Newmarket Clock Tower OMB hearing delayed for 1 year
Three-week OMB hearing set for Aug. 7 to 27, 2018

YorkRegion.com
Aug. 14, 2017
Teresa Latchford

Newmarket residents will have to wait a year to find out if the proposed Clock Tower development will get the green light.

Lawyers and the public packed into the Cane meeting room at town hall for the second Ontario Municipal Board pre-hearing session where it was determined a three-week hearing would be necessary to accommodate all of the discussion points agreed upon by participating parties, witness statements and expert testimonials.

The hearing will begin Aug. 7, 2018, and will run no later than Aug. 27, OMB adjudicator Laurie Bruce said. The hearing is expected to take place in council chambers at the municipal offices on Mulock Drive but should chambers be occupied at any time, the Cane meeting room will be utilized.

Main Street Clock Inc. is appealing the town’s decision not to make allowances under the Heritage Act and zoning bylaw required for the proposed 165-unit, seven-storey rental apartment complex with underground parking and five ground-floor retail commercial units at the corner of Main Street and Park Avenue.

The current heritage conservation district bylaw limits the area to three-storey buildings.

In 2013 there was a land swap agreement between the town and developer conditional on the approval of the proposal, which the town denied in December. The town and developer are now disputing the ownership of a piece of the property and will be heading to court on Nov. 15 where a judge will determine ownership.

At the first pre-hearing, three organizations were seeking party status but the Trinity United Church and the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario bowed out, leaving only the Heart of Newmarket group with party status.

Main Street Clock Inc. legal counsel Ira Kagan, the town’s legal counsel Leo Longo and Heart of Newmarket representative Gerald Fox worked with Bruce to tackle the “issues list” of items that will be discussed and debated come the formal hearing. They tweaked wording, consolidated items and deleted others all together.

Items discussed included the coverage of the district plan, traffic studies and property and garage access.

There are also more than 20 people who have been granted participant status for the hearing.