Ontario Land Tribunal Rejects Skycroft Appeal

The Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) has supported the decision by South Frontenac Council to deny both an Official Plan and a comprehensive zoning bylaw amendment that would have enabled Skycroft resort to increase the size of the campground, which is located on Lake Opinicon, in the northeast corner of South Frontenac Township, right at the border with the Township of Rideau Lakes.

The appeal hearing took place in January of last year, and the ruling was released on April 2.

David Hillhorst, owner of Skycroft, disagrees with the decision. He said that just days before the application was to go before Council, the township introduced a peer review requirement to the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) that had been prepared on behalf of Skycroft by a consulting company.

Hilhorst added that after Council rejected the proposal, and before the appeal was heard by the OLT, the township conducted its own peer review, “but based on a completely different scope than what Skycroft had ever been instructed to complete.”

Hilhorst said that Skycroft is located on two parcels of land, the east and west parcels. While the expansion impacts only the east parcel “for the purpose of the peer review, the township expanded the scope to include the west parcel.”

In their ruling, the OLT concluded that the west parcel would need to be assessed in order for the application to be complete.

“To be successful in its appeals, Skycroft has the burden to prove the proposed development will have no negative impacts on natural heritage features, or their ecological function. The Tribunal finds it failed to do so – the EIS is improperly scoped and there were numerous flaws in the methodology employed.

“Considering all the evidence, the Tribunal agrees with the township that the entire subject property, not just the east parcel where the proposed development would take place, must be assessed through the EIS.”

Skycroft has published a formal response to the OLT ruling (see page 16). The News reached out to the township of South Frontenac for comment on the Skycroft response, and the township declined to respond.

The OLT ruling is available to the public at their website - https://olt.gov.on.ca/decisions/ The ruling is OLT-23 00153-Apr-02-2026.pdf