What’s going on in Ramara Township? MZO Request in the Rama Road Corridor

MZO in the Rama Road Corridor: Two years ago

November 3, 2020: Ramara Township requests an MZO in the Rama Road corridor just south of Rama for 3 large and highly transformative development projects, including a water park. Ramara mayor Basil Clarke outlined the township’s case for making the request.

This request was made on areas of natural heritage and Provincially Significant Wetland on Lake Couchiching, some of which had not yet been properly assessed for the degree of its environmental sensitivity, and its ability to support a large-scale septic solution.

Due to community pushback, the urging of neighbouring municipalities, and concern from Rama First Nation, “… the Township of Ramara and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) agreed that a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) would not be used in stimulating growth on Rama Road Corridor” (Ramara media release). Mayor Basil Clarke also expressed commitment to approaching the project with community consultation and proper assessments next time.

Source: Ramara Councillor Dana Tuju’s Ward 3 Newsletter: Issue 1 – January 2023

MZO in the Rama Road Corridor: Now

December 12, 2022: Shortly after new council inauguration, this proposal resurfaced as a deputation from John Mutton and Melanie Horton on behalf of Al Soorty Development, requesting an MZO for one of the development projects in the Rama Road Corridor, located on Willison Sideroad.

However, during the two years between these proposals, it does not appear the developer has commenced or publicly shared a formal process for seeking and integrating community feedback, or results for services, safety, and feasibility assessments PRIOR to once again requesting MZO shortcuts. There were no environmental, social impact, or financial (both affordability and taxpayer implications) assessments provided with this recent deputation.

Source: Ramara Councillor Dana Tuju’s Ward 3 Newsletter: Issue 1 – January 2023

Councillor Dana Tuju – Statement

Ramara Ward 3 Councillor Dana Tuju has been the most vocal opponent to the proposed MZO, giving a comprehensive and well researched statement to Council during their December 12th meeting. She has also been working hard to educate her constituents on the matter on her recent Ward 3 Newsletter: Issue 1 – January 2023. Thank you Councillor Tuju!

What is an MZO?

A Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) is meant for situations of extraordinary urgency. It overrides local planning authority to approve development without expert analysis, public input, or any chance of appeal. Since taking office, the current Ontario government has been issuing MZOs at an extraordinary rate to impose low-density sprawl and other risky development on wetlands and other protected lands. The present government has issued more MZOs than all the governments from 1995 to 2018 combined!

It is very difficult to find information about MZOs on the Ontario government’s website. The Yours to Protect Initiative created a map to show MZOs that have been approved since the pandemic began, as well as MZOs that have been requested by municipalities or developers but not yet issued.

Source: https://yourstoprotect.ca/ministers-zoning-order-map/

Environmental Risks of an MZO in the Rama Road Corridor

MZOs reduce environmental assessments to the point of being meaningless
Proposed project will likely be used as a baseline to replicate other similar requests in an unsustainable way in the near future
Proposed project is sitting on the border of Rama First Nation lands
Proposed project has a significant amount of unevaluated wetlands in the middle of the property
Proposed project encroaches on the NAP zoning of the Atherley-Sucker Creek Wetlands, a Provincially Significant Wetlands Complex that act as a critical buffer to Lake Couchiching
The amount of runoff from such a large development will be difficult to control, more so if an MZO circumvents site plan approvals – and we drink that water.

Make Your Voice Heard!

Community engagement is key to land use planning.

This MZO request is particularly important considering the complications of the removal of municipal oversight of many projects as a result of Bill 23’s passing. Council will be voting on this on January 16th, make your voice heard before then.

Email Ramara Township Council:

Mayor: Basil Clarke: bclarke@ramara.ca
Deputy Mayor: Keith Bell: kbell@ramara.ca
Ward 1 Councillor: David Snutch: dsnutch@ramara.ca
Ward 2 Councillor: Jennifer Fisher jfisher@ramara.ca
Ward 3 Councillor: Dana Tuju: dtuju@ramara.ca
Ward 4 Councillor: Gary Hetherington: ghetherington@ramara.ca
Ward 5 Councillor: Sherri Bell: sbell@ramara.ca

Other Resources

Ramara Councillor Dana Tuju’s Ward 3 Newsletter: Issue 1 – January 2023
Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition has a full blog post on the original MZO plans from two years ago
December 12th, 2022 Ramara Council Meeting recording
OrilliaMatters January 12th, 2023 article: ‘Lots of concern’ about planned development near Casino Rama

Michael Douglas

October 16, 2023 at 3:43 am

Hello Green Orillia,

As a long time resident of Ramara Township I have witnessed some very unsavoury behaviour from our elected representatives.

My wife Anna and I, as well as many friends and neighbours organized to get Ramara Township and then Simcoe County to recognize the need for improvements in traffic safety on the 6.7 km portion of the quarry haul route (Simcoe County Road 47). In 2015 this 6.7 kms of Simcoe County Road 47 had 16 accidents and seven of the accidents involved aggregate hauling trucks leaving the road, with the loaded trucks flipping and the unloaded trucks usually staying upright. The long story is shortened to say that after a well circulated petition, media coverage, many phone calls to MTO & OPP and a power point deputation at Simcoe County council on February 25th, 2016 the speed limit on the 6.7 km stretch of Simcoe County Road 47 was reduced from 80 kms/hr to 60 kms/hr, and in the fall of 2017 the shoulders of Simcoe County Road 47 were reenforced and rolled with lime stone aggregate.

The real incentive and challenge to become much more environmentally minded showed up in early 2017 as the plague of large scale soil dumping moved into Ramara Township and the City of Kawartha Lakes close by. Unfortunately in Ramara Township and from what we understand for the most part in the City of Kawartha Lakes the uncontrolled large scale soil dumping has been very poorly addressed by municipal, county and provincial politicians. There is a consistent level of ignorance and disinterest despite some changes in municipal and provincial governance. Truthfully it is very likely only the fuss that has been made that has contributed to slowing down, but not totally deterring further uncontrolled large scale soil dumping in the area. By fuss I mean providing fact based evidence, asking questions and attempting to hold municipal, county and provincial politicians accountable. The Ramara Township and City of Kawartha Lakes Fill Bylaws were updated in late September and early October, 2018 with the help of Carmela Marshall and Ian McLaurin, Ontario Soil Regulation Task Force. However, it still rare to have an incident of large scale soil dumping where the protective measures of the respective Fill Bylaws are actually implemented. Truck loads of soil typically start to show up, usually in the early morning hours, and very rapidly several hundreds of truckloads of soil will be dumped before the local municipality will even acknowledge the illegal activity. Even after the municipality has been forced into acknowledging that the soil dumping activity has taken place they have in two known instances issued Stop Work Orders, and then allowed the soil dumping to continue after offering the owners of the properties the option of applying for a building permit so the Fill Bylaw can be circumvented. There is plenty of evidence of collusion and likely corruption that could fill a book. Had someone told me before January, 2017 that this uncontrolled large scale soil dumping could go unchecked and property owners could be getting rich exploiting our environment, while all levels of government wish them well, I wouldn’t have believed them. Today it is just a potential daily occurrence.

I realize this is becoming too lengthy and will skip ahead to the issue of Ramara Township’s infatuation with MZOs (Ministerial Zoning Orders). There has been a demonstrated tendency on the part of Ramara Township Mayor and Council to embrace the belief that simply pursuing MZOs will circumvent the need for good municipal planning, and additionally avoid the nuisance of public input. On two occasions when Ramara Township Mayor and Council have been confronted with well founded objections, to this undemocratic, short sighted and exploitive version of municipal planning that MZOs represent, the Mayor and Council have abandon responsibility and shift the blame onto any other party readily available. The demonstrated lack of integrity and collective incompetence is baffling and certainly does not benefit Ramara Township residents and tax payers. I can tell you that some accountability is in progress.

It is tremendous to see the success of a committed group of primarily younger people recognizing the absolute need to protect their future from the often unscrupulous actions of our elected officials at all levels of government. Thank you for all of your great work!

Take Care,

Mike Douglas

1 thought on “What’s going on in Ramara Township? MZO Request in the Rama Road Corridor”

Michael Douglas
October 16, 2023 at 3:43 am

Hello Green Orillia,

As a long time resident of Ramara Township I have witnessed some very unsavoury behaviour from our elected representatives.

My wife Anna and I, as well as many friends and neighbours organized to get Ramara Township and then Simcoe County to recognize the need for improvements in traffic safety on the 6.7 km portion of the quarry haul route (Simcoe County Road 47). In 2015 this 6.7 kms of Simcoe County Road 47 had 16 accidents and seven of the accidents involved aggregate hauling trucks leaving the road, with the loaded trucks flipping and the unloaded trucks usually staying upright. The long story is shortened to say that after a well circulated petition, media coverage, many phone calls to MTO & OPP and a power point deputation at Simcoe County council on February 25th, 2016 the speed limit on the 6.7 km stretch of Simcoe County Road 47 was reduced from 80 kms/hr to 60 kms/hr, and in the fall of 2017 the shoulders of Simcoe County Road 47 were reenforced and rolled with lime stone aggregate.

The real incentive and challenge to become much more environmentally minded showed up in early 2017 as the plague of large scale soil dumping moved into Ramara Township and the City of Kawartha Lakes close by. Unfortunately in Ramara Township and from what we understand for the most part in the City of Kawartha Lakes the uncontrolled large scale soil dumping has been very poorly addressed by municipal, county and provincial politicians. There is a consistent level of ignorance and disinterest despite some changes in municipal and provincial governance. Truthfully it is very likely only the fuss that has been made that has contributed to slowing down, but not totally deterring further uncontrolled large scale soil dumping in the area. By fuss I mean providing fact based evidence, asking questions and attempting to hold municipal, county and provincial politicians accountable. The Ramara Township and City of Kawartha Lakes Fill Bylaws were updated in late September and early October, 2018 with the help of Carmela Marshall and Ian McLaurin, Ontario Soil Regulation Task Force. However, it still rare to have an incident of large scale soil dumping where the protective measures of the respective Fill Bylaws are actually implemented. Truck loads of soil typically start to show up, usually in the early morning hours, and very rapidly several hundreds of truckloads of soil will be dumped before the local municipality will even acknowledge the illegal activity. Even after the municipality has been forced into acknowledging that the soil dumping activity has taken place they have in two known instances issued Stop Work Orders, and then allowed the soil dumping to continue after offering the owners of the properties the option of applying for a building permit so the Fill Bylaw can be circumvented. There is plenty of evidence of collusion and likely corruption that could fill a book. Had someone told me before January, 2017 that this uncontrolled large scale soil dumping could go unchecked and property owners could be getting rich exploiting our environment, while all levels of government wish them well, I wouldn’t have believed them. Today it is just a potential daily occurrence.

I realize this is becoming too lengthy and will skip ahead to the issue of Ramara Township’s infatuation with MZOs (Ministerial Zoning Orders). There has been a demonstrated tendency on the part of Ramara Township Mayor and Council to embrace the belief that simply pursuing MZOs will circumvent the need for good municipal planning, and additionally avoid the nuisance of public input. On two occasions when Ramara Township Mayor and Council have been confronted with well founded objections, to this undemocratic, short sighted and exploitive version of municipal planning that MZOs represent, the Mayor and Council have abandon responsibility and shift the blame onto any other party readily available. The demonstrated lack of integrity and collective incompetence is baffling and certainly does not benefit Ramara Township residents and tax payers. I can tell you that some accountability is in progress.

It is tremendous to see the success of a committed group of primarily younger people recognizing the absolute need to protect their future from the often unscrupulous actions of our elected officials at all levels of government. Thank you for all of your great work!

Take Care,

Mike Douglas