Amendment for Chippawa Shores development announced

Acting as agent for Combermere Lodge Limited (CLL), Neil Enright (shown above) appeared as a delegation to MV Council in Committee (CiC) on March 5 to give notice that CLL is amending its subdivision/condo application to develop Chippawa Shores. The revised proposal includes a re-zoning application as well as an amended configuration of lots and uses of the property. The main changes from the original proposal include:

• 44 lots are now proposed (a reduction of 10 lots from the original 54 lots)
• Developable lands are reduced from 190 acres to 145 acres by removing the common elements shown in the original application such as Chippawa Lodge, the hangar, the lawn and the beach

In his presentation Enright covered three areas:

First, he gave a general response to what he called the “surprising” public response. He said CLL has the same rights as any other private landowners and, while complying with overriding legislation, intends to exercise them. He said there was a “fair bit of NIMBYism” (Not In My Back Yard) in the public response which he attributed to resistance to change.

Next, Enright reviewed the available options for the property. He said it is presently zoned tourist/commercial which means it is already developed anyway. He also said in the past year CLL has acquired a small adjoining property which is subject to the same type of preliminary studies CLL has done. He said when people say they do not want to see development, it is a question of what kind of development. He said the crux of the issue is whether they would like to see estate lots or a “trailer park on steroids.” He said, for example, that CLL wants to preserve Green Lake. He said after some extensive analysis and study CLL has embraced some different recommendations that will not adversely impact the areas they can control.

Finally, he reviewed the details of the revised proposal being submitted that day to MV and subsequently to County. He explained that removing the common elements essentially left the (44) remaining lots almost as originally proposed. Enright circulated the following three sketches:

Combermere Lodge Limited zoning by-law amendment (image: CLL)

Subdivision/Condo new concept 44 proposed lots (image: CLL)

Subdivision/Condo concept showing original proposal for 54 lots (image: CLL)

Click HERE for a downloadable PDF of all three sketches.

Mayor Love asked Enright if County was aware of the amendment. He said that CLL’s planning consultants Zanderplan had advised the County Planner about the amended application two weeks ago.

She also asked Enright about the future protection of Chippawa Lodge, referring to its history and local sentiment. He said that CLL planned to retain the lodge building and it would be accessible by a private road system which is part of the condominium plan. He said CLL would enter into Joint Use Agreements for the lodge and common areas with the new property owners. He said another motivation for CLL is that preserving the heritage look of the building would be easier this way than doing so under a plan of condominium.

When Love asked if another public meeting was planned as a result of the revisions, Enright replied that as there was nothing dramatically new in the amended application he thought it would be dealt with during a normal Council meeting. He said County had received more than 70 written responses to the initial proposal and he felt many people who wrote just wanted a different type of development or some basic information about the development. Enright said a number of their concerns had been addressed through the peer review process, which was unusual.

There was no discussion of the dispute with existing leaseholders. Click HERE for a previous report on that issue by The Current.