Pointes Protection Association to fight on

The group of Sault Ste. Marie residents known as the Pointes Protection Association (PPA), opposed to local developer Jeff Avery's Pointe Estates subdivision plan, intends to carry on its legal battles.

Sault lawyer Helen Scott, who represents the PPA, told SooToday.com Wednesday that the group, in accordance with a ruling made last month by Justice Robert Del Frate of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice Divisional Court in Sudbury, has provided $20,000 to be held by the court and paid to Avery to cover a portion of his legal costs if his case is successful.

A full hearing on the subdivision matter is scheduled for October at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice Divisional Court in Sudbury.

Pointes Protection Association members, about 27 in all, live near an area south of Pointe Aux Pins Drive where Avery proposes to build a 91-lot subdivision.

The group claims the subdivision would harm the watershed in that area.

Avery's Pointe Estates project was approved, in a 3-2 recorded vote, by the Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority (SSMRCA) Board at its December 13, 2012 meeting, despite opposition from the PPA.

Scott, representing the PPA, presented the SSMRCA Board in March with notice of a legal challenge to its December 2012 decision.

Legal documents filed by Scott in March state the Board “exceeded its jurisdiction (in its December decision) with no reasonable evidence to support its decision,” and that the Board has failed to meet its own bylaws (176/06) aimed at protecting wetlands.

Sault Ste. Marie City Council, in a 7-4 recorded vote, rejected Avery’s Pointe Estates subdivision application at a gruelling July 15 meeting.

Avery has filed an appeal of Council’s decision with the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

That OMB hearing will likely take place in Sault Ste. Marie six to eight months from now.