What Happening In Muskoka?

🤐 Secret Muskoka Deal?

Source: The Star

The 411: A proposed mega-development on 77 acres of provincially owned Muskoka waterfront is raising questions over whether Ontario promised the developer a controversial zoning shortcut as part of the sale.

• The former Muskoka Regional Centre property in Gravenhurst has sat vacant for decades and is now conditionally sold to developer KS Group.

• Plans for the Cliff Bay project include roughly 400 hotel suites and 800 residential units, with buildings up to six storeys.

• The developer’s planner says a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) is “written into” the purchase agreement as a condition of the deal.

• The Ontario government says the opposite, stating there is “no condition” requiring it to issue an MZO.

• Gravenhurst’s mayor says the town also understands the sale is conditional on an MZO, but has not yet been formally asked to support one.

• An MZO could override local zoning rules, including restrictions affecting development near the shoreline.

• The province will not disclose the sale price or agreement terms, citing commercial confidentiality.

• After local pushback, the developer says it cut the project to roughly one-third of its originally proposed density.

Why This Matters: The development itself is only half the story. The bigger issue is that the developer, the town, and the province don’t appear to agree on whether an MZO was promised as part of a deal involving public land. When the government is selling 77 acres of Muskoka waterfront and potentially overriding local planning rules, residents understandably want to know exactly what was agreed to.