The Fight to protect North Gwillimbury Forest is going to OMB

The following is an update from Jack Gibbons of NGFA concerning the battle to save provincially significant wetlands in the North Gwillimbury Forest (Town of Georgina, Region of York):

The long fight to protect our forest continues. Our appeal (at the OMB) of the Town of Georgina’s Official Plan has now been scheduled to commence on May 22, 2018 and may last for up to nine days. We are up against the Town of Georgina, the Region of York and DG Group.

Meanwhile, the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority continues to lobby the provincial government in the hope of gaining approval for an ill-advised development approvals swap. We will continue to make the Authority’s backroom, actions public, while calling on it to deny DG Group a permit to destroy provincially significant wetlands. But this illustrates just how much those who should be using their powers to protect the forest are actually using them to protect developer interests instead.

Fortunately, thanks to your tremendous generosity, we have been able to cover the significant legal and planning fees associated with launching our OMB appeal. Now we need to build a war chest for the appeal itself. Right now, we need to prepare expert evidence making the case for why the Town is wrong to stand pat with its pro-development position in its Official Plan. We estimate that preparing this material will cost approximately $30,000.

We remain confident that our appeal will be successful, but we need the resources necessary to counter three deep-pocketed opponents. We hope you can once again find a way to financially support saving our forest.

You can donate online by clicking here: www.SaveNGForest.org/support.html

Or you can send a cheque payable to the “North Gwillimbury Forest Alliance’ to Box 1122, Roches Point, ON L0E 1P0

Working together we can win our OMB appeal and save the Paradise Beach-Island Grove Provincially Significant Wetland and the North Gwillimbury Forest forever.

Thank you for your past support and for considering this request

Jack Gibbons, Chair, North Gwillimbury Forest Alliance.”

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