Miss-Delectable
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Deaf camp races all shut down - Parry Sound
A dirt track in Seguin Township - which was named last-year’s favourite track by the Canadian Motorsport Racing Club - will be silent this summer if the owner is unable to resolve a zoning issue.
For more than a decade, the Ontario Camp of the Deaf has been home to ATV, dirt bike and off-road driving competitions. The camp also offers ATVing to young campers from across the province.
Derek Rumball, owner of the camp, said he was dumbfounded after receiving a letter from the township in early April, which said any motorized racing activity at the camp is prohibited.
“They’ve received complaints around the noise and traffic on the roads when we have events at the camp,” said Rumball.
The township’s director of planning services, Chris Madej, said the township looked into the matter last summer, after receiving complaints from local ratepayers who said the noise and traffic associated with the events is just too much. He said after reviewing the camp’s zoning status, he sent a letter reminding Rumball that motorized events aren’t allowed.
“The property is split zoned as a camping establishment ... and as limited service residential,” said Madej. “We have a zoning bylaw that does not permit that use on that property.”
Madej said township staff continue to discuss the matter with the owner, but motorized racing isn’t listed as a permitted activity in that area, or any other zone in the township. Rumball would have to obtain a site-specific exemption to the bylaw, he said.
One of the complaints came from Bev Burnham, whose family moved to a house on Blackstone - Crane Lake Road in 2001. She said she’s concerned about noise and traffic, and that all the added activity could affect the assessment of her home.
“What we see from our house is dozens and dozens of trailers hauling off-road vehicles,” she said. “Part of their property is right next door to us.”
She said she doesn’t understand how the township could have allowed the events to go on for so long without proper zoning.
“Noise was not the most important issue in our opinion,” she said. “It was that the zoning was being violated, so all of the problems are related to that.”
She said she’s glad to hear the bylaw will be enforced, but wishes it could have happened sooner.
Another resident who was glad to hear the bylaw will be policed is Ben Pelkinen, a former township councillor who has lived in the area since 1968. He said he lives within earshot of the camp, and isn’t too fond of it.
“I was worrying about the whole neighbourhood assessment would drop because of that noisy pollution activity,” he said. “It’s certainly not nice to sit there at night listening to the sporadic rev of engines.”
Rumball said the camp will comply with the bylaw, and he hasn’t decided what action he’ll take beyond that. “I’m a little wounded by this,” he said.
He said he’s run organized racing in the area for over 15 years now, having started it under the watch of the former Township of Foley. He said this has been the first action the Township of Seguin has taken to enforce the bylaw.
“It’s disappointing to have this correspondence sent to us three months before camp starts,” he said. “It not only affects us when we’re promoting the events, but the kids at the camp don’t get to see the events now.”
He said the events, like the KOA’s Rock Crawl and World Enduro, were huge draws last year, and he’s curious to see how their absence affects area tourism.
Michelle Berry, of the Parry Sound KOA campground, said she’s crossed her fingers, and toes, in the hope that this summer’s events at the camp won’t be cancelled. She said she feels badly for the kids who won’t get to see the events, and for businesses in the community, like her own, who won’t enjoy the spinoff business usually generated by the camp.
A dirt track in Seguin Township - which was named last-year’s favourite track by the Canadian Motorsport Racing Club - will be silent this summer if the owner is unable to resolve a zoning issue.
For more than a decade, the Ontario Camp of the Deaf has been home to ATV, dirt bike and off-road driving competitions. The camp also offers ATVing to young campers from across the province.
Derek Rumball, owner of the camp, said he was dumbfounded after receiving a letter from the township in early April, which said any motorized racing activity at the camp is prohibited.
“They’ve received complaints around the noise and traffic on the roads when we have events at the camp,” said Rumball.
The township’s director of planning services, Chris Madej, said the township looked into the matter last summer, after receiving complaints from local ratepayers who said the noise and traffic associated with the events is just too much. He said after reviewing the camp’s zoning status, he sent a letter reminding Rumball that motorized events aren’t allowed.
“The property is split zoned as a camping establishment ... and as limited service residential,” said Madej. “We have a zoning bylaw that does not permit that use on that property.”
Madej said township staff continue to discuss the matter with the owner, but motorized racing isn’t listed as a permitted activity in that area, or any other zone in the township. Rumball would have to obtain a site-specific exemption to the bylaw, he said.
One of the complaints came from Bev Burnham, whose family moved to a house on Blackstone - Crane Lake Road in 2001. She said she’s concerned about noise and traffic, and that all the added activity could affect the assessment of her home.
“What we see from our house is dozens and dozens of trailers hauling off-road vehicles,” she said. “Part of their property is right next door to us.”
She said she doesn’t understand how the township could have allowed the events to go on for so long without proper zoning.
“Noise was not the most important issue in our opinion,” she said. “It was that the zoning was being violated, so all of the problems are related to that.”
She said she’s glad to hear the bylaw will be enforced, but wishes it could have happened sooner.
Another resident who was glad to hear the bylaw will be policed is Ben Pelkinen, a former township councillor who has lived in the area since 1968. He said he lives within earshot of the camp, and isn’t too fond of it.
“I was worrying about the whole neighbourhood assessment would drop because of that noisy pollution activity,” he said. “It’s certainly not nice to sit there at night listening to the sporadic rev of engines.”
Rumball said the camp will comply with the bylaw, and he hasn’t decided what action he’ll take beyond that. “I’m a little wounded by this,” he said.
He said he’s run organized racing in the area for over 15 years now, having started it under the watch of the former Township of Foley. He said this has been the first action the Township of Seguin has taken to enforce the bylaw.
“It’s disappointing to have this correspondence sent to us three months before camp starts,” he said. “It not only affects us when we’re promoting the events, but the kids at the camp don’t get to see the events now.”
He said the events, like the KOA’s Rock Crawl and World Enduro, were huge draws last year, and he’s curious to see how their absence affects area tourism.
Michelle Berry, of the Parry Sound KOA campground, said she’s crossed her fingers, and toes, in the hope that this summer’s events at the camp won’t be cancelled. She said she feels badly for the kids who won’t get to see the events, and for businesses in the community, like her own, who won’t enjoy the spinoff business usually generated by the camp.
