“Too big, too quick, too fast.”

Councillor Corey Engelsdorfer was not alone in his assessment of an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) that would affect privately owned shore land across the County.

Council’s Committee of the Whole voted to shelve a motion to re-designate those areas currently zoned Shore Land as Rural or Agricultural where they overlap with Natural Features and Natural Core Areas identified the 2021 Official Plan.

Concerns included the process, any unintended consequences of re-designating the land, a coming Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw (CZB) update, and the slow erosion of property rights.

“I want to kill this right now,” Councillor Brad Nieman said, tabling an amendment to accept the planning staff report — but striking the clause that updated the Official Plan.

But the report and proposed OPA took months to complete. Over 700 property owners were engaged in a year-long review. The OPA was the first phase of a two-phase process.

The County’s Official Plan set aside shore lands as a key resource, open to tourist-commercial development and to enhance public access to the waterfront.

But priorities have shifted.  

In some cases, the tourist-development-friendly designation overlaps with that of natural core areas, or with areas that should be zoned Environmental Protection. In other cases, the lands would be better included in Agricultural or Rural land designations nearby. 

Councillor John Hirsch noted that the PEC Field Naturalists want the Shore Lands designation to be removed altogether. 

“This is a good first step. We are looking at removing the overlap areas and re-zoning based on neighbouring Rural and Agricultural zoning.”

But Councillor Phil Prinzen advised waiting on the  Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw review now underway. “That will determine what people can do with their properties. But now, we are changing the rules before we do the review. The cart is in front of the horse and it usually works better the other way around.” 

He pointed to a map with a patchwork of shore lands up for redesignation —or left alone, as the case may be, noting how arbitrary some of the proposed designations were. Some were made through staff deliberation and public input. In other cases, though, farmland in production was keeping a Shore Land designation. Other places, such as Nicholson Island, home to a private resort, were to be re-designated agricultural.

Speaking for herself and her Cressy neighbours, Margaret Martin noted a carve-out in the Rock Crossroad area that would be re-zoned Rural Development if re-designated.

“Given the stated intent of the amendment, it is counter-intuitive to identify these lands, situated directly adjacent to Environmental Protection lands on top of the natural feature known as the Rock, the environmentally protected Escarpment, the Provincially Significant Lost Lake wetlands, and within the very heart of the Cape Vesey Natural Core Area, as Rural Development, the most permissive designation,” she said.

Unlike previous municipal OPAs precipitated by provincial changes to Ontario’s Planning Act, the Shore Lands re-designation is municipally driven.

To The Core

Tourist-Commercial uses permitted by the Shore Lands designation conflict with Natural Core Area and Natural Heritage designations and/or other feature-specific policies in the County’s 2021 Official Plan. 

Such development can attract large numbers of users and can negatively impact protected natural environment features such as wetlands, significant woodlands, and escarpments. 

County Planning Policy Coordinator Scott Pordham led the Shore Land re-designation project. He noted there was no pressing timeline around its passage. He also noted that the amendment could be appealed by the affected Shore Lands owners to the Ontario Land Tribunal.

“In terms of risk of an appeal, the province has restricted appeal rights, but residents can appeal a municipally-initiated OPA,” he said. “It’s within Council’s prerogative to not go ahead with it.” It is not clear when or if the Shore Lands Amendment will return to the Planning Committee. The new Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw comes to Council later this year. The current Interim Control Bylaw preventing development on Shore lands expires on April 23.