Burl’s Creek “OOPS!”

from saveoro.com

Burl’s Creek Event Park, Republic Live, and Boots and Hearts Concert, are working very hard to redo and update the grounds at Burl’s Creek.  However, it appears that they have forgotten to ask for the approval required from Oro-Medonte council.  They need to have the almost 700 acres of farmland rezoned that they plan to use for their concerts, camping and parking this summer. Even though this has not been done, there are several large events planned that tickets have already been sold for.

Stanley Dunford the new owner of Burl’s Creek has been buying up several hundred acres of prime farmland around Burl’s Creek as well as the Barrie Speedway and expects to have the zoning changed in time for the concerts planned for this summer.

When the Burl’s Creek property changed ownership in October 2014, a Temporary Use By-law was in effect for approximately 200 acres of adjoining farmland used for additional parking and camping.  Apparently Mr. Dunford soon realized that he didn’t have enough property to proceed with his plans for this new concert venue. So now, less than 5 months before his first “Mega Concert”, he has filed an application for rezoning the farmland to expand Burl’s Creek in order to accommodate the projected 80,000 attendees.

In a recent media release by Oro-Medonte Township, it stated that this rezoning process could take up to 6 months to complete, depending upon the complexity of the application. Every application has to be sent to the appropriate government agencies that oversee the rezoning of agricultural land.

Since 1994, the original Burl’s Creek Event Park area was approximately 70 acres of land that is zoned for very specific uses.

Zoning was granted for the following purposes:

Reprinted from Oro-Medonte By-law 7.30

Permitted uses:

Only the following temporary special event type uses are permitted:

– An agricultural fair, an antique show, an automotive flea market, a boat show, a craft and hobby show, a country festival, a vehicle show and sales , highland games, or an old car sales and auction show.

For the purposes of this section, a rock music or heavy metal show is not a permitted special event. No permanent buildings or structures for temporary special events are permitted.

Also, it should be noted here that re-zoning of farmland appears to be against Ontario’s premier Kathleen Wynne’s mandate “to save our farmland “, as presented in her previous election promise.

The local group, saveoro.com has established their website, to gather support from the community. “We are working towards making sure the residents of Oro-Medonte are kept informed of the dramatic changes that are being proposed for our community.”

We are optimistic that our elected officials will follow the “Official Plan” for Oro-Medonte and protect our rural lifestyle as mandated by one simple fact – that is what they were elected to do.

We have concerns that the sheer volume of people will overload our community, roads and services.  There is very limited access off Hwy 11 for entrance to the park and over 30,000 cars onsite and the surrounding area. The anticipated gridlock will stretch down the highway for over 9 miles at peak times.  This does not take into account the huge influx of people heading up Hwy 11 for the weekend, as our township is the gateway to “Cottage Country”.

These figures are based on traffic projections as furnished by Republic Live to Clarington Council for the 2014 Boots and Hearts Concert. They have been adjusted for Burl’s Creek as indicated by expected attendance according to Republic Live.

Council response as taken from the Barrie Examiner – Tuesday, February 17, 2015

In July 2014, Oro-Medonte council approved a temporary-use bylaw for portions of the Burl’s Creek property, allowing more parking and camping spots for the 2015 season. The application was made by the park’s former owner, Don Hanney, requesting a three-year time frame for the temporary bylaw. After staff recommended only a 12-month window, a compromise of 15 months was passed by council, meaning the bylaw would expire after the annual fall flea market at the event park.

A new temporary planning application was filed by Burl’s Creek’s planning consultants last Tuesday, said Andria Leigh, director of development services for Oro-Medonte. This application is to cover parts of the 600 acres that will make up the expanded park that are not already zoned to permit events.

Requests for future permanent zoning-bylaw changes, official plan amendments and site-plan agreements are to be submitted at a later date, Leigh said. The temporary application will only cover the 2015 events planned at the park.

A mandatory public meeting will be called to discuss the planning application put forward by the consultants. The earliest that meeting could happen, Leigh said, would be April.

After the meeting, township staff will prepare a report for council with a recommendation. Anyone unhappy with the decision of council has the right to appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

If both council and the OMB deny the planning application, Leigh said, the events at Burl’s Creek may not go on as currently planned.

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For additional Information please contact Ann Honeywood at 705-816-5533

or visit our website www.saveoro.com