Lake Simcoe has 'so much potential:' Georgina councillor

More funding needed for York Region's only harbour

Yorkregion.com
June 6, 2019
Amanda Persico

Live. Work. Play.

That’s the tag line used by the region.

And with the region in the midst of working out its new set of live and work intensification numbers, one Georgina councillor is calling for more funding for the region’s playground --the shores of Lake Simcoe.

“I’m putting emphasis on the play part,” said Ward 4 Coun. Frank Sebo during a recent council meeting.

“There’s going to be more demand on our beaches and waterfront. Come the weekends, everyone will be travelling to the beaches up here.”

As a longtime advocate for the waterfront, Sebo wants to pressure the region as it starts to map out its intensification numbers for the future.

York Region’s population is projected to balloon from 1.2 million to about 1.8 million residents by 2041. The region is undertaking a municipal comprehensive review, looking at population and employment forecasts, official and land development strategies.

With more than 50 kilometres of lakeshore, Georgina is home to the region’s only sandy beach destination, the region’s only harbour with 54 boat slips and the region’s only public boat launch system.

But Georgina’s harbour is lacking in amenities and those it does have are deteriorating, Sebo said.

The councillor, an avid boater, was fortunate enough to get into Jackson’s Point Harbour, which operates 54 slips awarded in an annual lottery.

“I have a front-row seat,” he said. “It’s so beautiful here. I can see so much potential. It’s frustrating.

“We want to encourage people to come. But what are they coming to?”

The town recently approved its corporate strategy for 2019 to 2023, which includes developing a waterfront strategy to be finalized by midsummer.

But there needs to be more investment from the region, he argued.

The town can’t afford to buy all the lakefront, nor should it, especially by itself, Sebo added.

In comparison, a beachfront commercial property with about 25 units cost the Town of Wasaga Beach about $13.4 million in 2015.

York Region is responsible for monitoring and testing bacteria levels at about a dozen beaches along Lake Simcoe, costing about $68,000 in 2018.

The region also spent about $820,000 in 2018 maintaining the region’s wooded playground, all 5,800 acres of the York Region Forest Tracts, including about 1,700 aces here in Georgina.

Toronto, on the other hand, allotted about $1.2 million in 2018 for beach maintenance, which includes monitoring and clearing 11 beaches or about 46 kilometres of lakeshore.

But there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the waterfront, as there are many ownership hands in the cookie jar that is Lake Simcoe.

Lakefront in Georgina is owned by a multitude of bodies, including: conservation authorities; the provincial government; and privately-owned by local resident associations, resorts and residents themselves.

The solution involves outside-the-box thinking, Sebo said, and could involve a hybrid system where the region owns the land and it is managed by Georgina.

The town should be looking to other cities along the Lake Simcoe shores, Sebo said, from Barrie’s mega-million dollar waterfront investment to Orillia’s on-trend business plan.