July 14, 2025

MUSKOKA CENTRE ZOOM CALL WEDNESDAY SECOND ATTEMPT FOR DEVELOPER TO FLESH OUT CONDO/HOTEL PLANS

GRAVENHURST — A divided community comes together online Wednesday over a multi-billion-dollar development that would alter the shape, course and future of Gravenhurst.

The Muskoka Centre property was for half a century symbolic of what this waterside town has been all about.

Fresh air and a lake the envy of the world. Its boating, tourism, cottage, community, economic and cultural reputation built along its shoreline.

Today the fight is again over who has access to the Crown-owned land that continues on Zoom.

The developer who “bought it” or the residents who live next to it in a neighbourhood destined for “some kind of change.”

See meeting invite link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86710247919?pwd=5l1DZUYsSwIrCXSLuBYdvcVV8s7J98.1

A second attempt at a 7 p.m. meeting to flesh out more accurate details of a proposed condo/resort proposal for the 70-acre parcel of prime Lake Muskoka real estate is even more anticipated than a much smaller version approved last year at the foot of Gravenhurst Bay a couple kilometres away.

**Cliff Bay Development’s plan would dominate Gravenhurst Bay inside the Narrows of Lake Muskoka. RENDERINGS Developer Kirill Soloviev**

Cliff Bay Development owner Kirill Soloviev has asked for a second chance to explain himself and his ambitious plan after a botched call May 27 that quickly went south when Zoom capacity was limited to 100 who signed in early.

He hopes this time to be able to explain why the Infrastructure Ontario — on behalf of the province — has already agreed to sell him the coveted lakeland after what he calls a lengthy (and his second) “vetted” buying and selling process.

As some local fears abound of another Ontario Place spa fiasco looming, a lifelong debate about its economic merits vs. environmental risks is again at the heart of an emotional battle that threatens to further cast the community asunder and either see it grow or languish.

While opponents accept that after three decades “something” has to happen on site after the mental health home closed in 1993 after employing hundreds of workers for years including originally as a TB centre.

But what?

How many condos? How many hotels? How many docks and boats? How much land?

How many jobs? How much spin-off business benefits? How much wetland? How much history? How much NIMBYISM?

How much time? How much hope?

How much governments and politics?

How much trust?

More questions than answers for now.

Some of that will hopefully be answered Wednesday night.

The massive, ambitious development shows three hotels, hundreds of condos and a mix of a luxurious Muskoka resort and a residential community not a lot unlike others in Muskoka ncluding Minett and Huntsville.

Because the massive proposal — calling for three large hotels, hundreds of condos and dozens of multi-slip docks — appears on paper as daunting and is being conducted with the help of an Ontario Ministerial Zoning Order on behalf of the province that owns it — “is more than challenging,” Ken Pearce, secretary of the Muskoka Lakes-Friends of Muskoka Association said at the recent Muskoka Bay Property Owners’ Association meeting in June attended by more than 60 concerned residents.

“It’s pretty dramatic.”

Renderings from Soloviev show some accommodation units stretching out over the water, reminiscent of island cabanas with thatched roofs.

**Cabana-style accommodation could see condo owners or guests living on top of the water.**

Pearce says “it’s not in keeping with Muskoka” and claims it’s “not permitted under the Provincial Policy Statement.”

Contrarian supporters claim similar cries were once heard 150 years ago from Muskoka pioneers opposed to resorts and hotels that led to a seasonal residential boom and life blood of most district towns.

But this is 2025 and it’s a different world. A dramatically different Muskoka.

Pearce fears Gravenhurst Bay, inside the Narrows, can’t afford “residential” condos. He cites Friday Harbour in Innisfil, on Lake Simcoe, where “there’s still no hotel.”

He says the MLA recognizes that “something is going to happen.

“We’re not part of the group that says, ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be nice if it was park.’ That ship has sailed.”

But, he adds, “this is out in the heart of the Bay where everything is just cottages.”

To them the MZO — and NDA (Non-disclosure Agreement) — are “not local planning. Local planning considerations aren’t necessarily going to be taken into consideration.”

The MLA, which has an environmental committee of 18, has dedicated seven of its members to monitoring the Cliff Bay Development.

MLA met with MPP Smith

Pearce says they met with Tory government MPP Graydon Smith in mid to late May.

“He didn’t really say too much. He said we should get together and have another meeting.

“We expressed our concerns and he listened. He didn’t know much about it.

“I don’t know how much a lot of politicians know about it or what they’ve been told. It’s not a situation where a lot of information has been provided. There hasn’t been a lot of transparency.

“The town probably doesn’t know a lot more than we do.”

The town is sticking to the NDA, says one municipal source.

“It’s sure a very strange process,” says Pearse.

The MLA host their own AGM the day after on Thursday July 17.

Gravenhurst Mayor Heidi Lorenz, who attended the MBPOA AGM Friday June 20, admitted to coming under fire from some members. But told them she and town aren’t involved at this stage and know little more than the association.

One of the speakers at the AGM said, ironically, that phosphorous levels, which cause algae, are down on the lake.

**Docking for boaters and visitors are just part of the vast complex that some hate while others say they are the foundation of Muskoka Lake.**

Bay residents Todd Edmonds and his wife Arlene Cowenberg, who were sitting in the back row at that meeting held in the Terry Fox Auditorium, said they, too, attended because they both “interested and concerned.”

They were among many who weren’t able to get in to the first Zoom meeting May 27 due to the limited number allowed because the planning host provider didn’t buy streaming space to allow enough people to participate — including one moderator and facilitator.

“I would say (the developer) thinks that the property needs to be developed,” he said.

“But I don’t like the proposal. I think the in-water construction is detrimental to the whole community and the lake.

“I think the way they’re going about it hasn’t been good.”

The couple plan to get in early for this week’s Zoom call.