Spencer Philips

The appellants appealed a Committee of Adjustment decision refusing variances to regularize an existing gazebo located near a municipal drain.

The core issue was a requested reduction of the minimum setback from the drain from 10.4 metres to 0 metres.

The Tribunal preferred the appellants' expert engineering evidence, which confirmed the slope was stable and not prone to erosion, over the municipality's reliance on a 1988 drainage report.

Finding that the variances met the four tests under the Planning Act, the Tribunal allowed the appeal and authorized the variances.