Many Improvements to Long-Awaited Zoning By-Law
By Jack Ellis & Judith Grant

On May 9, Nick McDonald of Meridian Planning Consultants met with Council to discuss the latest round of changes he has made to the Zoning By-law which finally will implement the Township’s “environment first” Official Plan passed four years ago.

Mapping: The maps (which have been prepared by Township staff) are much better than earlier versions. They lay out the various zoning categories that define what can be done on every lot in the township. All residents should take a look at the map for their area and make sure that the zoning assigned to the beach, the pathways, their own lot, and adjacent areas reflect their understanding of what should be there.

Waterfront lots generally are shown as going to the water’s edge, and the water’s edge is defined as the line shown as the “rear lot line” on the most recent plan for each lot registered in Barrie. (Note that there is a considerable time lag between registration and when the Township receives the survey.)

There is no longer an “Environmental Protection” strip along the shore as was proposed on earlier maps. Beach blocks and parks are zoned Open Space. Beach blocks in private ownership are zoned OS1; beach areas in Township ownership are zoned OS.

Areas for future development are zoned FD. Areas controlled by Greenbelt constraints are zoned GB. Many (though not all) streams are now shown by means of faint dotted lines. The OS3 zones extending along such streams in the existing Zoning By-law are no longer present, although the new bylaw requires buildings to be set back 30 m (15 m in Shoreline Residential zone) from the top of the banks of streams. Major wetlands are shown and given an EP (Environmental Protection) zoning, but many minor wetlands which appeared as OS3 zones on the existing zoning maps have vanished.

178 metre “flood hazard” line: This line – the line on a waterfront property should the lake ever rise to 178 m above sea level (which it has never approached in the past century) – is the line that establishes the point of departure for all building setbacks from the water. This “flood hazard” limit has proved to be non-negotiable, even though in some locations it may extend inland onto one or more tiers of lots behind the waterfront. At the suggestion of Councillor Panasiuk, Nick McDonald asked the Ministries of Natural Resources and Municipal Affairs and Housing to create a special policy area for the shore areas of Tiny Township, like those created for Ontario Towns built in the 19th Century on the floodplains of rivers, but the province refused.

Owners of vacant lots will have to have this level surveyed, as will owners who want to expand an existing cottage forward of the setback limit. Owners who want to site such things as a deck or a boathouse between their dwelling and the shore must also have the 178 m line surveyed as all such structures must be set back from it by 15 m.

The 178 m line is NOT shown on the zoning maps.

Setbacks from the 178 metre level. In the draft Zoning By-law under discussion, the required setback for a new dwelling is to be a basic 15 m + an additional 30 m for lots on a “dynamic beach”, for a total of 45 m. One of the elements that defines a beach as “dynamic” is a “fetch” (the distance the wind blows over the water) of more than 5 kilometres. It is evident that all but a few lots on the western shore may be “dynamic” according to the Ministry’s definition, but much of the northern and eastern shore of Tiny Township is probably not. But the Ministry maps show the whole of Tiny’s shore as “dynamic”! The three councillors turned their minds to how to save owners on the north and east shore from having to prove, one by one, that their beach is not dynamic. Council will be seeking the opinion of a marine engineer before their meeting on May 30 about the cost of establishing the fetch for properties on the north and east shores of Tiny.

Fortunately, existing dwellings that are not set back far enough according to these new rules will all become legal non-conforming uses when the new Zoning By-law is passed. An exemption in the new By-law allows for non-conforming dwellings to be expanded by 25% sideways or backward from the water, and they also may have a storey added, in all cases providing that other requirements of the By-law, such as setbacks from front and side lot lines, as well as height restrictions, are respected.

Front yard / rear yard issue for waterfront lots: In spite of the points made about front and rear yards of waterfront properties at public meetings, the draft By-law still defines the water side of the building as the “rear yard” and as the appropriate location for garages, bunkies, stored boats and the like. The planners involved in the discussion argued that the road side of a property is always the front. Councillors Peggy Breckenridge and Rob Panasiuk made a variety of telling points. They argued that waterfront properties are called that for a reason, that Tiny is part of “cottage country,” that shore owners do not want accessory buildings standing between their dwelling and the view, and that provisions for trailers, boats, canoes, sea-doos, ski-doos etc. should be generous for recreational properties. A compromise emerged. There is a modest sized “required front yard” on the road side of waterfront dwellings in which nothing can be built or placed, but garages, bunkies and boat storage can be placed next to that yard or beside the dwelling, given sufficient setbacks from the side and rear lot lines.

Wind Turbines: The standards for erecting personal wind generators are to be reviewed in the light of recent experience. (Small wind generators are apparently noisier that the huge ones.) Wind Farms will be dealt with case by case in the context of requests for Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments.

Public Meeting: Council has called a Public Meeting on the Zoning By-law, and we urge all those interested to attend. Prior to the Public Meeting, the text of the By-law and the Schedules of Zoning Maps can be examined in the Municipal Office. The 123-page text is available on the Township website at tiny.ca/articles/PlanningInfo/DraftTextMay05.pdf (3.82 Mb).

Public Meeting on the
Proposed New Comprehensive Zoning By-law
Saturday, June 11, 2005
10: a.m.
Wyebridge Community Centre
8340 Highway 93
Wyebridge, Ontario