OMB hearing regarding Burl’s Creek temporary use bylaw could take nearly a week

By Patrick Bales, The Orillia Packet & Times

If you wanted to shoot a movie about a sensible country community fighting an influx of loud rock ‘n’ roll music, Oro-Medonte would be the ideal setting.

Surprisingly, that suggestion wasn’t made in jest by a proponent of expansion at Burl’s Creek Event Grounds, as the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing into the temporary zoning bylaw governing the events grounds began Tuesday.

Rather, the allusion to Footloose came from the lawyer representing the most vocal opponents of the changes being proposed.

“It is such a quintessential rural community; it doesn’t have a single town or a single main street,” said David Donnelly, representing Save Oro and the West Oro Ratepayers’ Association. “The site will host approximately 190,000 more visitors, over the course of any given year, if the temporary use bylaw is granted.”

The hearing, which may now take as long as six days and one evening to complete, got underway in front of a full house in the council chambers at the township administration centre.

Among those in attendance were executive members from Save Oro, Friends of Burl’s Creek and Burl’s Creek Event Grounds owner Stan Dunford.

The bylaw before the board would allow for camping, parking, concessions and soccer fields to legally be placed on subject land surrounding Burl’s Creek Event Grounds.

That land was almost all in use last year during multiple events at Burl’s Creek, such as WayHome Music and Arts Festival, Boots & Hearts Music Festival and the Barrie Automotive Flea Market, contrary to zoning currently in place.

Before those events, the owners of Burl’s Creek had begun the temporary bylaw process.

In April of last year, the temporary zoning bylaw was deemed complete by the township’s planning department, setting in motion a number of public meetings on the issue that took place throughout last spring and early summer.

But the township hadn’t moved fast enough, and Burl’s Creek was able to take the matter out of the township’s hands and directly to the OMB under the Planning Act.

Oro-Medonte counsel Christopher Williams said the township was merely working through issues it had with the application.

“The township took the position that the application was premature for a number of reasons as a number of technical issues had not have been addressed,” Williams said in his opening statement.

As the process has continued leading up the the hearing date, Burl’s and the township have inched closer to resolving their issues.

Plans for storm-water management, natural heritage and noise are among those the township is now content with, while concerns with land-use planning, agricultural impact and the conformity with the provincial policy statement were hoped to be resolved in the early stages of the hearing, Williams said.

The township wasn’t the only party with its issues resolved. The Lake Simcoe Regional Conservation Authority removed itself from the hearing prior to its commencement.

One of the reasons so many of the issues – at least in the township’s eyes – have been able to be resolved is because of a scaling down of the application from Burl’s Creek.

The temporary zoning bylaw doesn’t address the already-zoned event grounds, but rather the land surrounding where the live performances take place.

Both Nicholas Macos, counsel for Burl’s Creek, and Williams were adamant their colleagues remember to focus on issues in the subject land alone.

They agreed, there will be ample time to discuss the much larger bylaw and Official Plan amendment at a later time, whether it be at a public meeting, as Macos optimistically offered, or back in front of the OMB as Williams suggested.

The permanent bylaw has a considerably larger geographic area, Williams said.

Macos said he would present his evidence first with non-expert testimony from an area farmer and member of Barrie OPP first, before delving into expert witnesses procured to support the application, specifically showing how the subject land conforms to a variety of planning documents, both locally and provincially.

“It’s a legitimate use. It needs to find a home,” Macos said. “This type of use cannot by justified in a settlement area. By implication, it must locate… in rural and agricultural areas.

“There’s no better site in southern Ontario for this use,” he added. “It has all the qualities that are necessary including proximity to a major highway.”

That means little to Donnelly and the people he represents; what they care about more is the proximity to their properties and neighbouring farms.

Donnelly’s opening statement promised the submission of evidence showing how disruptive events at Burl’s Creek have been to both the environment and physical landscape, as well as the neighbours surrounding the venue.

Donnelly closed with a question directed to board members Richard Makuch and David Lanthier that he promised would return later in the hearing.

“Would you want this land use – temporary or otherwise – in your front yard?”

The hearing continues Tuesday afternoon, with Macos calling his first witnesses.