For 9 years now, The Glen House Resort has operated an illegal marina adjacent to the Point Comfort Marsh, a provincially significant wetland.  The Seals who own the Glen House have tried unsuccessfully to have the marsh and adjacent lands zoned Tourist Commercial.  In fact, several times over the years, Township documents stated that it was Tourist Commercial even though it had not been approved by Council.  It required TIARA’s intervention to restore the zoning to Rural where it now remains. In spite of this the Seals have been operating an illegal 44 slip profit-making commercial marina for nine years, and the Township has let this deliberate infraction of the Township’s zoning bylaws happen.  Nine years with little or nothing done.  This is unacceptable.  As TIARA pointed out to the Township, our Official Plan is crystal clear that any proposed new Tourist Commercial designation south of highway 401 requires an Official Plan amendment and a full environmental impact assessment.

The Township Planning Department finally agreed and Council reluctantly decided that an Official Plan amendment is required to legalize the marina, and has now informed the Seals that this is necessary.  What have the Seals done?  Instead of requesting an Official Plan amendment which is unlikely to succeed, they claim that Council failed to respond to their request for a “Special Exception” zoning bylaw variance, and have therefore appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board which is scheduled to hear their appeal on Sept 18. The Seal’s delaying tactic will expand nine years to ten but hopefully for no longer.  The Township meanwhile, remains silent, refusing to state its position on the appeal or even if they will challenge it. 

(See page 6 of the History Section of this web site, "Implementation of

Planning", for TIARA's lengthy concern and history of involvement in

protecting the Point Comfort Marsh.)

Enough we say.  Our mandate is to protect the environment by insisting on good planning procedures.  In the face of global warming and its threat to the world’s biosphere, good planning procedures must be environmentally friendly, particularly for the St Lawrence River. The damage to the River’s wetlands and ecosystems by the development of the seaway and the Moses Saunders Dam, to say nothing about the introduction of alien species such as the lamprey eel, the zebra mussel and the spiny water flea into the River has led the United States to classify the River as one of the ten most threatened rivers in America.  Thus, it is imperative that the Point Comfort Marsh and its important fish spawning areas be protected.  No one knows what damage has already been done to the marsh and its ecosystem by the illegal marina operating there for all these years, all under the permissive eye of our town planners and Council.  To allow this to continue is unconscionable. 
 

Another example of unacceptable township planning is the addition to a house owned by Gerald Huck on the Thousand Islands Parkway.  Mr. Huck is a member of the Township’s Economic Development Committee.  He obtained a building permit 2 years ago to relocate a detached garage from another property close to his house.  This was to be placed 10 feet from the property line between Huck’s lot and the neighbouring property owned by the York family. When it was built the ‘garage’ turned out to be a three room addition to the house complete with plumbing and French doors to welcome the cars, and a closed connection between the false garage and the house. The on-site building permit was altered without permission from the TLTI Panning Department to include the closed connection.  Neither the house addition with its amenities nor the connection were approved by the township and it is evident that there was never any intention of building a garage in the first place.  Furthermore Mr. Huck submitted a vastly inaccurate unqualified survey showing that the setback was 10 feet from the York’s property line.  
  

When the Yorks, at their own expense, provided a correct survey it was found that the false garage was actually only 3.5 feet from the property line. Confronted by the correct survey, Huck admitted that his original survey was wrong.  What did the township do about this?  Although the Yorks complained bitterly, the township took no action against Huck’s blatant disregard of township building regulations except to cop out by referring the matter to the Township Committee of Adjustment.  Unbelievably in spite of Huck’s several illegal actions the committee voted three to two to allow the home addition masquerading as a garage to remain. 
 

The committee of adjustment’s decisions are supposed to be based on good planning.  The committee justified this decision by stating that similar projects had been approved before.  If so, bad planning is excused by previous bad planning.  Previous mistakes automatically become recurrent.  
 

A final example of unacceptable planning was the township’s approval of the construction of a home on Island 90.  Island 90 is a small undersized Island situated close to the 1000 Islands bridge and easily seen by cars crossing between Hill Island and the mainland. Because the township’s approval was not in accord with the Official Plan, TIARA appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board and won its case.
 

It is clear that planning in this Township is bad.  What’s worse is that Council has ignored the problem and has made no attempt to correct this intolerable situation. TIARA is tired of fighting bad planning in TLTI and seeks a permanent solution. We are convinced that there is an inherent conflict of interest in TLTI’s Planning Department.  The Director is responsible for both land use planning, which by all accounts should be increasingly conservation oriented, and economic growth!  Combining this authority for planning and development in one individual is unacceptable.  Development is often in conflict with good planning and we are convinced that these two township functions should be separated.   
 

TIARA is strongly in favour of economic development in TLTI, provided that it is environmentally friendly. We believe that by partnering with the Biosphere Reserve, the town of Gananoque and hopefully TLTI, sustainable tourism will greatly enrich our community both culturally and economically. 
 

We will make a presentation to TLTI Council in the near future to express our concerns and to press for a solution. We intend to seek legal advice regarding actions TIARA can take regarding the illegal Seal marina, and what to do if TLTI Council remains recalcitrant and indifferent to proper planning. We intend to keep our membership informed through the media and our newsletters.  Right now we seek approval of our membership.  So I ask for a motion to approve this report. 

CARRIED.  (Unanimously) 

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                   PRESS RELEASE
                                            9 August, 2008