Virtual public information meeting for hotel and spa at Hillier
Administrator | May 28, 2022 | Comments 3
A virtual public information meeting is set for June 8 for development of Retail Hotel and Spa – an estate winery, hotel and a Nordic spa at Hillier.
The County has received applications for a Official Plan Amendment and Zoning Bylaw Amendment to a mixed-use resort consisting of a hotel comprised of 38 single-storey buildings with a total of 148 bedrooms; a winery, inclusive of a restaurant, an event/conference facility, inclusive of meeting rooms; a spa, inclusive of a cafe; and various recreational areas including a tennis court and pool.
Significant portions of the property are proposed to be retained in a natural state to protect identified natural features, including woodlands, watercourses, and wetlands. Approximately 20 acres of vineyard have been planted, consisting of 32,000 vines.
The initial development, as seen in a public meeting in 2019, the proposal contemplated a two-storey hotel building and now an evolution in the design concept reflects a resort-style site layout, with clusters of small buildings arranged around landscape buffer zones.
The hotel buildings are to be constructed in two phases and are connected to the estate winery and spa facility through a system of walking trails. Materials are to be reflective of the character of the area, and are to be reviewed with County staff as part of a future site plan control application.
Members of the public who wish to attend the 7 p.m. virtual public meeting must register by contacting Matt Coffey, Planning Coordinator, Approvals, at mcoffey@pecounty.on.ca by noon on Monday, June 6. The meeting will be held virtually on Microsoft Teams.
At a public information meeting, the proponent/agent will present the proposal. If any member of the public would like to ask questions or make comments, they will be able to do so after the presentation by the applicant.
The statutory public meeting required under the Planning Act will be a Planning Committee meeting and would only be held after the public information meeting and when the assigned County planner has completed an analysis of the project.
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If the County protected all the farm lands, not just prime ag, and our shoreland, we would not have these issues. What about the natural corridors and linkages?
While everyone is busy blaming STAs for all the problems, regulating and stopping them just lead to more hotels and resorts, as tourism demand is not going anywhere.
All the County will do is now is stamp the development of hotels, spas, resorts— with much more capacity to bring in many more visitors per year, amplifying existing tourism issues.
County residents are going to miss the mom and pop wineries and shops, and they’re going to miss small AirBNBs and B&Bs…. because they couldn’t tolerate some nuisances and seek to remedy those directly. INstead they’ll be met with mega-hotels and spas, adding hundreds of new STA rental unit capacity in a short time.
Big money is coming in and it will steamroll over small businesses.
The county blamed house price increases on STAs while the real issue was the purchasing of second homes & vacation homes. This was the conclusion in the County’s own report.
And of course this was happening amid historically crazy home price increases in a low-interest rate environment across Canada.
We’re a farming community. We should all understand reaping what we’ve sewed.
How about building some affordable housing, so that what’s left of the local population, can live in and prosper, rather than bring in more tourists who contribute absolutely squat to what’s left of whatever it is we thought we had here.