After several months of rescheduled meetings, battles with an environmental group and an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), a developer in Dundas, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, has lost his bid to build a self-storage facility on land the city wants to maintain as open space due to its proximity to an environmentally sensitive area called Cootes Paradise.

The OMD ruled against J. Douglas Hammond, of First Dundas Leasing Ltd., in a 37-page ruling released Thursday. The property was rezoned in 1998 as special open space, permitting recreational and commercial use. Hammond bought the land after the rezoning. Developing self-storage would require a change to industrial use.

A year ago, a planning committee unanimously turned down the proposal due to public opposition which included 70 personal letters and more than 1,500 petition letters. The citizens’ group, Protect Our Dundas, would like the area to become part of an urban eco-park.

Hammond appealed the 2009 decision by the city council to reject his rezoning application for the two-hectare property.
After a four-week hearing, which included 15 witnesses and 82 exhibits, the OMB said permitting the storage facility would represent “a fundamental shift” in the planning context for the property.

Source:  The Spec,  OMD Nixes Dundas Project

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