The Superior Court of Justice for Ontario issued an interim injunction on June 12 allowing Orica Canada Inc. to continue to operate its Grand Valley, Ontario site until the parties can fully argue the merits of the case from June 22 to 26.
The court order was issued with the East Luther Grand Valley Township council reserving its right to challenge the jurisdiction of the court to hear the arguments and grant the injunction.
“We are very pleased with the court’s decision today,” said Orica vice-president, Richard Brown. “We are disappointed that we were forced to seek an urgent order from the court, but the town council’s refusal to allow Orica to continue to operate during the appeals process left us no choice.
“The focus of our attention should be on the merits of our rezoning application and not on whether or not we can operate pending the appeal.”
Council voted unanimously in late May to reject a bid by the company for zoning that would allowed it to operate a large explosives storage operation on a piece of rented property.
Council also decided to force the company to cease its operations as of last week, triggering the Superior Court appeal.
“Orica is a critical supplier to an important industry in Southern Ontario. Grand Valley is an important part of that supply chain,” Brown said. If Orica was forced to shut down its operations at Grand Valley even temporarily, Orica would not only incur significant financial costs, but would face enormous challenges meeting its customer’s ongoing demands.
Brown said that during the interim period, the company is asking council to allow it to continue to operate its Grand Valley site during the appeals process.
“We believe this is a reasonable and fair request and one that, if granted, would save everyone tremendous time and money.”
The community has been in an uproar since citizens learned earlier this year that council was considering allowing a much expanded operation by a multinational company on a site that had, for nearly a dozen years, simply stored a minimal amount of explosive material for the mining industry.
Hundreds of people attended public meeting and the packed the council meeting when council made its unanimous decision last month to reject changes that would allow the company to operate at the site.
The company had been using a parcel of land owned by Klaus Friesecke. It is located at emergency number 033411 on Sideroad 21-22, Concession 4 South.
Its designation is agricultural and environmental protection and the zoning proposal was to change it to a special policy area and environmental protection area.
