The scheduled hearing before the Niagara Escarpment Hearing Office (NEHO) has been adjourned, without a date, as a result of a last-minute intervention by the Director of the Environmental Assessment Branch of the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, indicating that Ministry staff were now questioning whether, contrary to the Ministry’s previous position, the project was properly classified as a Schedule A+, in which case the project would not be exempt from the Environmental Assessment Act.
The prospect of a change of this nature in the Ministry’s position has serious implications for the issues to be determined by the NEHO and the evidence that has been filed by all parties to the hearing and requires the proceedings to be stood down, pending receipt of the Ministry’s decision.
We were advised by e-mail from a representative at the Ministry on October 22nd that the Ministry would endeavour to provide a formal response to the Township’s October 12th correspondence, as soon as possible. We have not yet received a response.
For more information, please contact:
Mayor Doug Measures
Mayor, Clearview Township
(705) 428-6230 ext. 280
dmeasures@clearview.ca