To:

      Editor

      Toronto Star

      Toronto Ontario  

      M5E  1E6

Re: Star  Editorial -Developers vs. citizens,  March 23, 2008

A recent editorial in the Toronto Star  prompts clarification. You identified the opponents as citizens of Innisfil.  So are we, The Residents of Innisfil Association.  We’ve been supporters  since 2002, and are very much in favour of this resort.  It will mean jobs, roads, tax dollars, public transportation  and a new firehall  to name but a few of the benefits for our town.

Your  ’citizens’  are for the most part, very wealthy  owners of land and homes in the Big Bay Point area of Innisfil.  Their sole reason for opposing this development  is their NIMBY approach to change, especially in their own,  until now, exclusive  backyard.
 

(REPRINT)
Economic Benefits:  The Big Bay Point Resort will have a wide range of positive economic impacts, including:

• 3600 person-years of employment during construction
• $1.2 million in building permit fees
• $17.7 million in development charges for the Town, County and school boards
• 940 permanent jobs upon completion, making the resort the Town’s largest employer by a factor of more than 4 times
• $50 million in purchases of goods and services, (appliances, furnishings, etc), as a result of the initial sale of units
• $35 million in annual retail spending by owners, renters and visitors once the resort is operating, part of which will flow to Town businesses outside the resort
• In terms of municipal services and expenditures, it will operate on a fiscal surplus at both the Town and County levels
• It will help meet the economic objectives outlined in by the province and the county

(REPRINT)
Size and location:  239 hectares (590 acres) in the north eastern part of the Town of Innisfil on Big Bay Point between the shores of Kempenfelt Bay and the open waters of Lake Simcoe, bounded by Lake Simcoe to the east, the 13th Line to the south, and Big Bay Point Road to the north and west.   The central portion of the property, 87.5 hectares (216 acres) in size, is to be designated an Environmental Protection Area.

(REPRINT)
Innisfil, December 14, 2007 – After earning widespread support over five years of public meetings and design workshops, Geranium Corporation today welcomed the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) ruling that clears the way for the Big Bay Point Resort .  The OMB decision comes one month after the conclusion of more than three months of public hearings, which began August 8th and concluded on November 14th.

(Reprint)
OMB DISMISSES APPEALS
The final Ontario Municipal Board hearing of appeals in the Big Bay Point case has come to a close with the board dismissing the opposition of Nextnine Limited, 2025890 Ontario Inc. and Innisfil District Association Inc. and allowing Kimvar Enterprises Inc.’s proposed resort to be built on Lake Simcoe.