Noise concerns over event venue proposal at Cherry Valley
Administrator | Mar 09, 2025 | Comments 10
By Sharon Harrison
Five motel suites, nine glamping tent accommodations and a three-bedroom cottage are proposed for a waterfront property located at 4 County Road 18 and 89 Sandy Lane in Cherry Valley designated tourist corridor.
The proposed re-development includes the construction of a new event venue building for up to 100 people for the purpose of hosting weddings, gatherings and corporate retreats, to include a kitchen and washroom. Proposed also is a café building, shelter tent, office/reception kiosk, storage structures and washrooms, with 44 parking spaces.
At last week’s special planning and development statutory committee meeting, council heard details of applications submitted by Blanding Inc. for an official plan amendment and zoning bylaw amendment for the proposed development in Athol ward.
Under a new two-step process (effective Jan. 1), no decision on this planning application will be made by council at this first statutory overview meeting (as has been procedure) which is intended as information-gathering only. Decision by council will happen at a future second statutory public meeting where staff will provide a report and recommendation. Council members may make brief comments and ask basic questions at this first (overview) meeting, but any discussion or debate must be reserved for the second (decision) meeting under the new procedure.
Wednesday’s overview meeting heard a presentation from the applicant’s representative Jessica D’Aoust with Arcadis Professional Services (Canada) Inc., as well as comments from two members of the public expressing complaints about noise related to the event portion of the site.
D’Aoust explained how the property is currently operating under the re-branded name Lakecroft since it was purchased by the current owners in 2019, but was historically used as a campground and cottage rental business, known as Cherry Lane Campground and Cottages.
The property is described as an irregular lot fabric with a wetland in the centre of the property that naturally divides the property into two functional areas, the waterfront area (East Lake) and the roadside area (County Road 18).
She outlined how the site has a long history of operations with a wide range of uses, and for at least 50 years has operated as a campground and cottage rental business previously accommodating a minimum of 145 guests daily, including more than 40 tent and trailer accommodations (including season-long rentals), plus vehicles, boats and seasonal docks.
The proposed site re-development reduces accommodations to 15 short-term rental units for 44 guests, as the owners transition to a low-impact development. The existing boutique motel is to be retained to accommodate five motel suites (nine bedrooms existing to be re-designed), along with one existing tourist cottage, with all trailer and RV sites to be removed.
“There will be a reduced overall footprint of the operations and the owners are transitioning the business to overall uses while also improving site conditions, including shoreline clean-up (debris and docks), planting of over 400 native species along the shoreline, elimination of the trailers, and the removal of three cottages.”
The 5.9-hectare property is bounded to the north by East Lake, to the south by County Road 18 (with 47.5-metre frontage on County Road 18), and to the east by wetlands (the wetland is part of the East Lake provincially-significant wetland, which will remain undeveloped).
Local resident Kathleen White lives across from the wetlands and spoke to the noise levels emanating from the event venue on the site, also expressing concern about insufficient parking and light pollution.
“Last summer it [noise] was terrible, and if there are 16 weekends where you have to sit out there on a Friday and Saturday night, and each one of them has music banging, it’s not conducive to a neighbourhood,” said White.
Moving the event venue to a building likely won’t reduce noise levels she said as the doors are going to be open anyway. “So, it’s going to be the same thing, it’s really not a place for an event venue and I can’t do another summer with hearing noise.”
Councillor Janice Maynard asked if the intention was to host the events inside the building entirely, noting how the building has doors so people would be inside and outside. “Are you saying all the attendees for these events would be inside the building, other than when they were going to their car? asked Maynard, to which D’Aoust replied, yes.
D’Aoust said the intention is to transfer what would have been previously fully hosted in the shelter tent into the building, where the dinner, reception and dancing would be situated within the building. “Anything exterior would be on a case-by-case basis and it would be perhaps a ceremony on the front lawn potentially.”
In the initial concept plan, D’Aoust explained the event venue was a temporary tent or shelter tent to be used as an outdoor venue. “Upon further discussion, it was determined to be much more appropriate and functional for noise mitigation, and overall site functionality, to remove the shelter tent and instead propose a designated building for the venue.”
White said she doesn’t have a problem with the camping and glamping operations.
“I’ve been there for seven years and I never knew there was a trailer park there, or anything back there, and last summer it was like, wow, what’s going on,” she explained. “There were a lot of changes that happened and we weren’t told it was going to happen, and they have already gone forward and created some of these things.”
Dr. Steve Blanchard also shared his experience with noise coming from the property and spoke to liveable communities, noting how he and his wife, Dr. Ann Nancekievill, are 26-year residents of Cherry Valley, he a family and emergency medicine doctor in the County for 35 years, she, lead physician with the County’s physician recruiting program.
He too noted the previous trailer park had been operating quietly for many decades. “We didn’t hear a peep out of them, and until the last two years, it was dead quiet.”
He said, they are happy to see a zoning change that would allow Lakecroft to legally continue with their glamping and accommodation rental business and the motel, but “we strongly feel, however, that giving the okay for an event venue to operate in the middle of an almost entirely residential village is completely inappropriate”.
“Despite the lack of the correct zoning for an event venue, they have been hosting wedding parties with loud amplified music into the night for the past several summers,” Blanchard added, indicating the music is loud enough that even with windows closed and the air conditioner turned on, the loud thumping base can still be heard.
“Even if closing the windows and turning on the air conditioner did block the noise, the community should absolutely not be put in the position of being forced to do this on a regular basis, to not be disturbed,” he said.
“Concerningly, this establishment regularly blows by the 11 p.m. noise cut-off specified in our bylaws, and this was without the required zoning for the event venue. I shudder to think how late the party music might go if the required zoning was given, and I would have expected a business that was applying for a zoning change would have been on its best behaviour.”
Blanchard noted how he frequently does the Saturday or Sunday day shift at the County hospital’s emergency department where he needs to be up early in the morning and well-rested to be ready for the shift as the emergency doctor.
“Loud partying music is certainly not conducive to getting a good night’s sleep,” he said. “I strongly encourage you, for the peace and quiet of Cherry Valley, and for the reasons stated, not to allow the applicant to host parties with amplified music in Cherry Valley.”
D’Aoust said while the previous iteration of the plans did include just the tent as the event venue, “we really feel like this iteration of the plans will help to resolve a lot of the concerns surrounding noise by introducing this new purpose-built building”.
She said, it will ensure that any amplified music is positioned within the building “which will, of course, significantly reduce any potential noise impacts of the proposed use”.
Councillor Brad Nieman asked how many events are expected to be held annually, to which D’Aoust said she didn’t know. “To start off, at least to only have events held on weekends, on an as needed and on-demand basis, but I don’t have specific numbers.”
Councillor Roy Pennell suggested venues starting out on weekends was just a starting point. “If you are running a business, I would imagine you’d be looking at every day you could get during the summer months.” D’Aoust then clarified that the applicant only wants to operate events on the weekends, “that is their preference”.
Athol councillor Sam Branderhorst said this was not the first time she has heard about the sound being a problem. “It’s been a problem for the last two years from my understanding, from the amount of phone calls and emails I’ve received.”
When she asked if the applicants would be fine with no events, everything else proposed goes (cafe, motel), but no events, D’Aoust replied, “Their intention is to proceed with the event venue use.”
“I have a different recommendation,” countered Branderhorst, “No events would be my personal recommendation for the community, and that is my recommendation to staff, that fits a hamlet a little bit better”.
The official plan and secondary plan designation for the property is hamlet and environmental protection area. Currently zoned special tent and trailer park (TPC-10) and limited service residential (LSR), the proposed amendment is to change the zoning to special tourist commercial (TC-X).
The proposed official plan amendment is to add the existing tent and trailer park use and the proposed tourism commercial uses (tourist establishment, event venue and motel suites) as permitted uses under the hamlet designation.
The planning justification report notes the lands are currently two separate parcels, but notes the applicant has filed an application to consolidate parcels and release the easement over 4 County Road 18 in favour of 89 Sandy Lane.
All planning documents related to this application can be found on the County’s website.
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According to information from Shire Hall I received today, the By-law Enforcement Officers in PEC are available seven days a week, from 8am to 6pm and may be reached at: 613.476.2148 ext. 2046. After hours, you should contact the O.P.P. at their non-emergency number – 1.888.310.1122.
What is the point of an Official Plan if it is never followed. The number of proposals that come to council for approval that require amendments to the OP are staggering. And, more staggering, is the number of times the council disregards the OP and grants the amendment, only to benefit the people who are making the money. How about using the OP, as written, to benefit the people who are trying to enjoy their day-to-day lives? Is there no value placed on that? Does every day, every weekend, every summer have to be filled with noise pollution everywhere in PEC?
And council keeps ramming it through. No appreciation for the essence of the county and why we all came here in the first place.
I’m sorry to hear that this is happening to the neighbours. As a former camper there for many years, we loved that space more than anything. My kids grew up there in the summers. They still talk about it every now and again. We have never found a park the same since we got kicked out in 2020. I do wonder if there’s an environmental factor that might play into this considering it’s along a marsh land. I would highly suggest an environmental assessment be requested by the council.
I think there are very few places in Athol where your ears are not assaulted on weekends. The area has a profound density of camp parks, cottage villages, trailer parks (large and small) and “event venues” and let’s not forget the Hayloft (love it or not). It seems every weekend each tourist site wants to entertain their guests with music. You cannot sit outside and carry on a meaningful conversation on a weekend evening for the sound of music, sometimes not just from one place – it is not uncommon for there to be two, three or four competing venues all within earshot.
Sound carries – across water, across open farm fields, in the wind. Certainly an event venue in the middle of the hamlet of Cherry Valley makes zero sense.
Sure there are noise bylaws however who do you call in the middle of the night – the police have better things to do and I would be surprised if bylaw enforcement officers are on duty at these hours.
Some residents go to bed at a reasonable hour, shift workers, seniors, farmers and even with windows closed (and we really shouldn’t have to close them) the noise disturbs our sleep. We live here for a reason and a certain quality of life that is all but being stripped away over the past 10 years.
Perhaps it is time for a Prince Edward County Residents Bill of Rights. h wait, the Official Plan should have helped with that, but heck, let’s change it anyway. ’nuff said.
We’re 3 kms down the road and still hear the thumping bass on summer weekends. Imagine sitting out on your deck at night trying to enjoy the sounds of crickets and frogs only to have the constant “boom boom boom boom boom” disrupt it all. We drove around one night trying to figure out what was going on and ended up at this property. So tired of the county caving to developers and a quick buck. The county is losing its magic. We’re on our way to becoming a loud place that people need to get away from on weekends.
How many weddings can the County host? We have already watched affordable motels turned into expensive rentals. Having camp grounds with trailers and tents is an affordable vacation. One that locals love to partake in. Slowly this once magical haven in the country is being turned into jammed packed tourist station that soon will no longer be magical but a sprawling suburbia.
Regarding the noise. I am also a Cherry Valley resident, and Dr Blanchard is absolutely correct regarding the noise disturbances from the property, and their disregard for the bylaws currently applied to this property. Furthermore, doors closed or open in a party building is a moot point. As most people know, its the bass tones that travel the furthest and are most disturbing. Doors open or closed make little difference. And the maddening bass – boom – boom – boom, is very difficult to measure for decibels and legal enforcement of volume / sound maximums. Boom – boom – boom, throughout Cherry Valley, so tourists can party? And investors can profit? We do have a choice. No thank you.
The so-called ‘shelter tent’ space could also be called the ‘party tent’, because that is where the after-ceremony wedding receptions / parties will most likely continue to take place, as they have before. Calling it a ‘shelter tent’ could be considered somewhat misleading. Party tent.
Developers won’t be content until the entire County is covered in their projects, and their costs are escalating to the point where they won’t be able to commit to providing affordable housing even if they want to. How many vacation/resorts/camping grounds/subdivisions are really required here, and why isn’t there a limit on their numbers? A developer should, ideally, be required to complete ONE build, and sell 3/4’s of the project to primary residents (not the ones who are using these places as an income property), before they are allowed to begin applications for their next one.