There were some raised voices in Innisfil at Tuesday’s information session organized by Coun. Donna Orsatti at the lakeshore library.
There was also an unexpected apology from the town’s chief administrative officer for the perceived lack of communication between the municipality and its residents.
The session was held to provide background information and dispel some of the rumours that have been circulating in the wake of the town’s redesignation of properties on Innisfil Beach Road, east of 25 Sideroad, from residential to commercial, proposed rezoning to mixed use to allow buildings up to four storeys in height, and passage of an interim-control bylaw freezing development of the land for a year.
The inclusion of five waterfront homes on Lakelands Avenue and several properties on the west side of the road in the commercial designation caught most residents by surprise.
The residents claimed they were broad-sided and that the town failed to notify them of the plans to redesignate in an open, transparent and timely manner.
That's why Orsatti went from door to door issuing an invitation to Tuesday’s meeting.
“It’s an information session for residents, specifically those that have an interest in the interim-control bylaw and the zoning,” she said.
On hand to provide information and answer questions were senior staff, “who are experts in this field,” Orsatti said, including senior planner Paul Pentikainen and manager of land-use planning Tim Cane, as well as Mayor Lynn Dollin and Deputy Mayor Dan Davidson.
The redesignation was part of an Official Plan update that began in 2015, laying out a “long-term vision of the town,” and “how the town wants to grow and develop over the next 20 years,” said Cane.
That vision included the concept of “place-making," or creating new opportunities and public spaces for residents to interact.
Both the redesignation to commercial and the ongoing Innisfil Beach Park master plan are part of that vision, Cane said.
There was an "extensive" public consultation at various stages of the process, said Pentikainen, including a retail study that identified a need for an additional one million square feet of commercial retail space in Alcona.
The final version of the Official Plan, which included the redesignation of Innisfil Beach Road from 25 Sideroad to Lake Simcoe, and a portion of Lakelands Avenue, was adopted by council in January 2018.
This May, to keep speculators and developers from snapping up the redesignated properties before proper zoning bylaw controls could be put in place, the town passed an interim-control bylaw, effectively freezing building permits for the redesignated land for at least a year.
“It basically pushes a pause button in terms of building permits,” said Cane. “It doesn’t mean expropriation. All it does is it doesn’t allow us to issue building permits” until new zoning regulations are in place.
Homeowners can still carry out repairs and get permits for small-scale additions, such as decks, Cane said, but cannot redevelop or build a new single-family home. They can also continue to live in their homes and pay residential taxes, but any new development would have to be mixed use.
Outraged residents pointed out that nowhere in the reviews, documents or draft plans was Lakelands Avenue ever mentioned by name.
Cane’s explanation? That it’s "impossible to list every property” in a municipality with more than 13,000 properties.
That found little favour with more than 60 residents present.
“The word ‘Lakelands’ was hidden,” insisted resident Paul Selaman, while “Innisfil Beach Road was mentioned.”
It was only in the notice of passage of the interim-control bylaw that the homes on Lakelands were identified as being redesignated commercial.
Gordon Knox, a retired planner and consultant, told staff, “you’ve stopped up any residentially oriented building permits,” adding that once the rezoning is approved, “there will be no more residential building permits.”
Cane agreed. The mixed-use zoning proposed does not allow single-family residential units to be built within the designated areas; only two- to four-storey buildings with retail on the ground floor and residential above.
“You have left us with homes that are not saleable,” said one Lakelands homeowner, asking who would buy an older cottage that can’t be replaced by a permanent home, but only a commercial-residential building?
“You put us in an extremely difficult position,” said another, claiming that a sale of her property had fallen through because of the interim-control bylaw and freeze.
The lack of communication was also an issue for residents.
“You put all these meetings in the winter when people aren’t here,” said Cathy Bradley, who has been coming to the Innisfil Beach area “since I was a child.”
Bradley recently built a permanent, handicap-accessible home on Hastings,only to learn that the redesignation of the homes on Innisfil Beach Road means “we’re going to be facing these commercial properties,” up to four storeys tall.
“They sent us a letter about the expansion of the water treatment plant. Why couldn’t you have sent us a letter on the interim bylaw?” she demanded.
That’s when CAO Jason Reynar took the microphone to apologize.
“The first thing we should have started this meeting with, was 'We’re sorry’,” Reynar said. “We have got to do better. We are learning our lesson… This is not what you expect from Innisfil. This is not supposed to be planning by numbers.”
He added: “The second thing we should have said is, none of this is at a point where it is written in stone. We are way, way, way far away from that point.”
Reynar tied the plans for a commercial zone on the south side of Innisfil Beach Road with the plans for Innisfil Beach Park, and urged residents to make their views known, at getinvolvedinnisfil.ca or by contacting [email protected].
“This is your chance to engage in the plan,” Reynar said.
But Knox questioned the connection between mixed-use commercial on Innisfil Beach Road and redevelopment of Innisfil Beach Park.
“Who came up with the idea? Was it your staff?” Knox asked.
“There was a desire to have a main street that could be connected to the lake,” said Cane. “It was something that we heard, not that we made up.”
Knox noted that the value of the five lakefront homes on Lakelands was in the neighbourhood of $7 to $10 million.
“What are you going to do with the property? What are you going to put on that property for $10 million?” he asked, especially since parking, environmental constraints and lot depth all limit development.
“The details of that are still being worked on,” admitted Cane.
Deputy Mayor Dan Davidson, former community liaison for Friday Harbour Resort, was asked his opinion on the proposed commercial development, as well as the impact on both taxes and property values.
“To me, a park should be a park,” said Davidson. “You build all this commercial, I can’t see it surviving. Nobody’s going to put in a lemonade stand and pay thousands a month,” for just the summer season rush.
He noted that Friday Harbour is also having trouble leasing retail space.
“This commercial strip, it’s 20 years from now – it’s not tomorrow,” Davidson said.
As for property values in Big Bay Point, those skyrocked after Friday Harbour went in.
“But our taxes went up accordingly,” he said.
Not every resident opposed redevelopment.
“This is a main road. This is going to progress. The key question to remember is, how we’re going to move forward,” said one person. “If you just step back, the park is going to be a disaster.”
Knox had a final warning for the town, suggesting there were three options.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. You will re-designate from commercial back to residential,” or the owners on Lakelands and Innisfil Beach Road can apply for their own Official Plan amendment for redesignation to residential, or they can file a court challenge against the municipality, he said.
“You do not want that,” said Knox.
In court, the town would have to demonstrate that it provided full notification to all impacted residents and that all members of council fully understood what they were voting for when they approved the Official Plan.
“It’s really incumbent upon the municipality to go out of its way to make sure everyone is aware,” Knox said. “Think about this long and hard. This could really come back and bite you.”
There were some sharp exchanges during the two-and-a-half-hour meeting, but there was also applause for Orsatti for organizing the session.
