06 19 1996 Sp Public2 Minutes
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(P54/96)
The following members of Council were present:
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Mayor Ian Beard
Deputy Mayor Murray Martin
Councillor Don Bell
Councillor Neil Craig
Councillor Ron Sommers
Councillor Larry Cotton
Absent:
Councillor Walter Dickie
staff Present:
Andria Leigh, Development Co-
ordinator, Jennifer Zieleniewski,
Treasurer/Administrator, Jeff
Brydges, Deputy Treasurer, Ron
Kolbe, Director, Building &
Planning, Deborah Broderick,
Director, Recreation & Community
Economic Development, Fred
Haughton, Director, Public Works.
Also Present Were:
Rick Hunter, D. Viney, Janet
Gales, Shirley Woodrow, Ron
Mills, Norm Emms, Betty Veitch,
Don P. Hanney, Bruce Hicks, Earl
Robertson, Oswald Piil, Peter
Smith, Marilyn Dinning, Robert
Dinning.
Mayor Ian Beard chaired the meeting.
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Mayor Ian Beard opened the meeting by explaining to those
present that this Public Meeting was to receive public comments
with respect to a proposed Official Plan and zoning By-Law
Amendments, under provisions of sections 17, 22 and 34, of the
Planning Act. The applicant has applied to redesignate certain
lands, West Half Lot 9, Concession 7, and West Half of Lot 9,
Concession 8 former Township of Medonte, from the Ski Resort
District and Low Environmental Sensitivity Area to the Rural
District and Low Environmental Sensitivity Area designations.
The proposed Zoning By-law Amendment would rezone the lands from
Recreational Commercial Holding (C3-1(H», Private Open Space
Holding (OS2-1 (H», and Low Environmental Sensitivity (ES2)
Zones to the Rural District (RU) and Low Environmental
Sensitivity (ES2) Zones.
To date, the Council of the Corporation of the Township of Oro-
Medonte have not made a decision on this application, other than
proceeding to this Public Meeting. Only after comments are
received from the Public, requested agencies and Township Staff,
within the appropriate time period, will Council make a decision
on this application.
Notice of the Public Meeting was mailed out on May 29, 1996, to
all property owners within 400 feet of the subject lands. Notice
of the Public Meeting was also placed in both the Barrie
Examiner and Orillia Packet and Times on May 29, 1996.
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Mayor Beard then asked the Clerk if there had been any
~or:esp~ndence received on this matter. The Clerk responded by
1nd1cat1ng that no correspondence had been received.
The Mayor then stated that those persons present would be
afforded the opportunity of asking questions with respect to the
proposed Amendment. He then turned the meeting over to the
Andria Leigh, Development Co-ordinator, to explain the purpose
and effect of the proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-Law
Amendments.
Andria Leigh:
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Thank Mr. Mayor. As the Mayor has indicated, the purpose of
tonight's meeting is to obtain public comments with respect to
this proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment.
(inaudible) This is a proposal for both an Official Plan and a
zoning change. The property is in fact split into two
properties on the Ingram Road and the 7th Concession in the
former Township of Medonte. It is split into a 17.8 hectare and
a 92 hectare parcel of land.
This proposal is for an Official Plan Amendment which would
redesignate the property. Presently, at this point in time, it
is designated Ski Resort District and Low Environmental
Sensitivity and the proposal would change it back from the Ski
Resort District to a Rural District and I will explain why that
is required.
The proposal for a Zoning By-law Amendment to both pieces of
property at this point in time, they are in a Recreational
Commercial Holding zone and a Private Open Space Holding zone,
as well as the Environmental sensitivity portion on the
property. The presentation is to go from those uses to a Rural
and Low Environmental Sensitivity zone as well.
Essentially, the applicant came forward because the intended use
of the property is for a single family dwelling on each property
and an intended severance, potentially in the corner of that
property. When this proposal came forward in the early 1990's
for this redesignation and rezoning, it was intended for a
resort conference centre type facility and the way the by-law
was approved, it did not allow any other uses except what was
existing on this property on the passing of that by-law. Both of
these lots are presently vacant which meant that it could only
be used at this point in time for vacant land.
I think basically, Mr. Ron Mills is the consultant for this
application and he is in the room and may wish to put in further
comment. Essentially what we are looking at is going from a
Holding zone of Resort Commercial use back to a Rural District
zone to allow one single family dwelling on each property solely
and one severance on this property. So, if I can turn it over
to Mr. Mills for a few final comments.
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Ron Mills:
Your Worship and council, good evening. I need not say very
much, Andria has done a good job. This is kind of an unusual
proposal in that we are actually down designating and down
zoning a parcel of land, I don't think that happens very often
and I certainly don't get hired very often to do it.
The current owners were not the people that asked for the
designation and zone change to permit a resort commercial
operation there. The current market is not the market that is
conducive to that sort of thing on that property and I would
suggest that the current regulations, particularly the
regulations pertaining to sewage treatment, are no longer
conducive to that sort of a use on that parcel.
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The property is up for sale and it has been up for sale for some
time. The great constraint it has is, as initially pointed out,
is that you can't put a house on it even though there are
beautiful building sites on it on each of the two parcels and as
we have indicated on the lot that we are proposing to sever from
the 93 acre parcel. Sorry, that was my mistake, it is not
hectares, it is 93 acres, it says that there on the map, that is
why your planner indicated hectares. So, what we need is we need
the Rural designation on the property restored which we think is
appropriate. It is within a large rural area of the
municipality, an area designated Rural already. What we have
essentially proposed to do is to simply revert back to the
boundaries that were the Rural and the Environmental Protection
or Hazard Land boundaries that were there previously. I am
going to step over to the side so that I do not have my back to
the public to show you this if I may (indicated map). The area
in pink at the front, this is north, and this would be the road,
an unopened, there in pink would simply be the area that would
be redesignated back to Rural and the green area of course,
which are steep slopes in this area and low in that area and it
is not clear what it would be designated, it is all
environmental.
That is really it. Your Worship and Council, I have a
topographical photograph if you would like to see that as well
as a couple copies of a planning report if anyone is interested
in having a lot more detailed look at this proposal. Thank you.
Mayor Beard:
Are there any questions from Council on this issue?
Councillor Cotton:
Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Mills, the area that you are
proposing that go back to Rural designation, are you suggesting
in your Official Plan Amendment that there be support or that
consent be granted based on the policy and provisions in your
draft OPA or are you going to fall within the existing Consent
policy?
Ron Mills:
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Ms. Leigh and I had some discussions about that. We know that
the municipality is preparing a new Official Plan at this stage,
we don't know what the timing of approval on this particular
proposal is going to be although, we are optimistic that we are
going to get it done fairly quickly. I have had some recent
successes in getting things through at Queen's Park and as you
know, this proposal needs to go from here to Queen's Park. Not
many staff left down there, and we don't know how quickly that
will happen and what the new emerging policies, if you will, of
the municipality with respect to severances on parcels will be
and it was my initial proposal, and I thank you for bringing it
to my attention, that we include in the Official Plan Amendment
for this particular, the larger of the parcels, the easterly of
the two, a provision that one severance be granted from the
area. Obviously, it can't be granted right now because the
designation is not right but when the rural designation is
restored, parcels, generally for parcels over 90 acres in size,
one lot may be permitted to be granted by severance and we felt
that since we were getting the amendment anyway, we would want
to make sure that at the end of the day, that was, at least, in
Council's view something that was appropriate and then of course
we would take our chances in front of the Committee of
Adjustment.
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Mayor Beard:
Any further questions? I believe it was in the 1970's that the
proposal came through to Council. Are there any further
questions from the public? Would you come forward and speak
into the mike and state your name please.
Marilyn Dinning:
My name is Marilyn Dinning and we have the property that is
immediately east of the property that we are discussing. Our
property is right at the side of the lot that is proposed for
severance.
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This is a farming community and we fully concur with the rural
downgrading and certainly, we very strongly support the
environmental proposals that are part of this job. Our concern
is this little tiny lot that is proposed to be severed. It is
out of character with the neighbourhood. We are a neighbourhood
of large farms and properties like our which are 50 acre farms
as we call it. We have a large wooded area that we planted
something like 15,000 trees in that is right beside, just to the
east of the lot, the severed lot that is proposed and what we
are working at is restoring it to a hardwood forest someday. I
do not know if we will live to see that but that is the
proposal. To put a very small lot or what is, it is not a small
lot, it would be a large lot in the city, it is an acre and a
half, of course. But this is not the size of properties in that
community. To put that right in there in the middle of what is
currently what is quite a wilderness area, woods area, would be
in our opinion, quite inappropriate. We would prefer to see the
property divided in half or at least something more along the
line of 25 acres or things like that to give people the
opportunity to be more involved in the community that we have
which is more farming and agricultural and woods and forest type
community. In an acre and a half, it would be very difficult to
be a participant in the community. Basically, that is our
concern. Let me just check my notes to see if there was a point
I wanted make.
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The resort, we didn't have any, there were concerns about the
resort, but we did not in anyway oppose it because, as you say,
it was the 90's or the 80's, I can't remember, maybe it was even
the 70's when it goes back to. It was a time when those things
were happening and perhaps you would have been an obstructionist
to have been against it, the, we could see it as a purpose of
providing local jobs. One important and it was sort of personal
consideration of ours in not going against the resort, was that
there was a building planned for the west side of those lots and
they proposed a park land for cross-country skiing and that type
of activity through the woods and the property that adjoined
ours. So, at that time, the resort, the current designation and
the plan that was in place for that was more in keeping with
benefitting us or at least, not benefitting us, it benefits us
the way it is right now exactly but it was acceptable to have a
cross-country skiing area there, but to have a house in that
corner.
I might add that it is a very dangerous corner there. If you
know those Medonte corners, I don't know if any of you are from
there, but there are a number of them that go through the
concessions and they make these little right hand turns. This
is a very wooded area, I can't tell you how many times my
husband and I have gone down there or had people tapping at our
door at midnight saying "we have just gone off the road, we
don't know where we are". I would anticipate that whoever has
a home in there and as the owners are proposing to clear that
land, I understand, of all trees for their logging purposes at
this time, it will certainly be very open. They might have an
unexpected car in their livingroom from time to time on that
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corner, I would forewarn. That is another reason for not
particularly taking, there is a band of very well established
pine trees that goes across the front of that property,
excellent positions for building inside of that, of course
behind the pine trees, but it would be a pity to see the pine
trees totally removed. However, forestry and logging are part
of progress so I wouldn't be concerned on that. As I say, that
is our concern, we would request at this time that it be
returned to Rural, that the environmental status be excepted,
but at this time the request for a severance that is being piggy
backed onto this proposal be not accepted, that whoever buys the
93 acres, come forward at that time and decide how they would
like to sever it as a resident within the community. Thank you
very much.
Mayor Beard:
Would you like to respond to that Mr. Mills.
Andria Leigh:
I would just like to make a few comments first and I know Mr.
Mills will speak further to that.
I think, the first thing I would like to indicate is that this
is just a proposed area, that is not a guaranteed area for that
severance, so I know with our Planning Advisory Committee, we
did have some concerns about the location right at the edge of
the property with that sharp corner in the road.
The other comment that I would make is that our Official Plan
policies at this point in time allow off the 90 acre parcel a
severance of one to two acres, so that is where the size of this
parcel came into effect because we do not permit severances over
that size and that is what the applicants were trying to conform
to is the existing Official Plan policies.
In terms of the forestation, I know Mr. Mills will want to talk
to talk to that because he did a presentation to the Planning
Advisory with respect to forestation on the property, so I will
let him address that particular concern.
Ron Mills:
Thank you, our neighbour makes three very excellent points and
frankly, all three I agree with.
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We are constrained at the present time by the policies of the
Official Plan with respect to the size of that lot, as Ms. Leigh
has pointed out. Perhaps what we need to do is to take a look
at whether that particular maximum/minimum size, if you will,
between one and two acres is appropriate in this situation. I
think I can say, certainly on behalf of the owner, that we have
discussed other severance options which frankly agree with their
observations, that perhaps something, perhaps closer to a split
up the middle of that parcel is more appropriate, I mean you
have to be comfortable with that, if we make that part of our
application, that it does not violate the spirit and intent of
your Official Plan and if it does, of course, we are back to
perhaps looking at alternative locations for that lot and we are
very amendable to working with you and the neighbours to finding
the best possible location for that lot. We put it there
because it is a pretty spot. It is a very pretty spot, perhaps
the prettiest. There is a problem with the road and we might
just best get moved away from that bend in the road. So I
appreciate those comments and I think they have been raised also
already by the municipality.
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with respect to reforest, the cutting of trees, the owner does
intend to proceed and I am working with him and actually a
forester with the intent of not ruining that piece of property.
We have cautioned the cutters that we are presently seeking cost
estimates from or bids from, that we do not want the property
ruined. I mean, when you thin a forest, we are not clear
cutting any of it, except of course for the building site
itself, a minimal area suitable for the siting of a building and
septic system. I have asked the cutters not to remove any trees
or even thin the trees in front of the building site to provide
maximum screening and you know, privacy for the interest of the
owners on the lot. To thin the remaining stand, the red pine
only, on the property which encompasses about 30 acres, by
taking each fourth and fifth row, which is how they do it these
days with machinery, they take out the fourth and fifth row and
the three intervening rows are left to grow larger and mature.
So, that is what will likely happen, sometime later this year
but I can assure you and perhaps maybe what we should be looking
at to maintain the appearance of the site is we don't take the
first two rows next to the road, we perhaps start back a little
bit so that the thing really looks essentially the same from the
road. Those are things we can do and we are willing to do them
and I would like to work with you and the neighbours to make
sure we get it done right.
Mayor Beard:
Any further questions or comments?
There being no further questions or comments, when being called
for the third time, the Mayor in closing the meeting, thanked
those in attendance for their participation and advised that
Council would consider all matters before reaching a decision.
He then advised those present that if they wished to be notified
of the passing of the proposed By-law, they should leave their
name and address with the Clerk.
MOTION NO.1
Moved by Martin, seconded by Bell
Be it resolved that this Special Public Meeting of Council (West
Half of Lot 9, Concession 7, and West Half of Lot 9, Concession
8 (formerly Township of Medonte) now be adjourned at 7:39 p.m.
Carried.
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MAYOR IAN BEARD
CLERK
LYNDA AIKEN