Innisfil District Association's stand without merit

I'd like to respond to Don Avery's letter in your May 7th edition.

First, the Memorandum of Settlement was not "offered" by the province. It was negotiated and ultimately signed by Kimvar, the province, the County of Simcoe, the Town of Innisfil, the Residents of Innisfil Association and the Sandy Cove Acres Homeowners' Association, with the assistance of the provincial facilitator. It was a joint effort and an excellent example of consensus-building.

It is interesting that Avery perpetuates the fiction of three opposing parties. Two of them are related, private, for-profit companies whose goal is to expand the members-only Big Bay Point Golf Club on lands right next to our resort. They are self-interested corporate competitors, not citizens' groups.

It is very curious that Avery now commends the province for its stand on environmental issues, given that the IDA and their corporate allies put me and three levels of government (including the province) through a lengthy OMB hearing in which the opponents took the position that environmental issues had not been satisfactorily addressed.

Either Avery's current commendation is some sort of cynical after-the-fact attempt to curry favour with the province, or his organization's position at the hearing was without merit. It is most likely both.

Nor was the IDA's case at the hearing about reducing the number of boat slips or units, which Avery says was their concern. Not once did they ever say that the resort would be acceptable if it was smaller. Their position was that it had to be refused, lock, stock and barrel, on the basis of what turned out to be baseless environmental and big picture planning complaints made by witnesses who hadn't read the relevant studies or planning documents.

That's why we're seeking costs against the IDA and its corporate partners.

Avery says that the IDA could not support the settlement due to the number of boat slips and units, and that these were established at private meetings and were a fait accompli when his organization was invited to join the discussions.

The truth is that the negotiations were organized and directed by the provincial facilitator. She decided that the talks should start between Kimvar and the three governments (not just the town and county, as Avery says). If there was progress, Avery's group and the other residents' associations would be asked to participate. That's what happened.

We attended all of the meetings, including those at which Avery's group were present. The IDA was represented by eminent counsel, and by experienced planning and environmental experts.

Not once did they ever offer to support a scaleddown project. Not once did they put numbers on the table.

What they did do, once the memorandum was finalized and available for them to sign, was to fire their lawyer and environmental expert. I wonder why?

As for the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority's views, they are on record in the exhibits filed at the OMB hearing. And, had the authority harboured any concern about the project, it would have exercised its right to participate in the hearing. We are committed to working with the authority to bring about a sustainable future for the lake.

Earl Rumm, President of the Geranium Corporation