Huron Shores is currently undertaking a revision of the municipal official plan and the corresponding comprehensive zoning by law.

A public consultation period on the draft language for the comprehensive zoning by law was in effect lasts ummer, culminating in a request for written feedback no later than September 30, 2025. The lake association sent a reminder out to the membership in the week of September 22nd to remind them that the deadline was approaching.

Very late in September of 2025, the BBLA board was contacted by a concerned group of ratepayers in the Walker/Pine Ridge Road area about a potential new aggregate quarry that was being explored for that area. They had noted in their research that several areas in the municipal land use map near Big Basswood Lake had been identified for aggregate extraction and that we might want to investigate how the new official plan and zoning by laws would address this land use and if any relatedby law changes should be contemplated.

On further discussion, the board came to the conclusion that it was too late in the game to call this matter to the attention of our membership prior to the September 30th deadline. Instead, we decided as a board to write a letter to Huron Shores requesting additional time to explore the issue and to present it to membership, as necessary. This letter was received by Huron Shores and forwarded to the planner on the September 30th deadline. A copy of the letter was published in the fall newsletter for your reference.

We received a response to our letter from the municipal planner, Mr Peter Tonazzo in November/2025. In that response, he offered to do a presentationon the comprehensive zoning by law and some of the key points that were raised by our leadership. This presentation was held during a special public meeting of the Environmental Services Committee on January 23rd , 2026 in the Huron Shores council chambers. That meeting was recorded and is available for replay from the Huron Shores Municipal website. We encourage our membership to view the recording as it includes a number of key issues that may be of interest to our members.

We came away from that presentation satisfied that just because an area on the land use map is designated for aggregrate extraction, that doesn’t automatically free up developers to begin quarry development. There are a number of steps and approvals that must be gained before development rights can be granted. This includes robust public consultations.

Subsequent, to that presentation, one of our board members, Felix Rogers, held another round of discussions with Mr.Tonazzo. These were driven by his concerns that there were inconsistencies regarding mapping of aggregate extractionvery close to his property on the East End of the lake. He met with Mr.Tonazzo on Feb 2nd and came away satisfied with the responses. Felix would be happy to discuss his experience with any member of the association. He can be reached at fjrogers15@gmail.com and cell 248 854 0748.

The draft zoning by law was subsequently presented to council on Feb 10th and passed on Feb 11th.