The Town of New Tecumseth is preparing for the next stage of the battle to save the Banting Homestead.

“There is really a fight on our hands here to make sure that the site is protected, and we’ve put some significant resources as a town into making sure that happens,” said New Tecumseth Mayor Mike MacEachern.

A provincial Conservation Review Board hearing on the matter is scheduled for Sept. 10. The hearing could last three days, and will explore the merits of a town plan to designate all 100 acres of the lot as heritage property, making it unavailable for development. The town’s case, which will be lead by solicitor James Feehely, includes reports from heritage experts, MacEachern said.

“We think we have a strong case for why it should. We are confident that they (the board) will see it the same way that we will.”

The current owners of the property, Solmar Developments Corporation, and the Ontario Historical Society, have opposed the plan, and want to designate a much smaller portion of the property as heritage protected. The original agreement between the OHS and Solmar had at least four acres protected, surrounding the homestead buildings.

“I personally think that if really the town cared about the abandoned property, they should have done something with the property before then,” said Solmar owner Benny Marotta. “Where the hell were they before then? The buildings were falling apart.”

The property was bequeathed to the Ontario Historical Society by Edward Banting, Frederick Banting’s nephew, in 1999. Since then the property and buildings have deteriorated significantly. The town had been working on a plan to buy the property from the OHS for about $1 million, but was told in November 2006 that the property had already been sold. Solmar bought the property for $2.2 million.

The announcement shocked the town, which had been working with a provincially-appointed negotiator to close the deal. At the time, the OHS said the extra money was needed to offset the costs associated with maintaining the property over the years.

Marotta said the he wanted to work with the town to develop a plan to protect part of the homestead, but said the town was unwilling.

“I think the town should have sat down with me and the historical society to try to work something out, so everybody was happy. But I think that no one knew what to do, and they wanted it all, and it will end up in court for no reason,” Marotta said.

Marotta said he offered up to 70 acres, which would have been donated to a new, non-profit organization that would maintain the land. A stipulation was that Marotta was on the board of directors, he said.

MacEachern said there were talks between the town and the developer, but nothing formal ever came forward.

“There was never any formal, written proposal given to the town. There were discussions with Mr. Moratta, but there were a lot of things requested that it was impossible for the town to do,” he said. MacEachern said he would not go into further details about the string attached to the deal because they were never formally presented to the town.

The Conservation Review Board is under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Ministry of Culture and was created in 1975 to make recommendationsto municipalities trying to designate land as heritage. The board is not a binding appeal tribunal, meaning it can only make recommendations and provides a report to council.

During the past three years, the board has heard eight different cases. Of the eight, the board recommended six be designated as heritage properties and two not.

For its part, the town is hoping a decision by the board in its favour will add weight to their arguments for the land to be turned over to the Banting Legacy Foundation and protected in perpetuity.

The hearing starts at 10 a.m. at the New Tecumseth council chambers in Alliston. The board has scheduled three day, but it may end sooner.

E-mail reporter Kurtis Elsner at kelsner@simcoe.com