Cambridge's David has gathered some pebbles for its slingshot to take aim at the Goliath mega warehouse in the Village of Blair.
"The only thing that is standing between you and stopping this MZO (minister's zoning order) is your voice, your power, and your decency," said Toronto-based lawyer, David Donnelly, who is also counsel for Blair Engaged, which is running the Save Blair campaign.
"I bet you all respect the law and believe in democracy. It's your voice that has to ask the mayor and council if they share your values.
"If this MZO isn't rescinded, you can conclude you've been betrayed and your mayor and council are not good neighbours," he said.
During a virtual public information session Thursday, Donnelly gave the hundred or so participants a run down of the options available to those opposing the one million square foot warehouse development proposed for Old Mill Road.
He told the group to demand that Steve Clarke, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, stick to his word that an MZO cannot be issued until a developer's request has been fully debated and voted on in public.
Further, Donnelly said, residents of Blair and beyond should ask the mayor to convene a public session and make all correspondence with Broccolini available and rescind the request for an MZO.
Blair lies in the Haldimand Tract and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council has announced a moratorium on development in the tract, he added.
Donnelly also talked about the group's formal code of conduct complaint against Cambridge council and a freedom of information act probe to the non-public aspects of the Broccolini-Cambridge council deal.
"Council rushed this request through a secret meeting with little or no debate and no engagement of the public," he claimed. "It's in the Cambridge code of conduct that states, 'members shall conduct council business and their duties in an open and transparent manner, so the public and staff can understand the process.'
"Do any of you feel this MZO request was issued in a transparent manner?" asked Donnelly, adding, "It's completely unintelligible; it's completely undemocratic."
He would not reveal the exact legal recourse being planned.
"It would be unwise of me to address what legal challenges we can launch," Donnelly said. "In my opinion, based on the way this MZO was requested, this MZO would not be consistent with the Planning Act, the provincial policy statement, Cambridge official plan, and the Canadian constitution."
Aside from legal counsel, Blair Engaged also gained strength from the actions of GETconcerned Stratford that has previously fought off an MZO.
"We were up against an almost done deal," said Mike Sullivan, who was representing GETconcerned Stratford. "The only thing left to finish was the $6 million question of who was going to pay for the infrastructure. Because that vote had to come to council in public, we knew what was going on. When people discovered this was going on, they got really upset. We started out thinking that the best we can get on this is a delay."
But, he said, the group ended up defeating the development.
"We won because the people got concerned," said Sullivan. "We held meeting when the city refused to. This Zoom meeting is an immensely powerful tool. People are interested in this issue and want information and the city is not giving it to them and (Chris) Pidgeon's (GSP Group Inc.) not giving it to them."
He also acknowledge media support in fighting the MZO and added that their group was able to raise money to take some actions.
"We raised money and conducted polls and bought lawn signs," said Sullivan. "Politicians don't want lawn signs saying what they're doing because people remember them. We won because we got over 600 people to attend Zoom meetings and call and write all levels of government. We had hundreds of people writing letters and calling to the point that politicians just stopped answering phones.
"We also won because of blind luck," he said. "Were it not for the $6 million, they would have completed the deal in-camera."
And also, Sullivan said, GETconcerned Stratford won because a concerned group of individuals spent countless hours planning and executing a strategy.
Blair Engaged sprang into action when a request for an MZO by developer Broccolini to build a one million square foot warehouse on Old Mill Road in the Village of Blair was approved by Cambridge council without any public consultation.
"They applied for an MZO," said Alan Van Norman, who lives nearby. "It's an atomic bomb of planning tools. It allows the development to go on with no public participation."
The group, he said, has several concerns around the massive scale of the project and throwing away the democratic process.
Julie Hacking, a resident of Blair, said she was among the several that attended the public information session conducted by the developer.
The meeting was conducted in a very controlled manner, she said, adding those conducting it said they had signed non-disclosure agreements and could not divulge who the tenant was. Further, Hacking said, the participants weren't provided the opportunity to ask questions openly and the session was recorded but never shared with the participants.
"It left us asking more questions and wanting to know more," she said.
Citing some concerns, Van Norman said, the high percentage of proposed paved surfacing for the property will remove from the ground's ability to recharge the water that feeds the wells in the area.
"We're concerned about destroying the wetland," he added. "We're concerned about the lack of democracy and the subversion of the heritage designation."
In addition, Van Norman said, the residents in the area are afraid of the traffic burden and noise the 350 highway trailers operating 24/7 will bring to the area.
"This building may be necessary, but it may be better off elsewhere in Cambridge or even along its brethren in Mississauga," he said. "This is simply the wrong location for a facility. We would like you to join is and say, no to the MZO."
Blair Engaged requested support at a Tuesday, June 8, protest at Dickie Settlement Road and Fountain Street roundabout.
The group has already raised $25,000, in addition to the money raised the night of the meeting.