TIMELINE: A History of Maple Lake Estates development in Georgina

Plans for development date back to the early 1980s

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 23, 2019
Heidi Riedner

The History of Maple Lake Estates

• In the early 1980s, a private landowner submitted Official Plan Amendment (OPA) application seeking approval for an amendment to the Town’s Official Plan in order to permit the proposed Maple Leaf Estates development (now called Maple Lake Estates or MLE) and was subsequently processed by the Town.

 

• On Oct. 19, 1984, Town Council approved the OPA application for the proposed MLE development by passing Bylaw Number 84-148 (PL-2) which adopted OPA 10. Council’s decision was appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) and an OMB hearing was held to consider the appeal.

• On March 3, 1987 the OMB issued its decision approving OPA 10 with certain modifications, and this approval was reaffirmed by the Provincial Cabinet on Jan. 28, 1988 through an Order-in-Council.

• Draft Plan of Subdivision Approval was issued on June 30, 1988 by York Region for subdivision application file No. 19T-87055. Conditions of draft plan approval were fulfilled, and the subdivision was cleared for registration.

• Registration of the 2 lot subdivision plan and subdivision agreement occurred on Aug. 18, 1992 (Plan 65M-2903, and Agreement No. LT-857638).

• On Oct. 8, 1987 Town Council adopted Zoning Bylaw No. 911-87-431, which permits a Recreational Residential Park further defined as: “A parcel of land under single ownership which has been divided into dwelling sites to be used for the erection of single family dwellings and other purposes permitted herein, all as parts of a self-contained recreational residential retirement community.”

• In 1996 an agreement between Town and original MLE landowner was executed which rescinded the servicing allocation for the approved 1,073 unit development.

• A Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) letter of May 18, 2004 to the current MLE landowner indicates wetland evaluation has been completed on the MLE lands in relation to the Paradise Beach -- Island Grove Wetland Complex and deemed Provincially Significant.

• Subsequent MNR letter of Oct. 18, 2004 to current MLE landowner and copied to Town and the LSRCA states the following: “the MNR recognizes that the existing Registered Plan of Subdivision predates the Ministry’s recent wetland work and recognizes the legal status of the Plan to be implemented as proposed, without due regard to the wetland complex.”

• The following is also stated in 2004 MNR letter: “This Ministry would also take this opportunity to highlight Section 3.20.2.14 of the Town’s Official Plan. This section indicates that any official plan amendment to revise the provisions specific to the Maple Leaf Estate community would be required to consider the significant natural features identified through Town studies. For such a situation, the Ministry would request the Town of Georgina to also include consideration of the provincially significant Paradise Beach -- Island Grove Wetland Complex, by extension.”

• By letter dated Feb. 12, 2015, the LSRCA requested clarification from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) with respect to the applicability of the Ministry's letter from Oct. 18, 2004 in relation to the permit process under the Conservation Authorities Act. The response from MNRF is provided in a letter dated March 11, 2015 which states: "My October 18, 2004 letter to Metrus Developments Inc. on this matter predates the expanded powers of the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority to regulate any activities within wetlands, regardless of classification. This expanded power was enacted through the establishment of Ontario Regulation 179/06 pursuant to the Conservation Authorities Act. Therefore, I consider my letter of October 18, 2004 to now be superseded by the Conservation Authority's implementation of Ontario Regulation 179/06 related to the lands in question, as the Conservation Authority sees fit."

• The LSRCA sent a letter dated March 23, 2017 to Premier Kathleen Wynne reiterating its support for the transfer of development rights and requesting that the Province reconsider its decision to not amend the Greenbelt Plan. The Premier’s Office responded by a letter dated April 3, 2017 indicating that a copy of the correspondence had been sent to the Minister of Municipal Affairs for a response.

• The MLE lands are designated as “Towns and Villages” in the 2005 Provincial Greenbelt Plan, the 2006 Provincial Growth Plan and in the 2016 consolidated York Region Official Plan, as amended.

In an email dated June 12, 2017, Mike Walters, chief administrative officer of the LSRCA, indicated that his July 13, 2015 open letter to The Town of Georgina Council, which outlines the permitting process and the provincial legislation that prohibits third party participation in relation to Section 28 permits under the Conservation Authorities Act, would be useful to include on the Town's MLE page. Walters also stated that "attached to the July 2015 letter is the Undertaking agreed to by the DG Group, an Undertaking that the DG Group extended a number of times up to Dec. 31, 2016 in hopes of a transfer of development rights to another parcel of land owned by the DG Group being approved by the Province. With the Ministry of Municipal Affairs decision in January 2017 to deny the transfer of development rights, the DG Group has subsequently activated its application on the original site."