Opening gates

Update: In an about turn, council decided to approve the file at its Tuesday night meeting. The full story will be available in next week’s Times.

Council rejects Cherry Valley wedding venue expansion

It’s a tough file. The property in question had operated as a tent and trailer resort for years on an East Lake property directly south of the intersection in Cherry Valley. It evolved and operated under different rules. A different era. The current owners have imagined a new vision for the property. The tents and trailers are gone. In its place, a stylish lakeside wedding venue has emerged replete with lavish gardens, comfortable guest suites and “glamping” tents.

The problem is that it doesn’t fit neatly in the County’s Official Plan. The owners are trying to fix that. Yet, it is a thorny problem. Official Plans (OPs) are written so that they are difficult to change. OPs are prepared over many years, gathering input and feedback from all corners of the community. Then they get stamped by the province. They are hard to undo. For a reason.

Nevertheless, County planning staff feel that current use and future plans for the Lakecroft property in Cherry Valley satisfy the broad intent of the Official Plan and, as such, merit Council approval. Besides, the site has been used as a commercial tourism operation for years. The Lakecroft event venue doesn’t seem a stretch from its preexisting use. If anything, a positive one.

Not everyone sees it this way. Some of the neighbours—though not all—object to amending the OP and granting the owners the zoning they seek. They complain of noise from wedding events disrupting the quiet enjoyment of their property. They worry that proposed changes will subject them to more events and more noise—more disruption.

Municipal staff counter that comprehensive noise control and mitigation measures have been developed and will be implemented in a site plan agreement. The applicant and her advisors came with a thick volume of studies and evidence to demonstrate they had done their homework and were faithfully and diligently following the municipal process before them.

They contend that a proposed new event venue will effectively contain the revelry and minimize noise in the neighbourhood.

As such, the file arrived on council’s planning committee desk for a decision last week.

Some of the neighbours addressed Council to share their worries about noise. Some fretted about traffic. But mostly it was noise. They urged Council to turn the applicant down.

Councillors worried about lowering the hurdle of amending the OP to make an existing business fit important rules. Hallowell councillor Phil Prinzen compared it to managing cattle.

“Once a cow has left the gate, others follow,” said Prinzen. “ It sets a bad precedent that others will surely use.”

Athol councillor Sam Branderhorst appeared torn by the issue in her ward. While she gives the applicant credit for redeveloping the Cherry Valley property and operating a good business, she contends that changes to the OP are supposed to be difficult.

“These owners may be great, but worse owners may come along,” said Branderhorst.

OP rules are meant to set the ground rules for decades, urged the Athol councillor.

But another councillor felt Council should be encouraging entrepreneurs, rather than erecting roadblocks. Sophiasburgh councillor Bill Roberts suggested Council should be working harder to get to a yes—particularly on files where individuals are risking their own capital, investing their own labour and taking risks that hold the promise of expanding the economic prospects of this community.

“We need to show faith in entrepreneurship,” said Roberts, before turning the narrow point into a broader concern. “Unless we can get our heads around this, we are going to find ourselves in very desperate straits in the decades ahead.”

Roberts argued that a community that settles into an economic stagnation out of fear, weariness or an overdeveloped sense of entitlement risks opportunity passing it by. Investment, dynamism, energy, and youth will gravitate where it is welcome. It will flow to communities where opportunity is nurtured, rather than fearfully pushed away.

“We talk about food insecurity and homelessness,” said Roberts. “You can’t address those things without creating opportunity, prosperity and wealth. You can’t redistribute stuff you haven’t produced.”

It was a tough file. Strong arguments were made on both sides.

Weirdly, a proposed motion to impose strict noise rules and enforcement measures on the site plan passed unanimously. It seemed a bridge to yes.

But when the final vote came, eight councillors voted against the OP amendment and rezoning. Six in favour.

It is a file that seems bound to return to the council table.