Frontenac County Council approves one-year extension for final approval of Johnston’s Point project.

Jeff Green | Jun 26, 2019

Magenta Corporation is the proponent for a vacant land plan of Condominium that is slated to create 18 waterfront and back-lots on a 91-acre parcel of land called Johnston’s Point on Loughborough Lake south of Perth Road Village. Thanks to a decision of Frontenac County Council last Wednesday (June 19) they will have at least one more year to clear all the conditions and obtain final approval for the development.

The project has been the subject of much opposition from neighouring property owners on the lake and others who are concerned that the project will impact wildlife within an adjacent Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI) and on some identified Species at Risk within the proposed development itself.

In 2016, it was approved by the Ontario Municipal Board, the final authority in Ontario for land use planning matters. That approval is good for three years, which runs out this month, hence the application for an extension.

Two delegations before Council on the morning of the decision urged them to reject the one-year extension, but Frontenac County Manager of Planning and Development Joe Gallivan said that the extension was warranted.

In his report to Council, Gallivan wrote: County planning staff along with the owner, project manager, [South Frontenac] township staff and commenting agencies completed a site visit of the subject property on Wednesday, May 29, 2019. At this site visit the commenting agencies and Township confirmed that the outstanding work required the extension to ensure that the required conditions are appropriately fulfilled and were supportive of the one-year extension. County Councillors also had the opportunity to attend the site.”

South Frontenac and Frontenac County Council member Alan Revill indicated he would not be supporting the extension, pointing to his concerns over species at risk within the proposed development lands.

The Planning department of South Frontenac also supported granting the extension, however South Frontenac Council rejected their own planning department decision, and voted down a staff motion at their June 4th meeting recommending the county grant the extension. Frontenac County is the approval authority for land use planning within its jurisdiction.

Joe Gallivan told County Council that he is not aware that an extension such as the one being requested in this case “has ever been rejected by a municipality in Ontario”.

In a recorded vote, the extension was approved, with Councillor Revill casting the only dissenting vote. Couth Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal, who had been one of only two South Frontenac Council member to support the extension at the June 4th South Frontenac Council meeting, supported it again at Frontenac County Council on June 19.

One-year extensions for two other projects in the same district of South Frontenac, Storrington, as Johnston’s Point, were approved without comment. They are the Cranberry Cove and Sands Road projects.

Also at the meeting Council adopted a strategic plan for the rest of this term of council. The plan includes 3 relatively broad priorities: 1. Get behind plans that build community vitality and resilience in times of growth and change 2. Explore new funding sources and invest wisely in critical long-term infrastructure, and 3. Champion and coordinate collaborative efforts with partners to resolve complex problems otherwise beyond the reach of individual mandates and jurisdictions.