Dear editor:
The folks that own the nice property next-door to the Marotta-proposed Ritz-Carlton hotel on the former Rand Estate, and who have been active core members of a fierce opposition force (aka SORE) against that infamous hotel development, are also the owners of 95 Johnson St., which is now known as the Scotsman Hotel — also a very nice property. They run this small boutique hotel and advertise rooms at $2,000 per night.
Hear this: they want to get an official plan amendment to intensify the existing hotel use to allow for the purchase and consumption of alcohol for up to 57 individuals, among other curious things.
So what, and who cares in the real world, but this is Old Town and the property is outside the commercial area in the new official plan, so this would set such a nasty precedent that would literally dissolve the intent of the new official plan that’s been in the works for many years and at great political turmoil.
The 95 Johnson intensification proposal, when carefully analyzed in detail, borders on the edge of tragic comedy.
The hotel intensification application was presented in the council chambers last Tuesday, July 7 within the format of a public meeting, to try and accomplish something so extraordinary that it warrants not only public attention but also a fulsome understanding of the planning process and how this town is managed.
It may even be significant enough to breach both the Planning Act and Municipal Act legislation; it could be that serious, but who knows at this point?
Every single one of the council members appeared either as an accomplice to this somewhat stealthy proposal, or were simply comatose to the fact that the timing of this application falls after the May 26 date of the adopted new official plan (adopted by this council) and the Sept. 26 date when the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing must review, modify or approve the adopted official plan document.
Furthermore, the election year lame-duck period is Aug. 10. The lame-duck mode, as per the Municipal Act, strictly prohibits town council not only from processing, but also passing major land-use change decisions, which the 95 Johnson official plan amendment application clearly is.
Not one councillor realized the magnitude of what potentially was about to take shape; they were being bamboozled.
This fascinating and truly original non-fiction story of one the biggest NIMBY SORE members working against Marotta, with unyielding persistence, now trying something so unusual on their own property by attempting to expedite an approval of something that could easily pass the test of being fictitious? Truly mind-boggling — worthy of a play at the Shaw.
Peter Rusin
St. Davids
