At the OMB review hearing, the chair noted that Royston and Burton (Pieper's lawyer) were obviously in cahoots.
At the Divisional Court hearing, Royston spoke for several hours in support of the applicant's proposal -- longer than even Burton. It was so blatant that our lawyer likened Burton to the "caboose" on the District train.
Ya gotta love the line "It is not up to Muskoka to make the case of any party represented by counsel." Isn't that what you've been doing all along Mr. Royston? The line about phosphorous loading being their only area of interest is in stark comparison to his arguments at Divisional Court.
This letter is so strange and so far outside of the proper rules of procedure that not only could we not figure it out, neither could the OMB. They wrote him back the next day explaining to him the proper procedure he should follow if he wanted to make a submission to the Board.
A "Factum" is basically a summary of a party's arguments they intend to present. This one is from the District's lawyer, Royston.
Among the more glaring errors is the statement that the Town failed to deal with Pieper's application (they dealt with it -- they turned it down)
On July 10, 2007, Judi Brouse, a District of Muskoka employee, filed the attached affidavit outlining all the "research" that she had been doing in support of Pieper's request for a re-hearing. Oddly enough the date and place the affidavit was sworn coincides with the date and place that the developer's consultant swore out his affidavit in support of the appeal. In retrospect, this was the first of many intimations that District staff were working hand in hand with the developer.
When the OMB ruled in our favour, Pieper's lawyer sent a letter to the Chair of the OMB asking for a review of the ruling. We did not feel that such a review was warranted under the OMBs own rules, but that's another story.
Originally the District of Muskoka said they had no interest in being a "Party" to the proceedings. (Under the OMB rules, Parties must establish their interest in advance of the hearing.)
But on the first day of the original OMB hearing Judi Brouse showed up, bringing along consultant Niel Hutcheson and asked for status as "Freinds of the Court". There is no such provisionin the OMB forum, but they were granted a role as "Participants". This group became to be known as the "Panel of Experts" in subsequent documents.
A/01/2007/THE – Skultety
First of all, I’d like to say that we will refer to the waterbody that this property fronts on as “Jessop Lake”, although many locals refer to it as Jingo Lake, that is actually the name of the road, not the official name of the lake.
We have some concerns about this application. First, we note that Jessop Lake is Over Threshold, as shown by the District of Muskoka fact sheet, and of course, adequate setbacks are an important part of protecting OT lakes, as well as enhanced septic systems and so forth.