Needing a permit for your 'piece of heaven': more northern Ontario towns bringing in trailer bylaws

Many small northern Ontario towns have seen fiery public meetings in recent years, with raised voices and citizens arguing about who pays more taxes and others accusing their local council of infringing on their rights.

And it's all about trailers.

With the rising cost of waterfront property and the boundaries of southern Ontario's "cottage country" steadily moving further north, trailers are popping up all over the rural parts of the region.

And many towns and townships are now looking to pass bylaws tocontrol where they can set up, what environmental rules need to be followed and how much they have to pay for a permit.

The latest battleground is Sables-Spanish River, a sprawling municipality of 3,200 on the north shore of Lake Huron that includes the towns of Massey and Webbwood.

It is proposing a bylaw that would charge people $700 per year to set up a trailer on vacant land.

"You can come out and fine me, you can do whatever you want, I will never pay you a dime for a license," one man said at a recent public meeting.

Another man who identified himself as a homeowner said he was tired of "paying for your trailers."

Claudette Holden lives in Massey and along with her daughter owns a 1.5 acre lot on Maple Lake, with an annual propertytax bill of about $1,000, where they have two trailers.

But if the bylaw passes as is, they'd be forced to pack up as it sets a minimum lot size of 2.5 acres. Holden worriesthat could mean no more summers with her grandchildren at her personal "piece of heaven."

"That's all going to be taken away from them. And for what? Because it's only an acre and a half of land? It just doesn't make sense," she said, adding that some opponents of the bylaw believe it could be unconstitutional.

"I don't think they're going to be able to go ahead with this."

Kevin Burke, the mayor of Sables-Spanish Rivers, says the bylaw is up for a third and final reading on Wednesday night, but it could be amended before it passes or be sent to a community committee for review.

"The problem is we need something now. Because this is going to explode. The trailer situation is not going to get better, we're going to have more and more," he said.

"Growth is not filling your township up with trailers that can come and go. Growth is having space to build homes and increase your tax base."

Burke says anexisting bylaw actually bans trailers from being set up on vacant lots, but is obviously "widely ignored" with several hundred coming in every summer.

He says the permit fees, which would be $500 to start and then $700 annually after that, would help to paythe increased costs of roads and emergency services that aren't covered by the tax rate for vacant land, but much of what's collected would pay for the town to enforce the new bylaw.

"There'll probably be some bad feelings for quite a while to come, but you have to make choices and decisions and you have to have laws and regulations," Burke said.

Other northern Ontario towns have seem similarly tumultuous talk about trailer bylaws, while somehavequietly hadthem in place for years.

In French River, a new bylaw continues to ban trailers on vacant lots, but targets the existing homes and camps that have multiple trailers set up on their property for months at a time.

The new rules limit each home owner to one trailer, as long as they get a $400 permit and pass inspections regarding septic systems and greywater disposal.

"So you put more people than what the allotted area is allowed to do and that's concerning, concerning for the environment and for the peaceful existence amongneighbours," said French River Mayor Gisele Pageau.

"People are starting to accept it and if you're doing everything right, then you have nothing to worry about"

The bylaw passed in 2021, but has been appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal by the Trout Lake Campers Association, which is mostly concerned that the bylaw could openthe door to large scale developments ofhouse-like trailers known as "park models."

Pageau says she hopes they can reach an agreement with the association and start enforcing the trailer bylaw next year.

In Machar Township south of North Bay, camp owner Judy Luffman has actually been lobbying for more trailers to be allowed.

The current bylaw only allows trailers to be set up on a temporary basis for 30 days, even if you own the land underneath.

"If that's all you can afford to put on your property we shouldn't be denying you of that. It just doesn't seem right," said Luffman, who lives in Kitchener, but hasa summer home on Bray Lake

"It's better for the community. Better for the gas stations, grocery store, better for everyone."

She says she was "flatly refused" when she brought the issue to council, but plans to continue pushing for a change.