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PRESS CLIPPINGS
Wal-Mart foes fight zoning bylaw
Multi-faith group's challenge comes as giant retailer prepares site near north-end Ignatius Jesuit Centre
DEIRDRE HEALEY
GUELPH (Feb 10, 2006)
Wal-Mart opponents will return to the courts, and this time they are fighting a city zoning bylaw.
A group of 16 people has launched a legal battle with the aim of quashing a new zoning bylaw permitting commercial development next to the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph's north end.
"People are coming forward to say intensive commercial development at that site will significantly and substantially interfere with religious beliefs and religious practises," said Eric Gillespie, the lawyer who has been representing Wal-Mart opponents.
Gillespie announced the new legal action to local media yesterday during a press conference at the Jesuit centre while excavating equipment continued to dig away at the land next door, preparing for the construction of the 135,000-square-foot Wal-Mart.
"Anyone who says you won't hear it, you won't see it, you won't even know it's there, is wrong," Gillespie said as he pointed out the window at the busy construction equipment hundreds of metres away.
"As you can see looking down at the field, this will be a real thing in the lives of the people at the Jesuit centre."
The group, comprised of people from different faiths and religions, is arguing commercial development at the corner of Woodlawn Road and Woolwich Street—the property where the giant retail store is slotted to open—is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Each person in support of the legal challenge has utilized the centre and the acres of land surrounding the centre for religious retreats, meditation or other spiritual practices, reporters were told.
Guelph resident Bill Hulet volunteered to attach his name to the application on behalf of the entire group.
A hearing date has been set for Feb. 28 at Superior Court in Guelph.
City officials received a notice of the legal challenge yesterday morning when a letter was dropped off at City Hall.
Craig Manley, the city's manager of policy planning, said the planning, building and legal staff will have to sit down over the next couple of days to review the application.
"I haven't even had a chance to look at it," Manley said. "This has clearly become a legal matter and not a planning matter."
Tricia Sinclair, the city's assistant city solicitor, said she doubts the hearing will be held on Feb. 28. Instead, she said she believes the judge will set aside a full day further down the road to deal with the bylaw challenge.
Despite this legal application, Wal-Mart Canada has no plans to pull back from preparing the Woodlawn-Woolwich site for construction.
"The motion is municipal and our developer has not been asked to stop preliminary work," Wal-Mart Canada spokesperson Kevin Groh wrote in an e-mail.
"We'll treat this objection as we've treated those in the past—with respect and professionalism. However, it seems this is the same argument previously dismissed by the (Ontario Municipal Board) and various courts."
Groh also stated a majority of the properties surrounding the centre are already commercial.
"The Jesuits' current neighbours—Home Depot, Canadian Tire, Staples, the (Imperial) tobacco plant—prove daily that the area suits commerce as well as religion."
Hulet and his fellow supporters have picked up the torch from Residents for Sustainable Development, a local group which battled Wal-Mart and its developers both in and out of court for a decade, up until the group's final appeal was denied Jan. 20.
Residents for Sustainable Development had appealed an Ontario Municipal Board decision allowing a Wal-Mart store to locate in the lot next to the Jesuit centre.
Once the appeal was denied, the property officially became zoned commercial, giving Wal-Mart the green light to proceed with construction.
That appeal was the last chance for Residents for Sustainable Development to attack the municipal board's decision.
Now Hulet and his supporters are appealing the zoning bylaw. Gillespie said a person has up to one year to challenge a new bylaw.
Hulet, who is an ordained Daoist priest, said he used to meet with spiritual directors weekly at the Jesuit centre.
He said the Jesuit centre and the "sacred land" surrounding the north-end centre deserves respect.
"It is important to make a distinction between respect and tolerance," he said during yesterday's press conference.
"Tolerance is allowing people to do things on their own, but not making much effort to not interfere. Respect means to go out of your way to not offend them.
"What would it do to the Church of Our Lady if we built a skyscraper up in front of it? People could still go to the church, but the Church of Our Lady would be tolerated and not respected. I want the Ignatius Jesuit Centre to be respected."
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