Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

GRAVENHURST — Starboard developers have lowered their condo, boathouse and retail expectations marginally, while also slightly raising the number boat slips by a half dozen.

Proponents of a mixed housing and retail project at the Muskoka Wharf have submitted a new plan made public yesterday following vast public feedback and pushback.

According to the town Thursday, the developers have made additional changes in a revised planning application that the town made available to the public July 6 on Gravenhurst’s website.

Five key changes include:

• The height of the main building has been reduced from 30m to 25.4 metres (which should bring it down to six storeys);
• The proposed height of the boathouse has been reduced from 10.7 metres to 8.7 metres;
• The non-residential gross floor area has been reduced from 1,536 square metres to 1,147 square metres (thereby reducing parking requirements);
• The maximum number of residential units permitted on the site would be 151 (a reduction from 165);
• And the number of boat slips has increased from 25 to 31.

The latest application will be reconsidered by town’s planning council Tuesday July 25 at 3 p.m., at its regularly-scheduled planning council meeting.

A town release notes that there are a number of public meetings scheduled for the same day and — unlike in February when the council chamber was overflowing with interested citizens — this time Starboard’s application will be considered following others.

The planning council meeting will be held in person at the town hall and will be web cast on their YouTube channel.

An agenda that includes more of the above staff report and proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments to allow the changes and application to proceed to the full council, will be available on the Town’s website on/before July 19, 2023 at www.gravenhurst.ca/agendas.

As the “public meeting” has already been held, anyone wishing to speak at the planning council meeting must fill out the request for deputation in the attached link and provide it to the Legislative Services Department prior to noon on Friday July 21, 2023: https://forms.gravenhurst.ca/Legislative/Request-for-Deputation.

As per the town’s procedural bylaw, the number of deputations will be limited to five (5). Any written submissions received prior to the planning council meeting on July 25 will be distributed to council members and to the applicant.

If you wish to be notified of the decision in respect of the proposed official plan and zoning bylaw amendments, you must make a written request to Melissa Halford, director of development services, by email at [email protected]. Or you can phone her at 705-687-3412 ext. 2274. You can also reach Adam Ager, manager of planning services via his email [email protected] or his phone at 705-687-3412 ext. 2224.

Development history, revisions:

The report says the original applications were submitted to permit a mixed-use that includes commercial, restaurant, residential and associated on-water and land-based amenity spaces.

Developers first proposed a mixed-use condo tower of 33.5 metres with one level of underground parking — and as a two-storey boathouse reaching straight out from the shore into Lake Muskoka.

However, based on a number of meetings with permanent and seasonal residents in the area, feedback received at a public information session that the applicant hosted, as well as the results of the various peer reviews, the applicant made its first round of amendments to the proposal:

The height of the proposed mixed-use condo was reduced to 30 metres (7 storeys), two levels of underground parking were proposed which would provide all the parking required for residential use, and the two-storey boathouse was realigned to follow the shape of the shoreline instead of projecting straight out into the bay.

This version of the proposal was presented to town council and the public Feb. 28 at a statutory public meeting.

Council deferred making a decision on the applications at that meeting in order to allow further comments from the public to be considered and to enable the applicant to revise their proposal to address concerns.

The latest proposal takes those in to consideration.

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