Strawberry Island decision coming up

By Andrew Philips, Orillia Packet & Times

A major decision on the future of a controversial development in Ramara Township could be made next month.

During its committee-of-the-whole meeting March 8, Simcoe County council should have the county planning staff report on the Strawberry Island condominium project and an official-plan amendment request from Ramara.

“It’s coming to a head,” said Pam Fulford, who heads Friends of Strawberry Island and expects council to vote on the amendment and staff report during the March meeting.

“If they allow 80 units on this island, then it will go against the Lake Simcoe Protection Act. It would set a dangerous precedent.”

David Parks, the county’s director of planning, development and tourism, said the file is under review, with a tentative aim to present it this month to council.

“Our role on this file, similar to many local planning matters, is to review the application to ensure it conforms with municipal, county and provincial planning policies and regulations,” Parks said.

Ramara Mayor Basil Clarke said the county staff recommendation should address a number of key issues.

“The county wants a peer review of the (project’s) sewage design,” Clarke said, adding Edmonton-based TAG Developments hasn’t conducted the necessary review yet.

“We either move forward with our own peer review or we call it an incomplete file.”

Last summer, Ramara council approved the official-plan amendment designating Strawberry Island partially as “island accommodation” and partially as “natural area protection,” paving the way for up to 80 residential units.

At the time, council stressed the approval did not mean it was willing to support development on the island, as the staff report from township planner Mark Dorfman indicated a number of steps would still need to be completed by Strawberry Island Resort Inc., including a class environmental assessment.

Clarke said the developer has to prove it has the necessary plans in place to support the project since the county can’t approve something that’s “pie in the sky.”

“If the county approves this, then the county has to defend it,” he said.

Previously called Trans America Group, TAG acquired the 25.6-acre Ramara island in 2007 with plans to build mixed-use seasonal residential and resort accommodation.

Their original concept included 52 estate cottages, manor cottage flats, manor cottage terraces, central green space for recreation, a village centre, a general store, a community pool, tennis courts, a trail system, a community building with a clubhouse, administration and service centre, a main dock, two resident docks with 15 to 20 slips and gazebos.

TAG chief operating officer Bob Horton said not much has happened with the project remaining in a holding pattern.

“We pretty much have a hold on it right now,” he said. “As it stands now, the island is staying like it is.”

Fulford, who lives near Brechin, said she has been told county staff have also been in contact with the province, including the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, about the island and the five identified species-at-risk along with a large assortment of fish, birds and mammals that live either on the block of land or nearby.

“We’ve said all along it’s a significant woodland and should fall under the Lake Simcoe Protection Act,” Fulford said, adding the development would also lead to an increase in phosphorus deposits in Lake Simcoe.

“The developer could take it the (Ontario Municipal Board) if Simcoe County can’t decide.”