Township of Muskoka Lakes Planning Committee is meeting at 9 am on Monday October 25th to discuss what could be final changes to the Minett Official Plan policy. Details available here (see Agenda item 5).
We’ve come a long way since we raised the alarm and came together in 2018, when plans to develop Minett were emerging.
Council froze development in Minett for an appropriate review of what was approved many years ago. We stopped this:
Our activism caught the interest of Mr. Goldhar, a cottager, who stepped in and bought the property.
Mr Goldhar agreed last year to reduce density on his lands in Minett from about 4,000 to 2,000 units, and he has said he will only build 500 units.
Over 2,000 people filled in our survey (thank you!) and told Mr. Goldhar that 2,000 units is still too much. Mr. Goldhar has agreed to reduce the density by a further 15%, an additional 300 units, to 1,700, for which we are grateful.
Is it still too much? Yes. But this is likely the best we will do, given the previous owners already had approval to build thousands more. This highlights why our community has to stay engaged, as it’s hard to go back once development permissions are granted.
Mr Goldhar has also agreed to:
- A definition of a unit as being 850 square feet, so if a resort suite is larger, it counts as 2 or more units
- more restrictive owner usage criteria (more availability to the vacationing public and less risk of the area becoming a residential enclave like Legacy and Villas)
- a reduction from 50% to 30% in the number of units allowed to be sold as residences
- limits on owner use of docks to have more available to the general public
Council listened to our community and made the policies stronger:
- stricter commercial criteria and requirement for onsite management for the resort
- a hard cap on the number of boat slips in Minett
- building height reduced from 11 to 5 storeys (4 would be better!!)
- staff housing located in Minett
- removal of non-Red Leaves lands (approx 150 acres) from the resort village, reducing future development potential
- requirement for Legacy Cottages and the Marriott to connect to municipal water and wastewater services when available
This is a VAST improvement from 2018.
There are still some policies we would like to see strengthened. We will keep working to ensure your voices are heard.
Please consider joining us at the meeting on October 25th at 9 am. Your attendance is noted and meaningful. You may also send an email or letter to planning@muskokalakes.ca.