An appeal of the city's decision to change the zoning to allow a mega-hospital to be built on land off County Road 42 has been reserved.
The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (L-PAT) — which takes over the role of the previous Ontario Municipal Board — has wrapped up its Wednesday hearing.
A panel of three people has heard the appeal from the Citizens for an Accountable Mega-hospital Planning Process (CAMPP) — the group that has appealed the City of Windsor's decision to change the Official Plan and land designation to allow for hospital construction.
At this point, the tribunal has ruled Windsor Regional Hospital as well as 28 groups and individuals can be part of the process.
CAMPP's lawyer, Eric Gillespie says a final written decision will be sent to the parties in the near future.
He, says the tribunal will rule on a very narrow issue.
"Whether this particular decision was correct, based on the policies of the Province of Ontario and the official plan of the City of Windsor," states Gillespie. "If the answer to that question is yes, then the hospital would be permitted to proceed at it's proposed location. If the answer is no, the result is it gets sent back to Windsor City Council"
Lawyer for Citizens for an Accountable Megahospital Planning Process, Eric Gillespie, March 20, 2019 (by AM800's Peter Langille)
Gillespie, says their objection is that the site is not good for this use.
"Why build a hospital in a place that's very difficult for people to access," says Gillespie. "There's no public transit to that area to speak of at this stage, there's very little of the water and sewer and hydro. It's going to be a very expensive proposition that affects taxpayers in a very dramatic way"
He says the L-PAT process is very different that the OMB one was.
"Our experience is we're finding it very refreshing. Because it's a new approach it's giving everyone many different new issues to consider. That means it's actually for lack of a better word, kind of an exciting time to be doing this kind of work"
Wednesday's session is a Case Management Conference to decide procedural matters and whether the appeal will go ahead.
The tribunal has ruled Windsor Regional Hospital will be granted "party" status similar to the city and the appellants.
In addition, 28 individuals and organizations have been granted "participant" status.
The Walpole Island First Nation had requested to be a participant, but missed the deadline and the tribunal has not decided how to handle that.