Land Use Concerns Letter to the MoE

The following letter was sent to the Ministry of the Environment on February 25, 2011.

Hello Mr. Sanzo,

On February 22, 2011 SaveTheBalaFalls.com presented this to the Township of Muskoka Lakes Council, on the topic of land ownership near the north Bala Falls.

In summary, our presentation was as follows:

1. At the previous Township of Muskoka Lakes Council meeting (January 18, 2011) the proponent provided significant and new information that Margaret Burgess Park, which is on the north side of the north Bala Falls, is owned by the Ministry of Natural Resources and would therefore be included with the four other parcels of Crown-owned shoreline property to be under control of the proponent for the 40-year term of the land leases to be included in the proposed project to build a hydro-electric generating station at the north Bala Falls.
2. As shown on page 8 of the attached presentation, these Crown lands are basically all the publically-accessible land around the Bala Falls and Bala’s tourism and economy depends on the continued accessibility of these lands by the public.
3. It is not known what the municipal zoning is for these lands, whether this zoning applies given that the lands are provincially-owned, and especially it is not known what plans the proponent may have for these lands – who knows, this private for-profit developer may choose to construct high-rise condominium towers on the Park or Diver’s point.
   One would have expected the proponent to take advantage of their presence in front of Township Council to provide an immediate verbal assurance that the lands would be maintained as they are currently and that they would not change the public’s access to these lands.
   Surprisingly, the proponent only stated that they have no plans for the properties “at this time”, and any future changes would require an environmental assessment. This is all part of the same project, and omitting this information and their plans for this land from their environmental screening report is a serious problem.
4. As shown on the last page of the attached presentation, we have requested that the Township of Muskoka Lakes prepare a Staff report which includes the following information:
   • The ownership of all shoreline property adjacent to and near the proposed project.
   • The zoning for each property and whether this zoning would apply to Crown lands.
   • How the riparian rights would be affected for each property.
   • The lands and rights and responsibilities which would be transferred to the proponent.
   • Whether the proponent will provide written assurance that they would maintain the public’s access to Diver’s Point and Margaret Burgess Park and not apply to or construct any type of structure or make any physical changes to these lands.

Firstly, we would like to note that while the proponent complains of delays they encounter, the proponent is the actual cause of the delays as they have not been open about the impacts on the local community – for example, by documenting their expected control of Margaret Burgess Park in their envrionmental screening report or by providing written confirmation that they would not change it or its accessibility by the public.

Secondly, as this is an example of yet more information which is required from, but has not been forthcoming from, the proponent, we repeat our request that this project require an individual environmental assessment.

Thank you.

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Mitchell Shnier, on behalf of SaveTheBalaFalls.com