County Council has approved draft terms of settlement to be offered to Picton Terminals with the goal of resolving the ongoing litigation issue.
“The municipality does not have the authority to interfere with activities that are, at their core, shipping and navigation, but that does not mean that Picton Terminals has a blank cheque on how it operates in our community,” Mayor Steve Ferguson says. “Council decided to address the widest range of community concerns, some of which would not be possible through litigation.”
The municipality will present the draft terms of settlement to Picton Terminals for its approval. Council will also look to hold a joint meeting with the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte and Picton Terminals to discuss the draft terms of settlement before bringing forward a by-law to implement the settlement agreement.
Should both parties reach an agreement, the minutes of settlement would be made public on a future Council agenda to enable comment from the public.
In Ontario, municipalities have the authority to regulate how property owners can use their land. Through different types of by-laws, municipalities can address issues such as density, noise, and dust. However, municipalities do not have jurisdiction over shipping channels or docking facilities, which fall under federal and provincial jurisdiction.
The municipality took the owners of Picton Terminals to court to assert its authority to regulate land use at the Picton Terminals site. In 2020, Council unanimously denied Picton Terminals’ rezoning request for an expanded list of permitted uses on its property. Picton Terminals appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal but withdrew that appeal in 2021, suggesting that the municipality had no authority to regulate its activities on the land. The municipality then sought a Court ruling on “bulk storage” arguing that shipping containers should not be included in the definition of bulk storage.
County Council sought an injunction with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in October 2022. That injunction looked to restrain Picton Terminals from operating beyond its current operations without legally applicable municipal and provincial approvals.
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