Brighton Mayor Mark Walas during a planning committee meeting on April 11, 2016. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)
There’s a situation developing in Brighton where the Mayor and his numbered company are taking the municipality to the Ontario Municipal Board.
Mayor Mark Walas is the developer of the Lakeside Landing subdivision, which was first submitted in 2008 and got zoning approval in 2015.
Recently, lawyers for the company filed an OMB appeal, after council followed a staff recommendation and rejected a plan to use a low-pressure sanitary collection system instead of a traditional gravity sewer.
Councillor Brian Ostrander spoke to Quinte News about the issue and says he and others on council aren’t pleased the mayor is going against the staff recommendation.
Ostrander adds, it’s creating a strange environment on Alice Street.
With the mayor abstaining from the vote, council has agreed to hire lawyer John Ewart to defend the municipality in the appeal, which could cost up to $50,000.
The mayor tells Quinte News he won’t comment, due to conflict of interest rules and has directed all questions to his company’s lawyer Patrick Harrington, who has yet to respond to our newsroom.
