Former Huntsville Councillor and mayoral candidate Tim Withey has been making the rounds trying to get support for an estimated 300 cottage leaseholders in Algonquin Park.
Withey, whose family has had a cottage in the park since 1919, told council that families have multigenerational roots in the park as the last new leases were granted in 1954. He said what originally began as 99-year leases turned into 21-year leases which resulted in much anxiety for the park leaseholders because successive provincial governments have flirted with the idea of removing their cherished summer cottages altogether.
“Logging, a main reason provincial parks were formed, summer camps for children, lodges and commercial operations and leaseholders have been part of the park masterplan since the beginning and have been a part of the fabric of the park,” he told Huntsville Council at the end of March.
Since 1954 the leaseholders in Algonquin Park have been granted three extensions.
In 2016, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry announced the third extension. The agreement extended the leases to 2038.
Withey told councillors that the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has since proposed a significant change to how the leases are handled in the park. “They are proposing a return to multi-generational leases to provide security and certainty to our continued residency. With this proposal, we are required to pay significant increases on our lease rate for this privilege and will lose the right to sell our leases,” he said, adding that current leaseholders will be able to hand the leases down to family members only. If a lease is abandoned it becomes property of the Crown, added Withey.
“Our cottages are small and discreet and we’re very conscious of our effect on the environment. We have been described as great stewards of the park, not to mention the many lives we have saved over the years as inexperienced canoe trippers venture out into the wilderness and are overcome with bad weather and find themselves in distress.”
Withey said consultations with Indigenous communities have been positive. “In this new proposal the Ministry has committed to taking the lead in consultations with the Indigenous communities that are vested in the park,” said Withey, adding that Algonquin Park leaseholders as a group represent significant economic benefits to surrounding communities such as Huntsville and Muskoka “and we are regular generous donators to the Huntsville Hospital Foundation who has written a letter to the Minister expressing their support for this plan. I hope that you will see fit to submit a motion of support,” he told council.
He said the Ministry has tasked his group with getting as much support as possible from surrounding municipalities, chambers of commerce, hospital foundations, and others because “there are groups that don’t want any human beings in the park at all and want to rip up the highway.”
He told councillors that the cottages are very modest and hardly noticeable, “they’re not Muskoka-type mansions,” he added.
Prompted by a question from Councillor Helena Renwick, Withey said he is currently paying an annual fee of $14,000 for the land lease his cottage is on, which is one of the few with road access. He said if the generational lease concept goes through, he anticipates the rates will go up further.
Huntsville Mayor Nancy Alcock noted that based on the motion before council, the support would be in perpetuity. Withey said that’s because how long the lease extensions will be for is still up in the air.
Consultation through the Environmental Registry is still forthcoming, according to Withey.
In the end, council voted unanimously in favour of an updated version of a similar motion of support passed by Huntsville Council in 2012.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox so you don’t miss anything!
Click here to support local news
James Page says
Lease on Whitefish since 1954. Water Access or walk. Met all requirements for renewal. Was told renewal would be sent early in 2023. So far, Nothing. Despite frequent calls, there is no information forthcoming from MECP.
Do have any idea what is going on?