Janet McGuigan Kelly

The applicant property owner applied to repeal a municipal by-law designating her property under the Ontario Heritage Act.

Following a pre-hearing conference, the Conservation Review Board ordered the parties to hold an in-person meeting to exchange information and clarify the implications of the heritage designation and property tax relief program prior to the next pre-hearing teleconference.

The appellants appealed an Engineer's Report under the Drainage Act regarding the Saxon Drain Branch No. 1.

The Engineer discovered that the appellants had installed tile drains that diverted water from outside the historical Saxon Drain watershed into the drain, overburdening its capacity.

The Engineer recommended blocking the unauthorized tiles and improving the adjacent Bateman Drain.

The appellants argued the historical watershed was incorrectly defined and their tiles did not adversely impact the drain.

The Tribunal found the appellants knowingly tiled beyond their assessed watershed, adversely impacting downstream landowners.

The Tribunal upheld the Engineer's recommendations to block the tiles and confirmed the assessments, but ordered that recommendations regarding improvements to the Bateman Drain be handled under a separate Section 78 process rather than forming part of the Saxon Drain by-law.

Several landowners appealed the engineer's report and the Court of Revision's decision regarding the Story Drain project under the Drainage Act.

The project involved incorporating an existing private drain enclosure into the municipal drain and replacing a failed section.

The appellants challenged the inclusion of prior engineering costs, the adequacy of allowances for right-of-way and existing drains, the assessment ratios, and the location of the outlet.

The Tribunal ordered a nominal allowance for the existing drain, adjusted the Benefit/Outlet assessment ratios to 60/40, removed a portion of the prior engineering costs, and confirmed the existing outlet location.

Requests for costs were denied.