unimaginative2
Senior Member
Bid to halt Seaton project tossed
Panel's decision
Text from the Superior Court decision rejecting Silvio DeGasperis's challenge of the Seaton deal:
"Their only interest is in frustrating, disrupting and delaying the achievement of public policy goals of the province to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine and to establish controlled development of the Seaton lands."
"The motives of the applicants in bringing this application would justify the dismissal of the application on the grounds of abuse of process even if the application was not being dismissed on other grounds."
There are no other outstanding challenges Larry Clay , an official with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Judges call developer Silvio DeGasperis's greenbelt court action `an abuse of process'
Jun 15, 2007 04:30 AM
Phinjo Gombu
STAFF REPORTER
For three years, Vaughan developer Silvio DeGasperis has waged war on the province, spending $5 million to fight a bitter land battle.
And caught in the middle is a plan to build the GTA's first eco-community.
This week, DeGasperis was left licking his wounds after his latest court challenge was tossed out.
A panel of judges didn't mince words, stating that DeGasperis's only interest in the court action was "frustrating, disrupting and delaying the achievement of public policy goals of the province to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine."
DeGasperis has 30 days to appeal and said yesterday he is considering his options.
"We have not made a decision yet," he said last night.
The issue revolves around a controversial land swap between developers and the province that would preserve environmentally sensitive land on the Oak Ridges Moraine in exchange for lands in Seaton in north Pickering.
But with the Dalton McGuinty government's introduction of the Greenbelt – a protected strip of land stretching around the Golden Horseshoe – 400 hectares of DeGasperis's land in north Pickering went from prime real estate to a no-build zone.
It hurt him, and since the fall of 2004 he's made no bones about the fact that he intended to get back at McGuinty.
Last year, he told the Star that "McGuinty has already hurt me.
"Now I'm going to hurt him."
Earlier, DeGasperis leaked a damning letter detailing an intimate $10,000-a-plate dinner McGuinty had with 14 developers at the home of Finance Minister Greg Sorbara's brother Edward before the boundaries of the greenbelt were drawn up.
Then, he launched a series of costly legal challenges against provincial plans for the Seaton lands.
The province hopes to create a one-of-a-kind community there, made up of 15 compact neighbourhoods bordering forests and streams.
It's been called an eco-community, built on a plan that would place every home within a five-minute walk of a transit stop, with extensive bicycle paths and front porches and gardens, rather than garages, facing main streets.
There are plans to power all the homes using solar and geothermal energy, with metered appliances to encourage off-peak-hours energy use.
That vision is one step closer.
DeGasperis, who owns TACC Construction, had all but reached the end of his legal options this week after the panel of Superior Court judges ruled against his claims that the environmental assessment plans for the Seaton lands were flawed.
The judges, however, did more than that, slamming DeGasperis for holding up development on the Seaton lands, calling his legal challenges "an abuse of process."
They wrote that the "motives" of DeGasperis in bringing forward the case were grounds for dismissal alone, "even if the application was not dismissed on other grounds."
The decision, if it is not appealed, allows for the land swap to be completed.
"This is it," Larry Clay, a senior official with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, said yesterday. "There are no other outstanding challenges."
Clay said the ruling allows the province to move ahead with finalizing the terms of the land swap between those developers – including a distant cousin, Fred DeGasperis, owner of Con-Drain – and Queen's Park.
"The government wants to move forward quickly on concluding that transaction, as do the developers," Clay said.
A key argument by DeGasperis was that the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, around the hamlet of Cherrywood where he owns land, was more developable than the Seaton lands.
It is closer to sewer and hydro connections than Seaton, he still argues, a position supported by the City of Pickering.
He tried to argue that the Seaton lands were more environmentally sensitive than his and needed a full-blown environmental assessment rather than the more limited assessment conducted by the province.
Panel's decision
Text from the Superior Court decision rejecting Silvio DeGasperis's challenge of the Seaton deal:
"Their only interest is in frustrating, disrupting and delaying the achievement of public policy goals of the province to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine and to establish controlled development of the Seaton lands."
"The motives of the applicants in bringing this application would justify the dismissal of the application on the grounds of abuse of process even if the application was not being dismissed on other grounds."
There are no other outstanding challenges Larry Clay , an official with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing Judges call developer Silvio DeGasperis's greenbelt court action `an abuse of process'
Jun 15, 2007 04:30 AM
Phinjo Gombu
STAFF REPORTER
For three years, Vaughan developer Silvio DeGasperis has waged war on the province, spending $5 million to fight a bitter land battle.
And caught in the middle is a plan to build the GTA's first eco-community.
This week, DeGasperis was left licking his wounds after his latest court challenge was tossed out.
A panel of judges didn't mince words, stating that DeGasperis's only interest in the court action was "frustrating, disrupting and delaying the achievement of public policy goals of the province to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine."
DeGasperis has 30 days to appeal and said yesterday he is considering his options.
"We have not made a decision yet," he said last night.
The issue revolves around a controversial land swap between developers and the province that would preserve environmentally sensitive land on the Oak Ridges Moraine in exchange for lands in Seaton in north Pickering.
But with the Dalton McGuinty government's introduction of the Greenbelt – a protected strip of land stretching around the Golden Horseshoe – 400 hectares of DeGasperis's land in north Pickering went from prime real estate to a no-build zone.
It hurt him, and since the fall of 2004 he's made no bones about the fact that he intended to get back at McGuinty.
Last year, he told the Star that "McGuinty has already hurt me.
"Now I'm going to hurt him."
Earlier, DeGasperis leaked a damning letter detailing an intimate $10,000-a-plate dinner McGuinty had with 14 developers at the home of Finance Minister Greg Sorbara's brother Edward before the boundaries of the greenbelt were drawn up.
Then, he launched a series of costly legal challenges against provincial plans for the Seaton lands.
The province hopes to create a one-of-a-kind community there, made up of 15 compact neighbourhoods bordering forests and streams.
It's been called an eco-community, built on a plan that would place every home within a five-minute walk of a transit stop, with extensive bicycle paths and front porches and gardens, rather than garages, facing main streets.
There are plans to power all the homes using solar and geothermal energy, with metered appliances to encourage off-peak-hours energy use.
That vision is one step closer.
DeGasperis, who owns TACC Construction, had all but reached the end of his legal options this week after the panel of Superior Court judges ruled against his claims that the environmental assessment plans for the Seaton lands were flawed.
The judges, however, did more than that, slamming DeGasperis for holding up development on the Seaton lands, calling his legal challenges "an abuse of process."
They wrote that the "motives" of DeGasperis in bringing forward the case were grounds for dismissal alone, "even if the application was not dismissed on other grounds."
The decision, if it is not appealed, allows for the land swap to be completed.
"This is it," Larry Clay, a senior official with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, said yesterday. "There are no other outstanding challenges."
Clay said the ruling allows the province to move ahead with finalizing the terms of the land swap between those developers – including a distant cousin, Fred DeGasperis, owner of Con-Drain – and Queen's Park.
"The government wants to move forward quickly on concluding that transaction, as do the developers," Clay said.
A key argument by DeGasperis was that the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, around the hamlet of Cherrywood where he owns land, was more developable than the Seaton lands.
It is closer to sewer and hydro connections than Seaton, he still argues, a position supported by the City of Pickering.
He tried to argue that the Seaton lands were more environmentally sensitive than his and needed a full-blown environmental assessment rather than the more limited assessment conducted by the province.
