A provincial planning association has issued a one-month suspension to Chris Pidgeon, a former planner with the City of Cambridge and a consultant on two recent major Cambridge developments, over his conduct while attempting to bring Chinese-based glass manufacturer Xinyi to Stratford.
The Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) issued the suspension against the founder of Waterloo-based GSP Group, more than three years after a Stratford-based public interest group filed a complaint claiming his work with Xinyi and the City of Stratford constituted a conflict of interest.
Mike Sullivan, a member Get Concerned Stratford, the citizens group that filed the complaint against Pidgeon, told StratfordToday he attended an OPPI discipline hearing Jan. 5 where Pidgeon admitted he violated two sections of the OPPI code of conduct in his dealings with the city and Xinyi.
Sullivan said Pidgeon was essentially working for both Xinyi and the City of Stratford at the same time, specifically on annexing land for the project.
Annexation of lands was ultimately successful.
The tribunal agreed that the conduct was a "violation of the rules and the parties agreed on discipline," according to Get Concerned Stratford.
Cambridge residents may recognize Pidgeon's name from his recent work with Broccolini Real Estate Group and its application to build the Amazon warehouse in Blair. He was also part of Haastown Holdings' early pitch to redevelop the Preston Springs property.
Pidgeon admitted to violating OPPI code in his dealings with Xinyi and the City of Stratford by engaging in "dishonourable or questionable conduct that may cast doubt on the member's professional competence or integrity or that may reflect adversely on the integrity of the profession."
Pidgeon was in attendance at the meeting where the disciplinary committee decided on the suspension, Sullivan said.
StratfordToday reached out to Pidgeon for comment but did not get a response.
Sullivan, a former NDP MP, said Get Concerned Stratford was initially concerned about secrecy and lack of democratic process around the proposed glass manufacturing facility projected to cost nearly $400 million.
The facility would have employed more than 350 people, according to reports.
"It took three years from filing the complaint to them actually doing anything," Sullivan said. "I suspect everything was agreed to. There was no actual evidence, or witnesses. They had an agreed statement of facts, and an agreed statement of discipline."
OPPI gets up to 15 complaints a year but they very rarely go to a hearing, Sullivan said.
He said it was agreed to that the decision would be published, however, Pidgeon's name and the city involved will be removed from publication.
Sullivan was also unsure when the suspension starts. He was informed at the hearing that Pidgeon resigned from GSP group at the end of last year.
The GSP group website said Pidgeon "retired" on Dec. 31, 2023.
The proposed Xinyi project was controversial in Stratford. Critics of the project noted a lack of transparency from city council and little available public information, as well as closed-door meetings. There were also environmental concerns related to the nature of glass manufacturing.
Xinyi Canada suspended plans in early 2021, and city council voted to ask the province to revoke a ministerial zoning order (MZO) that would have allowed development.
Pidgeon was president of GSP group when the complaint was filed with OPPI.
Sullivan was told that to file a complaint with OPPI, he had to find violations of their codes of conduct. The retired MP has extensive experience filing freedom of information requests. Sullivan did the lions share of the work on his own for the complaint.
In his written complaint to OPPI, Sullivan said the Stratford zoning issue was complex and took over two years, mostly happening behind closed doors.
Pidgeon has worked on numerous projects in a planning consultancy capacity and delegated for GSP group at Waterloo City Council as recently as mid-December for a housing development project.
According to his biography on the GSP group website, he began his career working at the City of Waterloo and the City of Cambridge and then switched to private land-use planning, specializing in coordinating complex greenfield and infill development projects.
StratfordToday reached out to OPPI for comment, and received an email from StrategyCorp, a public relations company that specializes in government relations, strategic communications, and management consulting.
Comments in that email were attributed to OPPI.
"When warranted, OPPI will convene a hearing before its independent Disciplinary Committee to determine whether a member is guilty of professional misconduct and, if so, the appropriate penalty," it said.
The email said OPPI does not comment on or publish details related to a case until it has received a written and "final" decision from its discipline committee.
"As part of this process, on a case-by-case basis, the discipline committee provides direction on where the decision will be published as well as whether it can identify the member who was the subject of a hearing."
Summaries of all decisions are included as part of OPPI’s annual reports, available on its website.
The next annual report is not expected until Fall, 2024.
Sullivan and the Get Concerned Stratford group, meanwhile, are still lobbying to have the lands that were annexed returned to the County of Perth and the Township of Perth South and have filed Freedom of Information requests to find out what the city paid Pidgeon for.
In a recent Letter to the Editor to StratfordToday, the group referred to the events surrounding the province’s decisions around the Greenbelt have shown that "these types of secretive processes are a significant cause for concern. Like the Greenbelt take-outs, this annexation needs to be rolled back."