A Windsor group appealing the location of the planned new mega-hospital has added another weapon to its arsenal.
Citizens for an Accountable Mega-Hospital Planning Process (CAMPP) is moving forward with its appeal of the decision made by Windsor City Council in August 2018 to rezone 1,000 acres near Windsor Airport to build a new acute care hospital. In their appeal to the province's Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT), CAMPP has hired world-renowned urban planner Jennifer Keesmaat to provide independent evidence.
Keesmaat is a former city planner with the City of Toronto. She is a member of the International Panel of Experts, Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority, and has won the President's Award from the Canadian Institute of Planners. She has hinted that the process of choosing the hospital site has been flawed from the beginning.
“Sprawling land use planning has implications,” said Keesmaat in a media release. “Directing growth to existing serviced areas prior to building new infrastructure is the foundation of the responsible use of land in the Provincial Policy Statement. Conformity to an existing policy is not suggested, it is required.”
CAMPP has also retained Eric Gillespie, a Toronto lawyer who has specialized in municipal and environmental law.
“This appears to be a case where the city has chosen not to follow its own fundamental policies and those of the province," said Gillespie in the media release. "The evidence of one of Canada’s top planners, Ms Keesmaat, and others will address these errors.”
Gillespie's caseload has included the Walkerton Water Inquiry and the G-20 class action that will be taken up by the Supreme Court of Canada. The G-20 class action was launched after hundreds of people were arrested and detained by Toronto police during the economic summit in 2010.
CAMPP, while agreeing that a new hospital is needed, has been opposed to the chosen site from the beginning. It said it is too far away from much of the city's vulnerable population, and that City Council had used incorrect data to justify their zoning decision. The zoning was passed by an 8-2 vote, which included Mayor, Drew Dilkens, who called the $2-billion development a "golden opportunity" for the city.
Windsor Regional Hospital CEO, David Musyj has stated repeatedly that the site for the hospital has been chosen and will not be reconsidered. He has urged members of CAMPP to stop fighting the process and come to him directly to work out any lingering issues in an effort to move the project forward.