BRACEBRIDGE — Bracebridge’s development services committee is seeking more information before it approves a contentious rezoning affecting part of the former 60-hectare Bangor Lodge property.
A meeting to address the application, which would create three parcels of land at the north end of the property, was held last Wednesday.
Nearby residents voiced numerous concerns, the biggest relating to the environment, safety and the deeded access they have to their own properties.
The land to be rezoned has frontage on Lake Muskoka near Indianhead Harbour.
The Bangor Lodge property is located off Golden Beach Road. The majority of the lodge has been torn down.
Residents fear introducing new parcels of land there will negatively impact a wetland lying just east of the proposed lots. They also say swimming activity at the new lots and existing boat traffic could one day prove to be a deadly mix.
Angela Ghikadis, a land use planner with Planscape, the company representing property owners Rick Kojfman and David Kroft, said the sole purpose of the proposal is to create three lots for shoreline residential purposes along the vacant northern frontage.
Kroft and Kojfman purchased the property in 2006. They have been meeting with neighbours about the proposed rezoning, but to date have not released their plans for the rest of the property.
Residents want the town to put a halt to the rezoning until a master plan is submitted.
“It is not due to a lack of will that a final concept plan has not been brought forward,” said Ghikadis. “The reality is that the District of Muskoka’s servicing policies are a limiting factor to viable redevelopment on the rest of the property. There has been an ongoing dialogue with the town and the district to find a servicing solution.”
Ghikadis said the northern portion to be rezoned is not associated with plans for the rest of the property, which one day may be of a community recreational nature.
Ghikadis said residents have told Kroft and Kojfman they did not want a recreational development associated with the northern frontage. She said the pair agreed, and proposed the three new private parcels.
“This application does not change anyone’s deeded right of way,” added Ghikadis, referring to residents’ concerns about access to their properties.
A new road is being proposed to access the three parcels. Neighbours want assurances their deeded access will remain.
Although the location of the most easterly proposed lot does front on a narrow water body, Ghikadis said the proposed docking envelopes are situated at a safe distance from its centre.
“In our opinion this addresses the related matters of concern,” she said.
Kojfman, who was at the meeting, said after listening to neighbours and hearing their concerns, it made sense that single family residential was the most proper use for the site.
He said his team has hired a law firm that has expertise in road access matters, and they will work out how the deeded rights of way will be configured with the new roadwork.
“It is certainly not our intent to make it inconvenient for any of the existing neighbours to utilize the road,” he said.
At the meeting, Waldmere Road property owner Peter Rickard withdrew his opposition to the proposal.
But he told council a full plan is still required for the property.
“We get assurances, that other sensitive areas on the property won’t be touched, but those are verbal assurances and they are not a plan,” he said. “That’s the concern of all the property owners: we have not seen a proper full plan.”
The applicants are to submit a finalized site evaluation report to the town.
Ghikadis said information that is being requested will help the town confirm that the proposed building and septic envelopes are appropriate.
One of the concerns cited by residents is potential run-off from the lots.
“Whenever there’s waterfront development there’s concern about potential impacts,” said Ghikadis. “Typically it’s when you have properties where trees are cut down and then there’s nothing to hold the soil. Soil can run off into the water.”
The potential run-off contaminants can include phosphorus, in such cases, but Ghikadis said there will be a buffer between the development and the water.
“The cottages are going to be set back 100 feet — typical setbacks are 66 feet,” she said. “The way the natural drainage flows there, it will flow back before it flows into the water.”
The application will be addressed again by committee in the coming months.
“There seems to be a bit of a softening (to the proposal) from the group who was once totally opposed,” said committee chairman Barry Young on Thursday.