City council made its displeasure known about a land-clearing "mess" made in the eastern hillsides by a well-known developer.

"This is kind of distressing," said Mayor Sharon Gaetz at last week's council meeting, about tree-cutting activity conducted without a permit on Nixon Rd.

"This is a well-known developer in our community," she said, who "knows the ropes" and is well-versed on how "such things work."

The applicant was listed in council documents as Landus Development Group, as well as Blackburn Developments, which is owned by Rick Wellsby of the Falls golf course.

Wellsby told a New York Times reporter in 1999, that he planned to house an estimated 13,000 people with his Eastern Hillsides project. He amassed six forested properties covering 430 acres, and also built the Falls Golf and Country Club, with the 18-hole golf course as the centrepiece.

The developer now has until the end of the summer to remove the fallen trees and complete the site remediation to secure the property.

Council approved the interim development permit, but the mayor also gave staff a mandate "to find a way to put some teeth in our bylaw so we could fine developers" in a case like this.

City administrator Peter Monteith said staff were working on establishing a mechanism to levy fines through its municipal ticketing bylaws.

Coun. Pat Clark commented it was "regrettable" that council now had to go through this process.

The subdivision application for the property at 8361 Nixon Road was originally submitted in April 2008 for a 54-lot bare-land strata development.

Staff reported that the developer started cutting down trees on the 15.5-hectare property in July of 2008. A stop work order was slapped on the property the next month to ensure no further site activities took place, according to a staff report.

"We are not anti-development on council, but it has to be done in a responsible way," said Gaetz after the meeting.

"The developer should have had all the permits in place."

This is especially important given the area's orange and red geo-technical classification, which indicate moderate and substantial hazards. The vegetation clearing and debris piling was near a small tributary to Ford Creek, but not within 10 metres of the high-water mark, according to the report. Red-legged frogs were found in disturbed wetlands.

"We want to create a development mechanism to fine people who do this in the future," Gaetz added. "It's something council is not pleased about."

jfeinberg@theprogress.com