The show goes on

Council approves rural zoning change to permit music venue

It was a planning meeting like no other. More than 50 comments from residents— including a musical tribute via Zoom, crooning to the character of council member and applicant Sam Grosso. Two big files (five in total). Nearly six hours. Outside Shire Hall, about 75 folks loudly protested the prospect of a Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO) to govern activities at Picton Terminals.

But like a TV series that has run out of plot lines, in this episode, it was one of their own on the docket.

Sam Grosso is an impresario. He’s owned nightclubs in Toronto including the El Mocambo, Cadillac Lounge and Graffiti’s Bar and Grill. The Globe and Mail described Graffiti’s in a 2017 story as “a gritty music room in Kensington Market”.

Nine years ago, he bought a small farm on Rednersville Road, in a leafy neighbourhood on the northwest corner of the County. Soon afterward, he renovated the barn on the rural property and opened Sam’s Place, described on the website as “a unique event space for concerts, weddings, parties, and more.”

“The energy and the spirit in the room is palpable, and you’ll walk out with a smile on your face and a bounce in your step,” exhorts the councillor’s website. “Even after dancing all night.”

Sounds fun.

But when he began selling tickets and staging concerts, the neighbours became alarmed. Sam’s property wasn’t zoned for anything but rural uses. They worried about late-night partying, noise, water, and parking—of a honkytonk on their quiet rural road.

Last year, the County’s Fire Department shut down Sam’s Place for noncompliance with zoning, building code and fire code.

Grosso raged against the closure in a Facebook post: “When the powers that be shut you down, the show must go on, and that’s what I will do. You can shut my venue down, but I will find a way to bring music to the people, and I don’t give rat’s ass how much it costs me.”

But the Ameliasburgh council member— elected just the year before—was already working toward rezoning his property to permit Sam’s Place to reopen.

Grosso’s file came before his fellow colleagues last Wednesday. He recused himself from the discussion, moving to the room next door as Council weighed his fate.

Council heard both the good and the bad. Many spoke of Grosso’s good character and his role in injecting cultural vibrancy into overlooked parts of Toronto. They praised his support for artists, suggesting that Sam’s Place “will become a home base to local and touring musicians, enhancing the local arts scene and providing job opportunities.”

Others highlighted a litany of worries. Late-night concerts in the quiet neighbourhood. Who would monitor and enforce the noise bylaw? Parking? They worried about compatibility between a music and event venue with neighbouring livestock.

Minimum distance separation has thwarted many alternative uses for County barns and resulted in the destruction of some iconic structures since these regulations were enacted in 2008. County Planning staff have concluded, in this case, however, that “due to the size of each [of the neighbour’s] structure, the lack of water supply, and the limited size of the property,” the proposed development is not required to meet MDS rules.

Some worry about the impact a 150-person commercial venue will have on the neighbour’s water supply. Others say the venue does not fit within the County’s Shore Land Designation.

Still, others worry that Grosso’s rezoning will set a precedent for other incompatible uses on undersized lots.

AWKWARD
Outside the immediate neighbourhood, many folks are uneasy about the perception of a sitting council member promoting a land use planning file for his property.

Other levels of government have strict rules governing how their personal interests intersect with their public roles. Provincial and federal members are required to divest business or property interests or move them into blind trusts to eliminate real or perceived conflicts when their business interests may be affected by government policy.

Grosso has, by virtue of his council seat, a unique relationship with his council colleagues. He has unique access to municipal officials and the Shire Hall bureaucracy that other residents and other applicants don’t have.

According to the County’s Clerk, Catalina Blumenberg, Grosso has complied with the rules. She said that the province does not prohibit council members from submitting land planning applications.

She added that the Municipal Act requires that when Council considers such a file, the council member must disclose their interest and shall not take part in the discussion or vote on the matter. Further, the Act stipulates that the member “shall not attempt in any way whether before, during or after the meeting to influence the voting on any such question.”

Clerk Blumenberg added that the municipality had not undertaken a scan of other municipalities to determine if additional safeguards exist at the municipal level.

COUNCIL BACKS ONE OF ITS OWN
When it was Council’s turn to consider the file, the tone was muted, and the comments were more of the walking-on-eggshells variety, no one wishing to be seen as causing trouble for their colleague.

Sophiasburgh councillor Bill Roberts recounted attending a “joyful” performance by Jack DeKeyzer at Sam’s Place and described his fellow councillor as a man of “enormous personal integrity.”

Mayor Steve Ferguson envisioned Sam’s Place as an important addition to the northern part of the County— an economic engine.

But others were a bit more circumspect.

Athol councillor Sam Branderhorst leaned on her experience in theatre, advising her colleagues that she knows how sound carries—and the insulation needed to make a venue soundproof.

“He (Sam Grosso) is a wonderful man,” said Branderhorst. “But there are too many red flags.”

Picton councillor Kate MacNaughton failed to gain support for her motion to defer the decision while asking planning staff to work to find ways to limit the impact of the neighbourhood.

Grosso’s rezoning was approved, with only four council members dissenting.