The Town’s Planning Department and developers of a multi-residential development on lands east of Forbes Hills Drive, referred to as The Summit, have settled their dispute over short-term rentals.
The site is 6.85 hectares in size with approximately 65 metres of frontage on Fairy Lake. Planning rights for the property were obtained through a 1995 Ontario Municipal Board settlement (later renamed the Ontario Land Tribunal).
The site is currently developed with three multi-residential buildings, comprising the project’s first phase, with a total of 175 units planned. The lands are proposed to be further developed with additional buildings in future phases, according to an Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) document.
In June of 2025, planning consultant Planscape, on behalf of the developer, applied for a Community Planning Permit Bylaw amendment to permit short-term rentals in 70 per cent of the 175 units, or 120 units in total. In July 2025, the Town’s Planning Council denied the request.
In August 2025, Planscape, on behalf of the developer, filed an appeal with the Ontario Land Tribunal. De Novo Treatment Centre, located in close proximity to the development, and concerned about the noise 120 short-term rentals would mean, requested party status at the hearing, but before the hearing could take place, the parties reached a settlement.
The settlement allows 20 units, instead of the initial 120 units proposed, to be used as short-term rentals. The units cannot be rented out on a short-term basis until they’ve been owned for a year, explained Huntsville Planning Council Chair Bob Stone.
During a closed session meeting, Stone said municipal planning staff was instructed to negotiate a settlement before the hearing to save time and resources.
The settlement applies to the project’s first phase. “It was a negotiated settlement to avoid them going to the OLT, and they’re allowed the 20 short-term rentals,” said Stone, adding that the unit owners will still have to apply for an STR licence.
He said those units are not above the Town’s threshold of 250 STRs per year. “So they have to be included in the 250 we allow each year,” he explained.
RELATED
Phase One of Forbes Hill Drive development well underway
Development rights for lands east of Forbes Hill Drive the result of a 1995 settlement at the OMB
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STR’s are devastating to Muskoka’s traditional family resorts, and are seriously contributing to the housing crisis for locals in more ways than one. Town needs to rethink it and significantly reduce STR #’s (or outright prohibit), using all methods at the Town’s disposal.
Would it have even crossed anyone’s mind 25 years ago that today most jobs are in the GIG economy, manufacturing has mostly moved offshore, Minimum wage to flip a burger is heading close to $30 and STR’s are the single largest force in tourism, leaving traditional resorts a small runner up in their economic dust.
One thing that becomes obvious as one looks back is that the government, at all levels, not only did not realize this at the time, but has not done a real bang up job of integrating all these activities into our society.
Not only that but the rise of AI will only make all this worse, not better, for the average family.
It’s like a kids toy top, you get it spinning and where it stops, nobody knows. I think the Chinese say something about living in “interesting times”.
It doesn’t matter how many times the Town repeats the lie, it remains untrue.
According to AirDNA (a company whose sole function is to track Airbnb and Vrbo listings) there are 435 STRs listed in Huntsville today (3/24/26). This doesn’t include the 150 STRs on the Deerhurst property (all built as Condos (i.e long term homes).
With more than 600 STRs, this represents almost 7% of housing stock in Huntsville which otherwise could be long term housing.
In 2019, the Local Planning and Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) approved restricting STRs to only rooms/suites in owner occupied homes (ie. no third party STRs.
This Council is 7 years behind the rest of the province and we wonder why we have an affordable housing crisis.
This concrete mess of a project is nothing but a pimple on the town of Huntsville. How this kind of project (along with many others) is allowed I don’t understand. We take a citizen to court trying to protect his eroding shoreline but this concrete mess is okay!!! are we sooner or later going to wake up?? These were flogged as units for those wanting to retire but still be on the lake we were present in the park for the free beer so I remember the pitch quite well. By the way should there not be a time limit for completion of at least one Phase, people who bought will have passed away before this happens Lol !! I see this eyesore everyday from my house, at least now I can see clear across Fairy lake that’s how much earth was clear cut off Forbes Hill
If the negotiated 20 STR applies only to the first phase which consists of 3 of the buildings, how many units are in those 3 buildings? Some previous reporting indicated those 3 buildings had 42 units.
How many hotel/motel rooms are there in Huntsville? They are short term rentals. Muskoka relies heavily on short term rentals like our resorts. Deerhurst is a prime example. The real issue should be zoning not numbers of rooms.
A .lot of ” Slippery Slopes ” here ( pun intended. It would be nice if Councils could, actually dictate building policy and not other government boards with 0 residents as member ! Too many big developer bully boys who never build any “real” affordable housing .Sad !