Some Norfolk County residents upset with council’s decision to expand the urban boundary have taken the county to court.
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In May, council voted to add 1,354 acres to the urban boundary to allow for a projected influx of almost 30,000 new residents over the next 25 years.
Waterford resident Warren Cummings, a paralegal who says he is acting “in the interest of residents,” has asked Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice to compel the municipality to release a decade’s worth of traffic, water and sewage studies connected to development applications in Waterford.
Cummings further seeks to have the court review council’s deliberations and correspondence with Queen’s Park regarding the proposed boundary adjustment, which if approved by the province could see Norfolk’s population rise to almost 93,000 by 2051.
In a notice of application filed with the court in July, Cummings alleges council received “undue influence” from “parties who would benefit” from the boundary expansion, and suggests Mayor Amy Martin is “misleading the community” regarding the need for Norfolk to grow .
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The notice does not specify the nature of the alleged influence or identify the alleged beneficiaries. None of the allegations have been tested in court.
The Spectator could not reach Cummings for comment.
He is active in a Facebook group whose members have criticized the boundary expansion process and advocate for “well managed, well thought out growth for the county,” according to the group description.
Councilors Kim Huffman, who represents Waterford, and Doug Brunton are not named in Cummings’ notice of application. They were the only two councilors to vote against the boundary expansion, which Huffman said would put Waterford — already Norfolk’s fastest-growing community — “under complete development fatigue.”
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The matter came to court on Thursday in Simcoe before Justice Sandra Antoniani, who noted she could not hear any arguments as Cummings had not filed a confirmation of his motion in advance of the virtual hearing.
The matter was adjourned to Oct. 10, but not before the lawyer representing Norfolk — Mark Abradjian of Hamilton firm Ross and McBride LLP — told the judge he intends to ask the court to dismiss the application on the grounds it is “frivolous, vexatious or an abuse of process.”
JP Antonacci is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
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