The only appeals against the NextEra Energy Canada wind turbine proposal will be coming from citizens, after council rejected a municipal appeal Tuesday afternoon.
Council met behind closed doors for nearly an hour to consider advice from its lawyer, Guelph solicitor Peter Pickfield.
They then re-opened their meeting and unanimously agreed they could not spend taxpayers’ money on an appeal that was unlikely to succeed (Neil Driscoll was absent).
Mayor Bruce Whale said in an interview that Preserve Mapleton Incorporated, a group of citizens opposing the Ministry of Environment approval of ten wind turbines near Arthur, might have a better chance in court from a private perspective than the township would have from a municipal approach.
Earlier in the meeting the citizen group’s president Tyler Struyk reminded council that all members had campaigned against wind turbines. He asked for a written response to the groups request for a township appeal. He also invited council to a protest on April 2 in Toronto against the turbines.
Preserve Mapleton Incorporated has filed not only a court appeal, but also an Environmental Tribunal Appeal.
