TVT has now spent $84,644 fighting our Nature Centre June 17, 2020

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Dear friends of Blueberry Creek,

I have been told many times this past year, “I’m so glad your crazy fight with the township is finally over.”

Sadly, it is not.

A year has passed since we received a letter from Council, in June of 2019, in which we were told that Council MIGHT decide to vote we are legal after all, IF we give up our legal right to sue both township AND staff, and give up any hope of recovering the $40,000 we spent building our art studio. Council voted and was divided 50/50 on the issue, and we refused to give up our legal rights.

It will be three years this November since our Stop Work Order was issued. Three years that we have watched this beautiful timber frame structure succumb to the elements. We have already agreed we would not use it as part of Blueberry Creek Forest School and Nature Centre or for any vulnerable population (for whatever public good that serves). We have already confirmed through a land survey that the floor level of the studio building is indeed higher than the high-water mark in a 100-year flood. We have asked to raise the bridge above the flood plain to make the land safer, and have had it rejected by the same RVCA that approved the current bridge BELOW the flood plain. We have spent thousand of hours and thousands of dollars fighting to keep this not-for-profit Nature Centre in our community. (1)

Tay Valley Township will not allow the studio to be completed without the approval of the RVCA, and the RVCA will not process the application as they are waiting for clarification from the township regarding our zoning.

Do you spot a catch-22 here?

Over one hundred children have now benefited from attending Blueberry Creek. Whether once a month or twice a week, children grow and thrive in an environment that offers a low ratio (1 educator to a maximum of 8 children), fresh air, access to land and animals, gardening, cooking, art, science, carpentry, literature, and so much more. This allows hands-on learners to thrive, and shows each child how capable and brilliant they can be. Children catch frogs, collect chicken eggs, care for the animals, climb trees, build habitats for bugs, and much more that is often lost from childhood in today’s tech-driven world. (2)

We still don’t know WHY Tay Valley Township has worked so hard to fight our Nature Centre.

We do not know why my first MFIPPA (Municipal Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act) request had 96 of the 140 documents withheld.

We do not know why so many of those withheld documents were between Tay Valley Township staff and the RVCA.

We do not know why township staff stated they never knew our intent to open a forest school, when that use was clearly stated in my May 2017 letter to the township planner prior to any applications.

But, this is what we DO know:

We know the township issued the building permit without consulting the RVCA. (3)

We know we were called “hostile and aggressive” by staff in a written letter to Council. Council had asked why they were unaware of Blueberry Creek Forest School. This was our first introduction to Council, who for 9 months had no idea that the township staff were engaged in a zoning dispute with us, and were threatening to shut us down. (4)

We know this letter became the subject of an Integrity Commission against a Councillor, and that this report was so badly flawed it has been challenged in court. To date, this report has cost taxpayers over $24,000 in legal costs and is ongoing. (5)

We know that when staff realized this closed-door meeting had been recorded, they tried to change township law to ban all recordings of meetings with staff and Council. Only a public backlash prevented this from happening. (6)

We know that in May 2018, staff wrote to Novatech Planners: “Steve, are you available for a phone call re the “School” definition as it relates to the Blueberry Creek School issue.” Novatech replied: “The proposed definition for school has been expanded so that it is clear that it applies to both public and private schools. The Blueberry Creek school would be covered under this definition.”

We know that the community came forward and prevented the definition of "School" being changed in the town’s bylaws.

We know that the RVCA began their own forest school (Foley Mountain Forest School) that same year, offering many of the same programs as our own. (7)

We know from October 2018 to October 2019 that 10 of 28 Council or Special Council Meetings, over 30%, were 'Closed Session'. All but one of these meetings had "Litigation or Potential Litigation", or "solicitor/client privilege", on the agenda. This added up to 492 minutes of closed-session meetings regarding the zoning dispute with Blueberry Creek Nature Centre alone.

And we also know, as of today, how much Tay Valley Township has spent fighting our not-for profit Nature Centre.

$86,844.

Eighty-six thousand dollars to fight a children’s Not-for-Profit Nature Centre. (9)

How many households paid their hard-earned money in Municipal taxes to help the township deny children the opportunity to learn in nature?

$66,181 has been spent simply to deny us access to Freedom of Information requests (MFIPPA), with the other $20,633 spent on lawyers to fight Blueberry Creek Nature Centre.

What would motivate the township to spend so much money to not disclose these records? This has now gone to adjudication with the provincial Information and Privacy Commissioner, so we may soon have that answer.

Sadly, these bills will only become larger when it is time for a court to settle the matter that we have always been in conformity of zoning as a Community Service, which is a permitted use under the zoning for our land. The bills will become larger still to recover the costs for the studio and its demolition if the township and RVCA continue to refuse to allow it to be completed.

How far will Tay Valley Township go to condemn a children’s nature centre?

Isn’t it time for Tay Valley Township to recognize that Blueberry Creek is a positive contribution to the community—and that every document confirms that from the very beginning, we have been in conformity with every rule?