Sudbury man plans appeal of film studio lease on expropriated land

A retired Sudbury lawyer says the city's decision to extend a local film studio's lease is illegal, and says he will be appealing the decision to the Ontario Municipal Board.

Northern Ontario Film Studios, a local film production company, will be getting a three-year extension on its lease of the former Barrydowne arena. It has operated out of the facility since 2012.

• Sudbury man fighting film studio plans for land expropriated from his family over 50 years ago

At a public hearing last night, the city's planning committee approved the company's application.

But Paul Temelini said the 72-hectare property that the arena and nearby Adanacski hillsits on was expropriated from his family in the 1960s for the purposes of establishing a floodplain.

"Not for building arenas, not for ski hills, not for film studios," Temelini said.

Temelini stressed he wasn't against the film studio doing business in the city.

"It's just that the conservation authority and the city of Sudbury are doing an illegal activity," he said. "You can not take something from somebody, pretend it's going to be one thing, and do something else on it."

"It's illegal."

'Other avenues' to deal with concerns, city says

Jason Ferrigan, the city's director of planning, told the committee that Temelini's concerns are not specifically planning-related, and said the concerns can be addressed through "other avenues."

Temelini said he wasn't going to stop at the planning committee.

"I'll appeal to the OMB(Ontario Municipal Board), or I'll get more legal opinions and advice and have a hearing there," Temelini said. "If that doesn'twork, we'll go to court and let a court decide."

Carl Jorgensen, the general manager of Conservation Sudbury told CBC News earlier this week that the majority of the property was "purchased for flood plain purposes and that still is the case."

As for Temelini's issue with the development of the land, Jorgensen said "we just see it as someone with an opinion."

Temelini said he was still open to offers from the city or Conservation Sudbury, with the hopes that the land, if not used for its original purpose, is returned to his family.

"I'm submitting different proposals to the conservation authority see if we can work something out," he said. "To see if there's a way of doing a deal whereby we can keep everybody happy."

"I'm negotiable."