SRCAThe Ontario Municipal Board has made its decision on the proposed Pointe Estates Development. But for one concerned citizen, the issue as it relates to the actions of the Sault Region Conservation Authority more than two years ago is far from over. Brian Dumanski asked all of the members of the authority board why the decision was made to approve the development in late 2012. Dumanski recalled what happened in January 2013 when Frank Manzo stood up and proposed a resolution to reverse the December 13th, 2012 decision only to be told it would be one year before it would be revisited…

Dumanski asked board chair Marchy Bruni to look into that decision and why it was left out of the minutes. Bruni would only say that information relating to the situation would be reviewed and brought back to the board, but did not mention a date on when it would be brought back. Dumanski has been following the Pointe Estates situation for some time and asked if the current board could look into why the resolution passed in December 2012, but was not in the minutes for the following meeting a month later. He says he will be watching and waiting for any answers…

In his presentation, Dumanski talked about several things that should have prevented the authority from approving the development in late 2012. They ranged from reports that suggested irreparable damage to the ecosystem and minimum requirements not being met by the developer to ‘secret meetings’ that resulted in a deal and resignations of at least two board members leaving the board prior to the December 2012 decision. The developer has since started plans to appeal the OMB decision. Regardless, Dumanski is planning to hold the Sault Region Conservation Authority board’s collective feet to the fire. It’s about a decision made by the board of the day to approve the development the way it did in late 2012. Dumanski says it’s a situation the whole city should continue to keep an eye on…

A small group of like-minded citizens also attended last night’s SRCA meeting when Dumanski spoke. City Council voted 7 to 4 against the development last July — months before the OMB’s ruling against Pointe Estates.