'Done with it': Oro-Medonte landowner pays $500 fine in zoning battle

Five years ago, life in the crossroads hamlet of Jarratt in Oro-Medonte Township was about as good as it gets for local residents.

A quiet, rural community where neighbours have known one another for generations, Jarratt is comfortable, like an old pair of well-worn jeans. Everyone knows everyone else and there seems to be a real sense of belonging — neighbours helping neighbours isn’t a legend or a myth in these parts.

So it was no surprise that the locals were excited when a new family bought the old farm at 3750 Line 10 N., a little north of Horseshoe Valley Road at the Jarratt intersection, and were fixing it up — clearing the debris and trash from the property and sprucing up the homestead.

According to Jarratt resident Allan Baker, everything was going fine until one day, not very long after moving in, the new owners started a variety of construction projects.

“They started with two large berms, a new driveway, a large gravel parking lot and a huge building,” Baker said. “There were no building permits posted and there was no notice given to any of the neighbours as to what was going on, which is standard policy in the township.”

Baker and his neighbours noticed what they called “a substantial traffic increase” in the community, almost all of it involving heavy-duty excavating equipment.

According to Baker, the excavation equipment — attached to large, noisy dump trucks — would leave the Line 10 property starting at 5 a.m. and would return around 8 p.m. or later.

“It seemed like it was going on all day, every day,” Baker said. “When they got to the intersection of Line 10 and Horseshoe Valley Road, they’d have to stop traffic both ways so they get their trucks and trailers around the corner. It was incredibly unsafe.”

They soon discovered the new property owners — John Greenwood and Ashley Gardiner — were also the owners of KJ Excavating, a company that had relocated to Oro-Medonte from Innisfil.

Greenwood said he relocated his business to Oro-Medonte because he had a number of employees who lived in the northern part of the township and felt it would be a good thing to move his business closer to his employees.

“The first thing I did when I bought the property was get my building permits,” Greenwood said. “I got them in 2018 before I did any work.”

Township spokesperson Jenny Legget confirmed Greenwood secured two building permits in 2018. Both of them were for agricultural buildings.

“Mr. Greenwood was issued two permits to build agricultural buildings,” Legget said. “The problem started when he started using one of the buildings for industrial uses, which was a contravention of the township’s zoning bylaws.”

According to Legget, Greenwood started parking his heavy duty excavating equipment on the property, an illegal use.

Identified as “prime agricultural land” by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and a “prime agricultural area” pursuant to the Provincial Policy Statement, Greenwood’s land is also designated agricultural in Simcoe County’s Official Plan, Oro-Medonte’s Official Plan and is zoned agricultural/rural (A/RU) zone in the township’s zoning bylaw.

In June 2019, Greenwood and Gardiner applied to amend the township’s Official Plan and zoning bylaw to permit a home industry, specifically a contractors’ yard with vehicle storage. This would be for the purpose of supporting a proposed on-farm diversified use, which would be related to KJ Excavating.

As part of the process, a public meeting was held Sept. 4, 2019.

Upward of a dozen letters of opposition to the proposed changes were received from neighbours surrounding the property. Concerns ranged from increased dust and noise due to increased traffic volumes to concerns for personal safety as the roads are winding and narrow.

In January 2020, Greenwood and Gardiner’s applications were denied. The next month, they appealed the decision to the Land Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT), now known as the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).

A case management conference was held on Dec. 9, 2020 where a hearing was set for June 2021. It was delayed until Oct. 18 when it was heard over two days by OLT member K. Andrews.

According to Andrews’ decision, issued Dec. 16, 2021, Greenwood and Gardiner had made an earlier proposal in 2019 which purported to designate 1.4 hectares of the original land for on-farm diversified use. A township staff report recommended the Official Plan amendment (OPA) and zoning bylaw amendment (ZBA) be denied because the proposed area exceeded the one-hectare maximum size for an on-farm diversified use.

Greenwood and Gardiner made further revisions to their proposal by excluding the areas of their property that contained the storage building, driveway, berms and a large portion of the parking area, which purported to reduce the area associated with the proposed on-farm diversified use to 0.12 hectares.

With these new revisions, Township staff recommended approval of both the OPA and the ZBA.

The township again denied the applications.

The OLT, in its Dec. 16, 2021 decision, said it received “no account to explain how the excavation business would access Line 10 North without travelling across practically all of the originally proposed area on a daily basis. The tribunal therefore finds it obvious that all of the originally proposed area, including the driveway, berms and all of the gravel staging/parking area will, more likely than not, be used by KJ Excavating on a daily basis.”

That same day, Dec. 16, 2021, Sarah Hahn, counsel for Greenwood and Gardiner, filed a request for review of the OLT decision.

Almost one year later, on Dec. 8, 2022, Gregory Bishop, alternate chair of the OLT, dismissed Hahn’s request and noted the original tribunal decision remained in full force and in effect.

According to Legget, Oro-Medonte Township laid a charge against Greenwood and Gardiner for “improper use of the property” in October 2022.

“Greenwood was In contravention of township building bylaws,” she said. “It was a zoning issue.”

Last month, on Dec. 14, Greenwood appeared in provincial court where he received a $500 fine.

According to Legget, the maximum fine for a first conviction of a non-incorporated business or company is $25,000.

The maximum fine for a first conviction of an incorporated business or company is $50,000.

“The township definitely has a voice when it comes to making recommendations pertaining to setting fines through the Ontario Provincial Offences Court,” Legget said. “However, it is important to note the court makes the ultimate decision regarding set fine amounts.”

Baker thinks the fine should have been substantially larger.

“The fine should have been more punitive as the bylaw violation was deliberate and continued in spite of authoritative direction and rulings,” Baker said.

“I don’t think that small fines and protracted prosecutions are meaningful deterrents. More minor consequences for violating Oro-Medonte’s bylaws might be considered a cost of doing business,” he added. “In some cases, the offender, when caught, pays the originally required permit fee and the result is classified as non-conforming.  As the saying goes, ‘it’s often easier to ask for forgiveness than seek permission.’”

Greenwood said he’s disappointed with how things turned out.

“I was going to fight it, but decided to just pay it and be done with it,” he said.

Wayne Doyle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BarrieToday.com