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Flag Raiders granted public meeting to air concerns about Kossuth Road paintball business

Company urged to reach out to neighbours in the meantime to get consent
Doug Coxson
Doug Coxson
2021-07-21-Flag-Raiders-Paintball
Todd Ancich, Corey Kimpson and her brother Joe Kimpson, co-owners of Flag Raiders Paintball Games, are pictured in front of a prop truck, which is also used during Cambridge Santa Claus parades to collect donations for the local food bank.Mehreen Shahid/CambridgeToday

The City of Cambridge will hold a statutory public meeting on May 17 to allow anyone with concerns about granting a temporary use bylaw to a local paintball company to speak up.

Coun. Donna Reid presented a motion Tuesday, asking for the public meeting, which is a necessary requirement for any land use changes that are in contravention of zoning in the city's official plan.

Flag Raiders, which operated at their Kossuth Road property between 2000 and 2008 before zoning requirements kicked them out, has been seeking a reprieve from the city and region for over a year, after its lease with Bingemans in Kitchener came to an end.

Their Kossuth Road property is currently zoned agricultural and open space. To operate the paintball business there, they need a specific land-use zone change or a temporary-use agreement with the city.

But even if the company applies now, it likely won't happen in time for summer unless the business gets consent from its neighbours.

Following the public meeting, council could make a decision immediately to allow the temporary use. But what follows that decision is a 20-day appeal period during which anyone who objects to council's decision could file an appeal with the Ontario Land Tribunal.

Scheduling a hearing with the OLT would likely move the process into the fall, according to city solicitor Lisa Shields.

"On a good day, it could be in the fall...we don't know, but it certainly wouldn't be in the summer months," she said. "If the OLT supports the use, then the bylaw would come into effect and they would be allowed to start operating."

Hearing that, Reid withdrew her support of the motion since she doesn't see it as "helping Flag Raiders operate their business this summer."

"The only way forward I see is for them to meet with the neighbours and satisfy the neighbours who are upset with it."

Coun. Pam Wolf agreed, adding the reason to hold the May 17 meeting is to facilitate the temporary use bylaw, but only if neighbours agree with it and the chance of an appeal is eliminated to save the summer season for Flag Raiders.