The WayHome Music and Arts Festival took over Burl’s Creek Event Grounds in Oro-Medonte for a successful second year last weekend, but not everyone feels as good about it as the thousands of music fans who attended the massive concert.
A local residents’ group called Save Oro has been campaigning for over a year to stop Burl’s Creek and promoter Republic Live from getting the property rezoned to allow for more frequent large-scale events like WayHome and the upcoming Boots & Hearts country music festival, which runs from August 4 to 7.
Anyone who’s been following the ongoing struggles between venue owners and residents’ associations in Toronto will recognize the complaints. Noise from the events disturbs the sleep of anyone living nearby, hordes of inebriated partiers are disrespecting neighbouring properties, and the site isn’t fully zoned for entertainment uses.
When these issues come up downtown, though, residents often argue that concert venues should be located far away from densely populated residential areas. As the ongoing battle in Oro-Medonte shows, remote rural areas don’t want large-scale music events in their backyard either.
“The Ontario government states that you cannot rezone prime agricultural land unless there’s an absolutely exceptional need for it,” says Wendy McKay, who lives across the road from Burl’s Creek. “It is so hard to find good farmland, and that’s why the government has said we have to preserve it. Agriculture is so important, and the food movement is so important.
“[Republic Live] is a multi-million-dollar corporation that could go anywhere there isn’t agricultural land. They could use commercial land, they could us industrial land, they could use rocky land, they could use anything but this.”
Zoning bylaws are a highly contentious issue in Ontario.
On one side, developers and business owners frequently complain that the rules are too restrictive, while residents’ associations and municipal politicians argue that the Ontario Municipal Board is too willing to overrule local restrictions.
In the case of Burl’s Creek, the 45 hectares where concerts are staged have been successfully rezoned for entertainment uses, but efforts to get the areas of the property used for camping and parking reclassified are still tied up at the OMB.
Unlike Toronto, though, the township itself has been supportive of the venue and has granted permits without going through extensive consultations with local residents.
“They obtained a special events permit that allows them to conduct concerts on the original 92 acres,” explains Save Oro’s legal counsel, David Donnelly. “So it’s legal to allow Arcade Fire and the Killers to play in those outdoor concert venues. However, it’s not legal to charge people hundreds of dollars to camp and park on the adjoining lands.”
Republic Live sees the issue differently and insists that Burl’s Creek is going through the proper processes to get permission to expand its operations.
“Our team has been working very closely with the township of Oro-Medonte staff as well as our agency partners – including the OPP, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, the Ministry of Transportation – for a number of months on operational planning and use of the lands,” says Burl’s Creek’s Ryan Howes.
“Although it is disappointing, it does not surprise us that Save Oro would inappropriately and disingenuously mislead the public. Having applied for temporary rezoning in April 2015, we expected our OMB hearing to be completed prior to this festival season. Unfortunately, that is not the case.”
Another wrinkle in the situation is the possibility that the property could contain ancient First Nations burial grounds that Save Oro believes would be disturbed by camping and parking. Some archeological assessment work has been done, but not enough has been completed yet to determine for sure whether there are sites on the property requiring protection. Uncertainty around the issue seems to be the only certain thing.
It’s not clear why parking and camping activities would be more disruptive than the agricultural uses it’s currently zoned for, and Republic Live says it is working with First Nations groups on that potential issue.
Considering that the site has been used for events of various kinds since 1984, some would argue that it’s a little late to complain now.
However, large-scale concerts with camping included are a relatively new development, and the venue was originally restricted from holding rock concerts. Concerts eventually became part of the mix, but festivals were confined to the original event grounds area, which McKay says helped insulate residents like her from their impact.
While McKay is willing to accept whatever decision the OMB ends up making, she wishes Burl’s Creek would go back to confining events to the 40 or so hectares currently zoned for them.
“I think that would be excellent, and I would even love to go to concerts there,” she says.
news@nowtoronto.com | @BenjaminBoles
