SkyDev has gone back to the Ontario Land Tribunal with three new appeals related to their ‘Aspen Shores’ development located at 226 Boucher Street East.
During council’s March 23 meeting staff provided a report outlining the new appeals.
“The purpose of this report is to advise Council that the Municipality received three Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) Appeals,” staff advised council in their report.
One of the appeals relates to the Site Plan Approval, which received conditional approval on September 24, 2024. The second appeal is related to the Minor Variance Application seeking an increase to the height of the building, which was rejected by the Committee of Adjustment on February 25, 2026. The third appeal is to the Community Improvement Plan (CIP) refresh that was approved by council on February 23, 2026.
Staff told council that SkyDev’s re-submission of their site plan sought to remove underground parking in favour of aboveground parking, increase the number of units from 168 to 192, remove the amenity area that was to include pickleball, a dog exercise area, a swimming pool, and a landscaping berm. The site plan re-submission also included a change in the grading on the property in order to allow for more ground level units.
“This application is still under review with some of the engineering and municipal comments prepared on SkyDev’s first submission. SkyDev has now appealed to the OLT on the grounds that the Municipality did not approve the re-submission within 60 days,” staff advised in their report to council.
Staff told council that they had not seen an appeal of the municipal Community Improvement Plan in the past.
“The CIP appeal is on the updated policies, known as the CIP refresh. Staff recently completed an update to Meaford’s CIP and Council passed By-law 2026-19. The intent of the updated CIP was to improve clarity, simplify application processes, and better support key community priorities, including housing creation, heritage conservation, sustainability improvements, accessibility upgrades, and rural and downtown beautification,” staff advised in their report. “SkyDev appealed the decision of Council to update the CIP. The reason given in the appeal relates to the concern the updated CIP hinders the owner’s ability to access the CIP program incentives.”
Municipal staff have engaged with the municipal solicitor as they prepare for the OLT appeal process.
“Staff have engaged Municipal counsel to represent the Municipality through the Tribunal process. Staff will continue to monitor the situation and engage in the Tribunal process to ensure that the Municipality’s interests and policies are appropriately represented. As the process unfolds parties will be identified along with their respective issues,” staff advised council. “Staff will report back to Council once additional details are available.”
SkyDev’s original proposal for the property included a five-storey hotel and spa, and a four-storey apartment building with underground parking, along with three two-storey townhouse buildings, and four four-storey waterfront townhouse buildings. Their most recent plans include three four-storey rental apartment buildings (five storeys at the water side of the buildings), with aboveground parking, as well as the hotel which will be built by a separate developer.
Since first introduced at council in March of 2021, the proposed development has been the subject of controversy, with many area residents expressing concern about the high density of the project, given both the size of the property and that it is to be built in a long-established residential neighbourhood, suggesting that the traffic to and from the property could overwhelm the existing neighbourhood.
This is not the first time that SkyDev has made an appeal to the OLT related to their ‘Aspen Shores’ development. In July 2022 SkyDev appealed to the OLT which resulted in a settlement later that year.
“At the Case Management Conference on December 5, 2022, the Ontario Land Tribunal issued a verbal order to approve the proposal by Skydev Inc. related to the proposed development at 226 Boucher Street East and 138 Bridge Street. The approval was based on draft minutes of settlement presented by the applicant and the Municipality which took into consideration the numerous submissions by members of the public. The Municipality of Meaford was pleased to enter into the minutes of settlement with Skydev Inc. which are based on the draft zoning by-law amendment and associated staff report that was due to be considered by Council prior to the appeal,” said the municipality in December 2022.
At that time, the municipality said that Skydev Inc. had also committed to “clearly delineate the separation of the public access from the development lands along the publicly owned waterfront through the Site Plan approval process, as well as paying for the necessary improvements through a payment to that public access.”
The timeline for the three new appeals is uncertain at this time, though staff told council that updates would be issued as new information is received. Staff also reminded council that projects under appeal are effectively on hold, including the Community Improvement Plan refresh.
“It is important to note that projects under appeal are by effectively ‘on hold’ during an appeal until a decision is rendered by the OLT. This means that the Aspen Shores file is on hold, as well as the new CIP,” staff advised. “The CIP by-law 2026-19 that Council recently passed repeals by-law 2022-56, which adopted the previous CIP. Because of the appeal, By-law 2026-19 is not yet in effect, which means the 2022 CIP is not actually repealed at this time, although the program is still paused by Council.”
The public can visit the OLT website (https://olt.gov.on.ca/) to learn how they can participate. A Citizen’s Guide is available on the OLT website at: https://www.ontario.ca/document/citizens-guide-land-use-planning/ontario-land-tribunal
Council met in closed session with the municipal solicitor at the conclusion of Monday’s meeting to discuss the appeals.
