Jeff Green | Aug 28, 2025
North Frontenac Council met for almost 3 hours on August 12 in a special meeting to discuss one topic, a proposed Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendment to permit a co-op with 7 cottages on Gravel Point on Palmerston Lake.
This proposal has been in the works for five years, and in a presentation at the start of the meeting, Frontenac County Community planner Jenny Kapusta presented a 45 minute outline of the process followed by the applicant, their own consultants, federal and provincial agencies, and county planning staff, over that time.
Ultimately, the planning department is supporting the proposed amendment.
This opinion is stated at the very beginning of a 31 page summary report that outlines the process that has been undertaken by consultants and subject experts hired by the applicants, and the opinions received from the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority, among others.
“Recommendation – Official Plan Amendment: That the application for an Official Plan Amendment (File Number OP02/22) for Ompah Palmerston Cottage Co-operative, 1099B Lafolia Lane, be supported; and, ... , that Council direct staff to prepare and send the Official Plan Amendment package to the County of Frontenac for approval.”
At the meeting, after Jenny Kapusta worked through the report, members of council were given an opportunity to comment. At least three of the 7 members of council indicated that they are not going to be supporting the proposed amendments to the Official Plan and Zoning bylaw, Deputy Mayor John Inglis, and Councillors Vernon Hermer and Fred Fowler. Mayor Lichty also said he was concerned about the precedent that could be set by approving the proposal.
Their reasoning ranged from a concern over density, because even though the total property is 35 acres, the 7 cottages are located within a smaller window on the narrow point that juts into the lake, to a more general concern about the commitment made by North Frontenac Council to protect the natural environment.
The applicants, Craig and Amber Hall, who are the owners of Equator Coffee in Almonte, talked about their families' history as cottagers in North Frontenac, and their commitment to maintain the lake and the trout spawning bed on the shoreline of the property.
Members of the public, including neighbouring property owners, the Lake Association and others, had an opportunity to express their opinions after that, and did so in large numbers.
They took issue with the planners report, specifically regarding density, and presented alternate studies to those completed by the applicant, and a petition opposing the proposal, signed by over 500 North Frontenac residents.
Ultimately Council will be required to vote on the matter, and if Council votes against the Official Plan amendment, the applicant will have recourse to an appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal, and this is where the applicant stands to win, because the planning report recommends that the amendment be approved.
The job of the planning staff is to implement the principles in Ontario, Frontenac County, and North Frontenac, and determine if the application adheres to all of the requirements that flow from those principles. Unless they did their job wrong, their recommendations should always sway the tribunal.
Not only could the land tribunal overturn Council's decision, they could very easily rule that the township should pay for the legal fees and any other costs the Hall family will have paid in the appeal process to them..
North Frontenac ratepayers would be on the hook for the township's costs as well as the applicants cost, in a foreseeable outcome, because they did not follow the recommendations of the planners that they had hired and paid in the first place.
However Council votes, the Hall family will likely get the Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendment they are seeking, given the planning report.
While this may be a bad outcome in the view of the majority of people in North Frontenac, and may set a dangerous precedent as many of the opponents claim, it will satisfy a basic principle that should govern all municipal processes.
As Craig Hall said at the meeting on the 12th, his family came to the township with a proposal and were then provided with a set of requirements that led them to amend their proposal, undertake expenses, and provide extensive documentation, over a five year period.
If indeed they have done all that, satisfied all those requirements, they should receive the approval. The process should be rules based and independent of political influence.
However, the planning department also recommended that in addition to approving the Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendments, a holding symbol should be applied to the development.
This is because Lafolia Lane, which provided access to the properties leading to the Hall property, and through the property to the proposed building sites, is not built to the standard required for access by emergency vehicles, in the opinion of both North Frontenac Emergency Services and Frontenac Paramedic Services.
In order for new development to be permitted on a private lane in North Frontenac, the lane needs to be brought up to that minimum standard.
The Halls have committed to building up their portion of the lane to the standard, but the neighbouring property owners where the lane passes before reaching their property, are under no obligation to upgrade their portion of the lane.
Jenny Kapusta said that her department consulted the Frontenac County lawyer about the matter, and was informed that this was a civil matter that fell outside the purview of the planning process.
For insurance purposes and for their own safety, the Lafolia Lane neighbours would be well served to upgrade their portion of Lafolia Lane, but at this point, it appears they are under no legal obligation to do so.
Unless they decide otherwise, all of them, the Gravel Point development will not be able to proceed, no matter what council decides when it comes to a vote.
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