At JCRA’s 2020 Annual Meeting, held on October 21, our MPP Stephen Crawford advised residents that the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing had informed H&R REIT and Amazon earlier in the day, that due to concerns raised with regard to negative impacts on local residents resulting from the proposed Amazon facility including impacts on air quality, hours of operation, noise and traffic; the Minister proposes refusing the application for a Parkway Belt West Plan amendment for the proposed site at 2175 Cornwall Rd. The Minister specifically cited these concerns as raised by JCRA and individual residents, and by our Ward 3 Councillors Janet Haslett-Theall and Dave Gittings. You can read the Minister’s letter here.
The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing is required to provide written notice to the applicant regarding the reasons he is proposing to refuse the PBWP application and provide 30 days after the day of the notice for the applicant to make written submissions to the Minister. If written submissions are not received, the PBWP application shall be deemed to be refused.
This was a key issue because future development and expansion of the site would have been facilitated with the removal of provincial restrictions, and that is not in residents’ best interests.
Many thanks to MPP Crawford for his support of residents’ concerns and for bringing our concerns to the attention of the Minister. Thanks also to Councillors Haslett-Theall and Gittings, and Mayor Burton for their support and involvement on this issue. And of course, thank you to the many residents who took the time to email the Minister, MPP Crawford and our municipal representatives. Together, our actions made a difference for our community.