Negativity surrounds BBP Resort talks

Dear editor,

The five year process which has led to the recent Big Bay Point agreement has been a very positive experience, but it has been marred all along by the negativity of the Innisfil District Association (IDA). The most recent example of this is Don Avery's letter in your paper on April 25, 2007.

In evaluating Mr. Avery's claim that his group has been shut out, your readers should know the following. The IDA participated fully in the original week-long charrette five years ago, as well as in the one conducted in February this year. The IDA is a full party to the OMB process, and has copies of all supporting materials prepared for the current proposal, and previous versions. The IDA was at the negotiating table for numerous meetings convened by the Provincial Facilitator, with full status, sitting in the same room with Geranium, the Province, the County, the Town, the Residents of Innisfil Association (RIA) and the Sandy Cove Home Owners Association (SCHOA). On too many occasions for me to remember, I have offered to sit down face to face with the IDA. Those offers have all been refused.

Mr. Avery says his group had no input into the unit and marina slip numbers. I can tell you that at no time during the February charrette or the Provincial Facilitator's process did his group put the issue of numbers on the table. They were represented by a very capable lawyer, and so presume that this was a deliberate strategy. Now, it's too late to talk numbers.

It is true that the IDA was not invited to participate in the first phase of the Provincial Facilitator's process, but that was the Facilitator's decision. It was a principled and common-sense position: she wanted to find out first is there was any possibility of an agreement between Geranium and the key public authorities (the Province, County and Town). Her decision was not just with respect to the IDA - it applied equally to everyone else in the process, including the RIA, SCHOA and even the City of Barrie. None of them are complaining; in fact, the RIA and SCHOA support the settlement, and the City of Barrie is satisfied and has withdrawn from the process. Your readers might also be interested to know that the IDA's lawyer recently said in a published comment on the Provincial facilitator's process that it was "very constructive and helpful."

And by the way, it's a bit of a stretch for Mr. Avery to say that "three parties" did not sign the agreement. As he well knows, two of the three are related companies which jointly own adjacent land. Similarly, it's a measure of the desperate nature of the IDA's position that Mr. Avery continues to rely on criticisms of pervious versions of the project, rather than speak to what's on the table now.

I will close with Mr. Avery's comments on Lake Simcoe. We have never opposed an holistic approach to cleaning up the Lake. What we've said is that there is no reason for our project, which will improve lake quality over current conditions, to wait for that larger initiative to happen. Nor are we against a comprehensive growth management strategy. We have simply pointed out that resort development is not within the ambit of growth management studies, which are designed to deal with permanent accommodation.

Earl Rumm Geranium Corp.