figures in a story about Wal-mart's anticipated performance at a Guelph store. The result was a motion from Wal-Mart seeking to have Bob Onyschuk removed from the hearing and charges of contempt laid against him, reporter Hilary Stead and the Guelph Mercury. Today, the decision came back from the OMB saying it would not be sending the issue to the Divisional Court so we can now get on with the hearing.

Hearing goes in camera to argue sales figures
We had a one-day session on Tuesday so Ros Housser of 6&7 Developments could make her opening statement. Not much new there and lots of interruptions from other lawyers who felt she was trying to make argument. They now go in camera for about six weeks while they argue about potential sales for Wal-Mart. The next public sessioin will be Oct 11 in Gueph at 10 a.m. when we look at what needs to done to include the former Desert Inn property with our hearing. The OMB decided to include the proposal for a possible Home Depot on that property in with our hearing.

August 2002 update
More delays - resume September 3
Since the three-month delay while Wal-mart provided 2001 sales figures and the analysts did their analysis, the U of G, Armel and the Bay tried to get three more stores' sales figures when they realised the Wal-Mart market guy had included them in his analysis (It's all very esoteric and doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot other than delay). The OMB had a motion hearing on August 12 on that issue and yesterday the Board said it would NOT order the extra sales figures and would give us the reasons in writing soon. (Look for an appeal by the U of G etc. on that issue - which could mean more delay). Yesterday there was a motion hearing on whether the OMB hearing on expanded commercial uses at the former Desert Inn property should be rolled into our hearing as it is rumoured to be a Home Depot, and is adjacent to the 6&7 site. The Board reserved its decision on that so we wait. We are currently scheduled to resume on September 3 in the Guelph council chambers. Assuming nothing else happens in the meantime to delay things (which is more than possiible) we should be moving quickly to Phase One of the hearing - the market issues. This will be about six weeks of in-camera sessions on what kind of sales a Wal-mart can be expected to do in Guelph. Based on the previous analysis, we know it will be somewhere between $450 and $600 per square foot but they have to argue about the exact figure for six weeks! This may well be moved to Toronto, as it is in camera. We are not participating in the in-camera stuff although our friend and colleague Dr.Griff Morgan, another party, will be taking part in some of the debate. In the meantime, there are still a few copies of Gueph Against Goliath left at the Bookshelf.

April 2002 update
Hearing gets under way at least, then stalled!
The hearing started as planned on April 15. There was two days of background evidence and then two days of tours of shopping cnetres. Then there was a week's delay so Armel, The Bay and the U of G could prepare a motion on getting Wal-Mart's latest sales figures. That motion hearing was held on Monday, April 29 and on April 30, the Board ordered the sales figures but gave them all three months to rejig their market analysis. We resume on August 12.

Who we are
(Note:The Big Box Action Group (BBAG) was a group of Guelph citizens concerned about improper development in the city. The group has opposed proposals for "power centres" in the city's north end and on Stone Road. Mega projects which place existing local shopping centres (including the downtown), in jeopardy, do not serve the community. With the coming together of overwhelming public opposition through the public meeting process and the need to continue that opposition at the Ontario Municpal Board, the group broadened to include residents and groups from across the community. The new name was felt to better represent the group's broader membership base and mandate, and leaves us ready to work together on other planning issues when the big box OMB hearing and continuing legal battle against Wal-Mart was over.)

Click here to e-mail us right now: rsd@not-there.ca

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