Things got a little tense at a public meeting held to give proponents and members of the public an opportunity to comment on the proposed expansion of Muskoka Landing Long Term Care Centre. The public meeting was held May 4, during Huntsville’s Planning Committee meeting.
Short notice
Area residents were critical of the short notice they received given the size of the project being proposed. “Because project plans and building renderings were only just provided, with very little time to address all of the issues regarding this application, it has been difficult for us to have any true sense of the overall project design,” stated a letter from Helen Street resident Todd Knapton, submitted just two days before the meeting.
Planning consultant for the proponent, Alan McNair, said Town staff did ask the proponent to provide the project’s profile, which was sent to Town staff about a week prior to the meeting. “So that information wasn’t available earlier to the public including the Fairy Lake Association, but I think they have access to that since it was sent to Kirstin (Maxwell, Manager of Planning for the Town).” He said the proponents met with staff in March of 2015 to discuss ideas about the site. “And we met with staff at both the Town and the District of Muskoka about a month ago to review these more firmed up plans.”
The proposal
The owners are proposing to expand the existing 94-bed facility by an additional 130 units as well as turn the existing building at 65 Rogers Cove Drive into a “retirement lodge.” The expansion would involve the addition of two storeys to one part of the building, and a five storey (18 metres high) addition to another, according to the report submitted to committee by Maxwell.
The proponent also plans to build 14 townhouses on the east side of Rogers Cove Drive, adjacent to the Fairy Lake shoreline. Zoning approvals would include turning its lot at 31 Helen Street into a parking area. In addition, the proponent wants to build a 60-metre wide docking structure that would see boats parked perpendicular to the Fairy Lake shoreline. The docks would not extend more than eight metres into the Rogers Cove basin, according to Maxwell’s report.
Input from area residents
Concerns with the height of the building being proposed seemed to dominate discussions while other concerns expressed by residents included: the façade of the building and townhouses; visibility from the lake, road and condominiums in the area; increased traffic; pedestrian safety and traffic flows; parking; damage to existing trees and proper buffers; storm water runoff and siltation; additional light pollution; the strain on the creek and lake as a result of greater densification in the area; and the ability of Huntsville’s sewage treatment plant to accommodate a development of its size.
Five storeys criticized
Lake-view rendering of proposed expansion of Muskoka Landing, showing the height of buildings against the tree line.
McNair said the height of the building does not exceed the height of the tree line.
“You can clearly see how the building stays below the tree line from that lakefront vista, and at this point we do not have a final design for the building,” he said, in terms of the facade. He also said there is no detailed façade for the proposed townhouses either. “All of that will be part of the normal site plan application and site plan approval process. We were trying to provide the Town and staff with as much information as we could at the zoning application stage so that we get an idea of how it fits into the site.”
But the idea of a five storey building did not sit well with any of the area residents who attended the meeting.
I think you’ve got one chance to get this right and I think a five-storey building there does not fit with the Town of Huntsville or anything in that area.
Neighbouring resident who just purchased property in the area
Concerns about storm water runoff contaminating the lake
Another reoccurring concern expressed through letters as well as by those present involved storm water runoff. One resident said he has seen plastic and other material along the creek and shoreline in the area.
“Despite the latest in scientific innovation for storm water management, there is always the risk of contamination to the lake. The storm water ponds installed at the Huntsville Place Mall, Canadian Tire as well as the pond currently on Muskoka Landing property are intended to filter contaminants and reduce winter sand travelling into the watershed. The near shore water on the property adjacent to Muskoka Landing has turned from once hard-packed sandy bottom to a bottom covered with a deep layer of silt,” wrote Todd Knapton.
“Storm water from offsite does not go into those ponds,” said McNair, referring to Muskoka Landing’s two ponds. He then introduced Joe Voisin of Pinestone Engineering.
Voisin gave an overview of the storm water abeyance systems in that area of town and the drainage course that winds up in Fairy Lake. He said following concerns expressed by a few residents with silt making its way into the lake, an inspection upstream revealed a “pretty significant issue” with the head wall on a storm water diversion system located on property owned by Canadian Tire. “I feel that this could be the majority of the problem… if this was rectified a lot of the concern would be diminished,” said Voisin of sediment going into the lake. He also provided photos.
Photo of a storm water management system gone wrong.
Planning Chair Nancy Alcock turned to Mike Gooch, the Town’s Director of Development Services, and asked him to comment on the issue. Gooch said the photos were only forwarded to him the previous day. “I haven’t had time to react yet but I’m assuming that that was all done through a site plan agreement. If that’s the case, then it should be fairly simple to get this fixed. Canadian Tire, they’re a great corporate citizen and they’re going to want to fix that if that is their issue. It’s a good thing that’s brought this to attention… we’ll get it fixed” he said.
McNair noted, “We knew that it couldn’t be coming from our site because the storm drainage is being properly handled on our site.” He said it is uncertain how long the problem has been in existence. “That’s what’s happening folks.”
Alcock told those present that no decisions on the proposal would be made by committee at that meeting. She said it was brought forward simply as an information session.
The proposal is expected to make its way back to committee in future.
Interested in this development? Please click here and turn to page 11 to see the full report.
Interesting, do we hear any words spoken about the redevelopment of the Fairvern Nursing Home site, (in this article or any other media platform). It is the only “not for profit senior nursing home” in Huntsville? Fairvern is on the water and with more than a decade of redevelopment plans, nothing is happening for this beautiful town water site? The article in Doppler mentions the issue of lake silt around Muskoka Landing and other businesses, which is serious, as is the issue at Fairvern with smell of the redundant sewage plant next door. What’s with that? From all info sources I have, it was supposed be decommissioned years ago (and more recently under Mayor Doughty’s watch). Where is the current Mayor and Council on this issue? Why did Muskoka Landing get Greenfield money when Fairvern was a Class C establishment needing improvement around 2001? I attended the 2016 Fairvern A.G.M. this week and am very saddened witnessing it’s Executive having to wait 15 years+ without redevelopment funds from the Province and the District! This despite redevelopment plans being in to renew onsite! There were very few people in attendance for being one of the largest employers in town. The people who volunteer their time are dedicated and excellence does not fully describe their commitment. Who’s dropped the ball? Shame Shame Shame! Funny how quick this Muskoka Landing project gets town attention and all is hush about their own Fairvern which services the whole area around and to the north? Maybe, what’s needed is for Fairvern to take a look at exercising their legal rights which is long overdue!!! I’m sure the people in Stephenson Ward would love to see Fairvern where the former Rowanwood retirement centre was located on the highway 11 south at Rowanwood Road. There would be much appreciation of this option, as the latter was severely missed when it burned down! The Facility was well respected and even our Honourable Stan Darling stayed there with whom my Mother ate during her respite recovering from surgery! It serviced all the area senior residents. The culture was very similar to Fairvern’s and it would be a good fit to continue the culture at Rowanwood road. The $ they get from Fairvern’s property sale would more than cover development here and then some. We’d love the jobs and Fairvern, as Stephenson has a large population of workers already here and would be environmentally friendly in reducing the transportation footprint. You know the old saying; “Snooze you lose”! And on top of it, if the single hospital site is down close, but not too close, it’s a win win win for all of Muskoka and Almaguin Highlands being centrally situated!
Planning seems to be a bit of a reactionary “knee jerk” operation.
When they first proposed an official plan, back in the ’70s I mistakenly thought that we would try to place appropriate business and industry on our local land to achieve the best advantage of that land but we consistently do not do this.
This whole area used to be Roger’s farm. I know because my Sister used to keep her first horse and ride it at that farm. The barn was about where Staples is located today.
When old man Rogers (or his estate) sold the land it was all one piece, nice hay field where CTC sits now.
I thought, that it would have made a great place for the new community centre (Summit Centre now). A place easily accessible by car or boat. Lots of room, a view of the lake and all those lovely attributes that could have been made in to a nice park like setting around the community centre but no. We have a bank, Staples, Liquor store, CTC etc. Businesses that arguably could have been better placed on equally easily accessible land that did not have one of the best recreational views and potential in the whole area.
Remember that this area gets unsurpassed exposure to all travelers on Hwy. 60 too.
No, our community centre is jammed into a small area with inadequate parking, no water access and fights with the equally jammed High School. Just think how much better the High school could be if it could use this land to some extent and share it with the Heritage Place to some degree. Perhaps (we are after all in the heart of a “tourist area” there could even be a course at the High School in tourism and the students could help run and maintain Heritage Place as part of their studies.
Now we want to let what is probably (I must admit a lot of ignorance here) a private for profit entity build over the remainder of this area, A lot of this area is disturbed ground from when the little “Rogers Cove” was artificially excavated. Yes this was originally a swampy area and Mr. Evans and Co. made Rogers Cove with some large earth moving machinery. Perhaps this is part of the reason why the water flow is such that there are the silt issues complained about earlier in the comments.
We are willing to go 5 stories high no less and fill this place with not very mobile old people too. I hope they have good fire protection and that our local fire dept. is beefed up a bit to handle this group in the event of a fire.
Head along the shore of Fairy Lake, toward Huntsville Marine and the water treatment plant. This shore, behind the 3 Guys restaurant has all been heavily dredged and filled to create what is there today. I know, I watched it being done, I even know some of the contractors and if you fly over the area and look down you can clearly see the location of the dredging today. Lets face it natural shorelines don’t come with rectangular deeper water areas that follow property lines.. nature just is not like this.
Same at Huntsville Marine. That big flat area between the Marina and Alisons Point Road… that was all swamp too. I watched this get clear cut, excavated and then filled with all the rubble from all over town for nearly 20 years. Then they planted some pine trees on top of this geological “witches brew” and you watch, one of these days the planners will allow some multi story buildings to sit on this mess. When the parking sinks like Beer Lake they will scratch their heads and wonder why. Well just because they did not see this happen as they were too young, that does not mean it did not happen this way.
I have run off tangentially but it does not matter as the plan is written and the planners will follow the letter of the plan and the developers will find all the loopholes and use them too and it is just sort of sad to think of what we could have had in this whole area if it had been done better from the beginning. We could have had some lovely hotels, appartments, waterfront trails, good fish habitat, and a host of world class niceties. It just makes me a little sad to see that this will most likely never happen here.
I keep reminding myself that it could be worse and probably everyone involved tried their best, but it still makes me sad as I can still see what might have been here and this is just one location that I happen to know a little about. I’m sure there are many others.
People should be furious over this development. Let’s not be fooled by its intention – it is a glorified for-profit apartment complex for people over the age of 65. It is NOT a long-term care facility or nursing home. A Long-term care facility provides 24 hour nursing care and supervision. The cost is set by the Ministry of Health with a current monthly rate of $1774. A retirement facility is a privately-owned for-profit facility that sets its own prices and provides minimal supports to residents. If they approve this project, the town is forgoing the potential of 136 more long-term care beds on this site in order to allow 121 retirement apartments. Jarlette’s facility in Orillia rates start at $2534 without nursing or any services included and can skyrocket to much more than this. Huntsville needs long-term care beds, not this apartment complex
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this were a not-for-profit venture??
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this were a “not for profit” proposition???
I totally agree with the previous respondents vis-à-vis the short notice and the need for more seniors’ care facilities in town. How many recent articles in this publication have been devoted to the latter matter (rhyme intended)?
All the issues previously raised have some degree of validity, and perhaps mine are pedestrian in comparison:
1) why is a 60-m docking structure required to service 14 townhouses (and maybe a handful of retirement home boaters)? Of course, no boathouses will be allowed, so this “oversized structure” will be in use for about four months a year, while it will be there continuously;
2) an 8-m intrusion of docks into Fairy Lake may not seem like much (oh, the wonders of metrification!), but it will significantly impact what, in all likelihood, is “Type A” fish habitat; and
3) of what use are parking spaces on Helen Street? How often will shuttle buses run between them and the buildings they service?
As far as bemoaning the potential approval of a five-storey building, the point is moot. Town planners have already set a precedent by approving a similar building several years ago (with scant treeline protection). With appropriate “Muskoka-style”, façade treatment, the buildings will resemble nothing as much as a high-end resort.
We need more care facilities. This expansion is a good thing for our community and I don’t feel that the location is wrong. But, all the issues of height, facade, runoff and pollution need to be addressed. It has to be done right so that we can truly be proud of this addition to our town.
I’m not sure how I feel about the condos. I’ll leave that to the neighbours to weigh in on. Perhaps they are necessary to pay for everything until it can pay for itself.
Regardless of whether another business is responsible for silt issues; it does not make the argument stronger for more development. The residents of Fairy Lake have not had near enough time to get the necessary information on this project.