In its virtual meeting on Wednesday night, Innisfil Council approved the Innisfil Beach Park Master Plan (2020), Alcona Parking Study (2020), and the consolidation of the approved park capital projects for 2016-2021.
Ward 3 Councillor Donna Orsatti initially indicated that she would be asking for a deferral of the vote.
“I feel that residents deserve an opportunity to speak,” Orsatti said. “A lot of reading and documents were placed on the agenda… Residents have not had an opportunity to read 180 pages in a week.”
She noted that under normal circumstances, the Innisfil Council chamber would be packed with residents wishing to comment. “They still deserve this opportunity.”
Orsatti also questioned whether the Park Master Plan should be approved before the vote on the Innisfil Beach Road Interim Control By-law and Innisfil Beach Road Rezoning, scheduled for Aug. 12. “The chicken and the egg – which one do we vote on first?” she asked.
The councillor acknowledged “six years of study” and work by staff. “I do not want to discredit that. I want to recognize that – but we have to get the park right,” she said.
Growth Manager Tim Cane urged council to move forward and adopt the plan and its projects “in principle,” so that staff can begin working on the details and costs, “and we can start looking at those projects specifically, knowing that we can have full debate on each.”
With Capital Budget planning set to being in a couple of months, “guidance sooner than later would help us,” Cane said.
He acknowledged that the interim control by-law “is a bit of a chicken and the egg – does the master plan come before the zoning by-law? Does the Zoning By-law come before the master plan?”
Manager of Land Use Planning Mary Nordstrom provided an answer: the documents “really work in tandem.” She pointed out that the Park Master Plan doesn’t have the power of a by-law, but is only a vision, or “a guiding document.”
“It’s not a written-in-stone document,” agreed Mayor Lynn Dollin.
Several councillors supported the concepts contained in the Innisfil Beach Park Master Plan, which proposes four parks within the park – the Gateway Area, Port of Innisfil, Beaches Area and Neighbourhood Area.
Coun. Alex Waters called it a “well-rounded master plan,” praising staff for responding to public input by reducing the density of the activities crammed into the park.
Waters noted that there are 16 major projects in a 20-year plan - “and again, it’s only a guideline.” He suggested the document is “flexible enough to allow changes to happen.”
“It’s not a zoning by-law,” agreed architect of the master plan, planner Gaelen Pierce, who pointed out that the master plan can modified and should be regularly updated.
However, Coun. Ken Fowler called it “mind boggling” that the plan calls for the elimination of the Alcona Fire Station. “Taking out essential service – minutes can cost a person’s life.”
Fowler initially mistakenly thought a BMX track was proposed for the fire station location; what is proposed is Institutional Mixed-Use. Pierce noted that the station’s “replacement or relocation to elsewhere in the community would be considered,” at a later date.
Later, staff clarified that removal of the station will be considered only when the current structure “comes to the end of its life, which is not expected for more than a decade,” said a town spokesperson. At that time, staff would reassess the community’s needs, working with Innisfil Fire & Rescue.
Coun. Kevin Eisses supported deferral of the vote, asking for an economic analysis of the partnership opportunities proposed within Innisfil Beach Park, for options that include stores, restaurants and food trucks.
“Our Innisfil Beach Road west of the 25th Sideroad is not flourishing with retail. There’s lots of space, and we still have private properties with a sign on it that says a business is coming, and it doesn’t come,” Coun. Eisses said.
He added, “This is a very aggressive report. It’s Utopian, in a way. I would have a hard time agreeing with all of it…. The proper thing is to defer this – let the residents in to have more time.”
Pierce noted that there had been extensive input, including comments from councillors and town staff, but “90 percent of the plan remains effectively the same” as the draft presented in February – with the exception of shifting the community space to the Gateway area, reducing the extent of commercial development, and increasing the forested area.
“Scaling back that commercial concept was the single most significant change in the park. We did hear a lot of opposition,” Pierce said, noting that the Gateway was “transformed from a primarily commercial focus, to a community hub focus.”
Deputy Mayor Dan Davidson argued that Innisfil Beach Park is not the only large property owned by the town, in need of investment. Innisfil also owns a 23 acres gravel pit near Big Bay Point, and recently acquired 100 acres on Line 10.
“Why are we condensing everything into that one park, when we have these other parks?” he asked.
Coun. Orsatti hesitated to ask for the deferral, stating that she wanted “just that reassurance, to both residents and council, that when these items come up, such as the barbecues and other projects I don’t agree with, that we would have an opportunity to discuss them… that assurance that we will have that opportunity. Because I need that, or I have a problem with the Park Draft Master Plan.”
In the end, it was the comments from Chief Administrative Officer Jason Reynar that swayed council to move forward with the vote.
“Each capital project and every dollar spent in the park… require council’s review and decision,” Reynar said, but at this point, “you’re charged with being able to look at the master plan level, to decide on the vision that gives direction to staff to prepare those detailed submissions for you.”
He added, “It is not the public’s responsibility to provide feedback on those specific details at this time” – details that are not yet available. And he warned that continued deferral “will invite expectations around the level of detail that ultimately will be adopted by council in the master plan.”
Reynar told council, “It’s time to pick a vision. Amend the vision if it’s appropriate,” but put forward an amendment or a motion that would give staff direction.
Mayor Dollin agreed, suggesting that residents have already had their say. “Please don’t underestimate the amount of comments we got in on this plan. We had 900 comments,” she said, an unprecedented level of community involvement. “The open houses… were packed.”
She added, “I get that one or two people might want to come and do an open forum at the next meeting, but those 900 people who are waiting for us to take action on what they want and what they asked for can’t be overlooked.”
Those who are happy with the master plan will be silent, she said. “The ones who are not happy because they wanted a blue bench and not a green bench are the ones we are going to hear from.”
She called on council to develop “a park for everybody,” but warned, “we’re never going to get there if we don’t land on an overall vision.”
Before it came to a vote, Coun. Orsatti called for the language to be amended, so that councillors approved not the Innisfil Beach Park Master Plan, but the IBP Master Plan ‘vision’, and the Alcona Parking Study ‘Guidelines.”
A majority of council voted in favour.
The IBP Master Plan incorporates approval of the Rezoning of Innisfil Beach Road to Mixed-Use, although the vote doesn’t come up until August 12. If the rezoning is not approved, the master plan would be amended, Pierce advised.
To see the Innisfil Beach Park Master Plan and Alcona Parking Study, click here.
