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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, F eb ru ar y 1, 20 18 | 10 • No Cost or Fee to Apply • Approval within 48 Hours • Thousands Paid Monthly! • See Website for Application Deadline. Do You Have More than 20 lbs to Lose? - Apply Now! $2,500 WEIGHT LOSS GRANT Please visit www.weightlossgrants.org for full Guidelines, Terms & Conditions. www.weightlossgrants.org 1373 Victoria St. N., Kitchener | 519-742-8501 www.internationalhomeinteriors.ca GET MORE LUXURY, PAYMUCH LESS. THE INNOVATORS OF COMFORT™ SAVE UP TO $600* on Stressless seating during our FREE Leather Upgrade Event. January 26 - March 12 *See your sales associate for complete details. ADDITIONAL SAVINGS on your purchase of Stressless Peace recliners in select colors. pellant, referred people to him as her lawyer. The only thing known about the group is that it has raised more than $35,000 to fight the June decision made by Waterloo city council to unanimously support the rezoning application made by the Muslim Association of Canada for 510 Erbsville Rd. Wood was asked about his clients' objections to the plans for a prayer centre and said it was strictly on planning grounds and not on Islamophobia as some have suggested. They are challenging the current plan to turn the buildings on the property into a prayer centre on the basis of the traffic, parking and environmental impacts that it could have on the surrounding Laurelwood neighbourhood. They are also challenging the possi- bility that the land could be further redeveloped in the future into a possible mosque or some kind of cultural centre. "We're saying that the bylaw allows a new build- ing sometime in the future that doesn't give security of process to our client," said Wood. "They way they've designed it is not the usual rezoning process which is public meetings, then a de- cision and then the oppor- tunity for people unhappy with the result ... that they cannot appeal to the mu- nicipal board." But the temperature of the proceedings was ratch- eted up when Steve O'Me- lia, a lawyer from Miller Thompson who is re- presenting the local chap- ter of the Muslim associa- tion, asked Wood to pro- duce a current list of the people taking part in the appeal to better under- stand how they will be per- sonally impacted by the proposal. Steve Ross, director of legal services for the city, said transparency is an im- portant principle at the OMB, and the city and those facing the appeal have a right to know who they are facing. "To force the disclosure is consistent with planning law in Ontario toward more transparency," said Ross. Some have suspected that a lot of the money and people behind the appeal are coming from outside of the community. O'Melia said that, in fairness, his clients should know who and how they are impact- ing people with their plans. "For planning reasons the closer you live to a sub- ject site the greater the im- pact on you, that just makes common sense and planning sense," said O'Melia. "If someone lives two kilometres away and is complaining about noise that's not a very legitimate complaint, so that is a very important part of assess- ing their argument." COUNCIL Lawyers ask for names of apellants l Continued from front