Policy committee reports
<!--[if supportFields]> SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1<![endif]--><!--[if supportFields]><![endif]-->Policy Committee
Reports for July 5, 2007
1. 84-96 Main St. W:
This is a new development application for the north side of Main Street, just to the west of Tall Trees (on the other side of the street). Details =15.7metres (OP =11m.), 5 stories (OP = 3), 64 residential units (? increased density for the lot area), 418 sq. ft. commercial space (4 retail outlets) on the street level off Main St., underground parking (for bonuses...) plus extra parking to the north of the building. The application is to request an exemption re height and side yard requirements, to lift the Holding designation and to permit limited commercial uses. It already has been rezoned to Residential Multiple. John Gallagher, planning consultant, maintains that 5 stories are needed to allow additional landscaping, reduce lot coverage and the amount of hard surface and lessen the impact on surrounding neighbours (all to keep this high density).
The drawings show a massive structure (100,300 sq. ft).
The following letter was sent out to members of the Policy Committee for comment and then sent to Chris and our elected reps.
June 29, 2007
Chris Madej
Manager of Planning
Development Services
Town of Huntsville
37 Main Street East
Huntsville, On
P1H 1A1
Dear Mr. Madej:
Re: 1698241 Ontario Ltd. Blocks A&B, Plan 14, Geographic Township of Chaffey, Town of Huntsville, District Municipality of Muskoka
File No.: Z/17/2007/HTE
The Huntsville Lakes Council devoted considerable time to the review of the Official Plan when it was being drafted and was pleased with the final document. The HLC supports the intensification of land use for residential purposes in the fully serviced areas of Town, as outlined in OP item 2.4.8.3 and others.
However, it does not feel that the development proposed for 84-96 Main Street West supports certain other specific items or the intent of the O.P.
Item 2.4.7.2 outlines Town's intent to support affordable housing opportunities. This development does not fall in this category.
The sections on the Environment, Huntsville Urban Settlement Area and the Waterfront all strongly outline Town's intent to preserve and conserve the overall natural landscape and specific items indicate how this is to be done. Item 3.1.1 summarizes this intent. Item 4.2.1.4 notes that the "natural environment remains an important landscape feature".
Item 4.2.1.5 restricts the height of buildings in the Urban Area to 11 metres unless building design is such that "the principles of the Official Plan are maintained with respect to visual impact...". Although treed landscaping in front of the building will limit to some extent the height of 15.7 metres, from every perspective it will still tower over the trees to be planted. The development will not interrupt the ridgeline but it's height and mass will ensure that the eye will be focussed on this piece of land. It will be too clearly seen from the busily-travelled Hunters Bay and even from highway #11 at the
Vernon Narrows bridge. It is interesting that views from the north, on the water, were not made available with the application.
OP Section 4.2, Design Principles, states that aesthetics are important (4.2.1). Section 11.2 Design Guidelines, clarifies that development design will meet visual and aesthetic standards and will enhance the positive aspects of community character. The proposed development is a truly massive structure with no breaks in its outline to interrupt its bulk. It will loom large.
The Planning Review provided by John P. Gallagher does not give the lot area of the development but it is inferred that "bonuses" will be used to secure agreements from Town to allow the gross densities set out in item 4.5.1.9 to be exceeded. Such a visible structure should not be allowed to detract from the character of our community despite the bonuses provided. Section 4.10.1, Main Street West Mixed Use Area, notes that the characteristics of this area are low density residential uses and mixed commercial uses. The constraints to increased density are clearly recognized and remain valid.
The last time a height exemption was given, the citizenry recognized quickly that the development did not fit its vision for Huntsville. Please do not let this happen again.
Respectfully,
Mary McCulley
Chair, Policy Committee
Huntsville Lakes Council
cc Mayor and Councillors
2. Deer Lake Trailer Park
As requested at the last HLC meeting, I did further follow-up on the Deer Lake Trailer Park issue by e-mailing Wendy Rodrigues, Deer Lake Trailer Park resident, and Mike Gooch, Chief Building Official. My e-mail to Wendy was returned as "address unknown". The dialogue on the issue is shown below. We no longer have a contact at the Park. What to do now?
e-mail to Mike June 18th:
Hi Mike:
I sent my last e-mail to Wendy Rodrigues, from the Deer Lake Trailer Park, in February, 2007, following up on concerns she had noted about leakage from the holding tank used by Deer Lake. I did not hear back from her but, in case she has moved from the Park and no longer has an interest in this issue, I was asked at the last meeting of the Huntsville Lakes Council to follow up with you.
I have copied the e-mails between Wendy and myself to fill you in on the details the HLC has just in case you are not familiar with the problem.
Please let me know if you have already done or will do something about this issue Mike.
I provided Mike with the correspondence between Wendy and myself which follows his response below.
his reply June 18/07:
I did receive a verbal complaint a year or so ago. Because of the size of the park, the sewage deposal is under the authority of the MOE, and I have no authority there. If you could provide more detail, such as to what trailers are served by the "leaking" tanks and who to contact to inspect them, maybe I could arrange with the Barrie MOE office to send some one to meet me there.
I have not been able to uncover a written complaint on this issue, but I have been in the park in the past on other issues.
Thanks
e-mail to Wendy Feb. 9, 2007
Hi Wendy:
Our new mayor came to a meeting of the Huntsville Lakes Council. I mentioned Deer Lake as a concern of ours. We didn't have time to supply him with the specifics of why there might be cause for alarm but he was interested. (In fact, I think he has on his environmental agenda another park with (?) similar problems to yours.)
I would strongly suggest, if you haven't done so already, to e-mail him (with a hard copy sent also - and please cc me on both so he knows that others are concerned - no need to mail me) with a brief explanation of the latter history of Deer Lake, why you have cause for concern (including potential impact on Lake Vernon), what MOE did(n't) do and asking for his help.
He has hired an environmental consultant who is going to look over environmental issues Town has, indicate to Council if there is cause for concern and make recommendations about those which are considered concerning.
e-mail from Wendy Oct. 28/06
Mary,
Thank you for calling the planning dept, we will certainly write the letter, and also to the attention of Kirsten Maxwell and email a copy to you. We can only hope that this does not take a few weeks before we hear anything back, it has been let go far too long already.
We would be greatful to you if you would forward our email to Sean Maxwell and Carl Heck, Thank You. As all our efforts with MOE have seemed to vanish. Our lands, lakes and wildlife are too important for us to quit.
ECHO is planning more demonstrations in the near future at Deer Lake Trailer Park as well as at some of the Government Buildings and Authorities. We will let you know when and where (hopefully you and others will join us and it would be a pleasure to meet you.)
As I mentioned in my previous email there are people that are able to take the necessary authorities to the exact locations were the problems exist, as these areas seem to have been camoflauged so as not to be seen easily. If MOE wants to deal with the situation, we could easily get the proper people to actually go there, and show them. For the life of us we cannot understand why MOE (Mr. Chris Hyde) is so adament in neglecting this situation.
e-mail from Wendy October 26/06
Hi again to you Mary:
Thank you for your email and we will certainly keep Mr Heck and yourself in the loop as we can always use as much help and knowledge as possible.
We found on the Internet (Property Complaint Form) please let us know if this is the same as (Property Standards Inspection Report) as we are from Toronto and Windsor, this makes it difficult to go to Huntsville.
The MOE at the time of their visual site inspection said that there was no report except for verbal. The person we spoke to was Mr. Chris Hyde at MOE. He said there was no digging. From our notes Mr. Hyde did not seem interested in going any further and he said that was that!
We are very disappointed in the MOE for not doing their job and for not carrying out what they said they were going to do. I cannot understand for the life of me why when they have a person that can actually show them where the problems are why they would not use this person to locate the exact problem. I thought their job was to keep our land clean from environmental contaminations, is this not so? If not what are they there for?
Again thank you for your support in this very important matter.
e-mail to Wendy Oct 17/06
Hi again Wendy:
You can pick up a copy of the Property Standards Inspection Report from Kirsten in the Planning Department at Town Hall. Bill also tells me that you can also just do up a complaint letter to Town. Maybe the official form would have more weight???
I think that 140 sites is still big enough to do a lot of damage to the groundwater if the tanks are found to be leaking! Do you have any idea what MOE might have done during its visual inspection? Did they do any digging?
Please keep me and Carl Heck 'in the loop' - we'll do what we can to help if problems are found.
e-mail from Wendy October 15/06
Mary,
Thank you for your email. Sorry but we do not recall Mr. Bill Somers requesting us to fill out the "Property Standards Inspection Report". Please advise us how to obtain this form and we will be more than happy to fill it out.
When we last spoke to MOE (Ministry of Environment) they were going to arrange a meeting between Mike and themselves at the subject site, they did not do so, instead MOE did a visual inspection on their own and said their findings were OK and that was that.
We have since joined an environmental group called ECHO (Environmental Christian Health Organization (Non Profit)), which is a member of the OEN (Ontario Environment Network) . They have done a couple of roadside demonstrations, please see ECHO"s website www.echo01.homstead,com for further information. ECHO is also planning a few more demonstrations before and after Christmans at The Town of Huntsville government buildings and also the MOE buildings.
It is our information that Deer Lake Trailer Park has diminished from 254 sites to approximately 140 sites with another 18-20 more seasonals leaving due to not only the Environmental situations but also due to unsafe and health standards ie: swimming pool, amongst other situations.
Your support would be greatly appreciated in any way possible.
e-mail Oct 11/06
Hi Wendy and Mike:
It's been some time now since both the Lake Vernon Association and the Huntsville Lakes Council have heard anything about the status of your concerns regarding raw sewage leaking from the storage tanks at Deer Lake Trailer Park. I understand from Bill Somers that he had suggested that you in June that you fill in a copy of the Town of Huntsville's 'Property Standards Inspection Report'. The Town would then have to act on it.
I would be pleased if you would update me on what might have happened since.
3. OP Amendments - fees to get lake plans amended
Draft letter to Claude on this issue:
Dear Mr. Mayor:
Elaine Jackson and I met with Terry Sararas on June 20, 2007 to discuss the by-law imposing fees on Official Plan amendments. We understand from Terry that lake plan amendments which involve lake specific policies different from those set out in the OP would be considered Major, with a fee of $2,500.00. If the recommendation is considered to involve a fairly insignificant policy, and has 100% by-in from lake residents, the amendment might then be considered Minor, subject to a fee of $600.00.
For small lakes especially, these fees are a severe deterrent to lake plan development. As you might recall, the Huntsville Lakes Council was set in motion by your predecessor for the primary purpose of providing support for lakes to develop lake plans as stewardship by lake residents was seen by Mr. Mackenzie as critical to environmental conservation.
Terry suggested that Town might consider amending the OP by adding an Appendix which would list the lake plans of lakes if these do not include major planning issues. This is a good idea as most will not have recommendations beyond those considered to be stewardship. Costs to be included in this appendix were not discussed.
The Huntsville Lakes Council would like Council to consider deferment of all fees for lake plan amendments to the OP. It is a major undertaking for lakes to develop these plans. If consultants need to be hired, this extends to beyond the hours spent by volunteers to gather the detail required, the mechanisms needed to ensure the knowledge, input and comments of lake residents and hosting public meetings throughout the process. We discussed with Terry several options that might lower the fees exacted. These included such areas as the lake undertaking the pre-circulation, the posting of signs etc. In lieu of full deferment, such fee reductions are absolutely necessary to keep lake plan development progressing.
This is a time-limited process as there are only so many lakes in the Huntsville area.
Another fee which seems at odds with the OP's intent to preserve the natural environment is the cost to amend the Zoning By-law. If an individual or group wishes to donate a parcel of land to the Muskoka Heritage Foundation, MHF requires that the lands be rezoned to conservation trust, at a cost of $1,000.00.
Lake plans and land trusts can only benefit Huntsville. It seems contrary to place obstacles in their path.
Respectfully,
Mary McCulley
Chair, Policy Committee, Huntsville Lakes Council, cc Huntsville Council
