Country Communities Are Not All Peaches & Cream! So, What Happens When the Cream Sours! (Part Seven)

I would like to think that at this point in this ongoing saga if you will, that people, most people, would get the general idea of the mentality of these menaces amongst us.

The sad part is that I firmly believe that they are lashing out through ignorance, jealousy, fear and the ultimate destroyer of most any person’s integrity.

Gossip!

However! Maybe it is just the fear of the unknown naked people.

Ooooo! That is just too scary to understand, as you will soon see.

So, let me pause on the juvenile antics of a few  for a moment and look back to what we are all anxiously waiting upon!

That simple rezoning and our 120-day process.

Being that it’s 2019 at this point, one would perhaps agree it wasn’t so simple after all.

You can probably recall that all the documentation, fees etc. etc… were all submitted to the municipality on September 25^th, 2017, through my calculations that would garner a decision by January 22^nd, 2018.

Wonderful!

We should have it all cleared up in time for our upcoming season.

If in fact, the 120-day process was adhered to as was indicated.

NOT!!!!

One can only imagine that any  person would think everything is in place, lawyers and municipal employees have all had a great deal of time throughout 2017 to complete the required application and followed the proper process.

Lo and behold, December 19^th, 2017 we receive a phone call asking us to come in for a meeting to discuss the very application that has been prepared.

It is at this time, that we get blindsided by what was meant to be a simple process, is now turning into something on much larger scale. We are being asked to file in addition to this simple rezoning application an Official Plan Amendment for consideration, which would allow us to move forward.

Talk about being Gobsmacked, because you see that very question was posed to this municipality and by way of confirmation back in August of 2017 it was stated that this would NOT be required of us.

I really do not want to lose my readers at this point over technicalities and processes, but in all fairness, this ordeal needs to be told. To do this justice, I need to have you understand clearly what these past two years have been like for us.

Trust me when I say, not too many people would have endured what we have had to deal with.

You as nudists will become outraged as this unfolds.

Perhaps even those non-nudists will see the injustice of it all.

That I can assure you!

December 19^th, 2017, my mother’s birthday, where I probably should and would have been celebrating her special day. Instead here we are just a few days before Christmas Holidays start and we get this bomb dropped on us.

Being that this is the festive season for most we find ourselves with no one to turn too to discuss the current situation. Lawyers are on vacation, planners are making merry and the municipal staff and council are probably in full festive mode throughout this time.

Where does that leave us?

Hung out to dry!

Therefore, now that our Christmas has been thoroughly destroyed by this news, we endeavor to do our homework and get some answers.

I spent endless amounts of time researching for answers and possible solutions. What I discovered was back in the initial days of our opening existence, it became apparent that an Official Plan was not in place.

However, given that we had the encouragement of the top dog of the area, one would think that we should have been grandfathered past the creation of this plan, much like other campgrounds that existed at the time.

I found that kind of disturbing to say the least and I subsequently put that on my list of need to knows.

The other and more disturbing fact that I was able to obtain, was that this municipality was already in a process of updating their Official Plan, which was an obligation for this municipality to have done for them to be in conformity with its Upper Tier Government and that of our Provincial Policy Statement Standards.

What was also determined is what was now being asked of us was a further outlay of revenue and would be estimated at additional $16,000 to accommodate what?

Further delays?

Or perhaps maybe it would leave you with the impression that they were simply looking for us to contribute to there fees to get the official in place.

If this is not an issue to be believed and you find it doubtful! How about the fact that after all this time and given we are still in this horrendous process, that SURPRISE! Now they are implementing Agri Tourism and small campgrounds as an acceptable rezoning process.

So, I am sorry, but it leaves a bitter sweet taste of doubt in my mind and I am sure you can see why.

Christmas celebrations, come and go, New Years Celebrations, come and go.

Through due diligence and research, I now have a list of need to knows.

January resumes, business as usual for everyone, I fire off my discoveries looking for answers and solutions to get our business doors open for the enjoyment of our nudist community.

What I get back is responses that claim error, upon error, upon error.

You see I asked about the other campgrounds that were miraculously grandfathered and appeared on their plans in 2014, These additions were simple brushed off as errors and some claimed as to be well established businesses.

Well excuse me, so are we!

This error response was very much like the error in my overpayment for the rezoning in the first place.

But I will get to that later.

The big slap in face was a bylaw that was emailed to me.

This bylaw at first glance appeared to not allow any campgrounds in the area. I suppose after reading the first paragraph, I figured we were dead in the water.

However, in time I went back to this bylaw that was sent to me and what I had been given was an Interim bylaw that had been created in 2007.

Now for us average joes on the block, this bylaw on the surface would appear to be set in stone. The reality here is that this bylaw had an expiry date on it much like sour cream and was not permitted beyond two years of the passing of this piece of work.

So, my question is why was send it to us in the first place, it really wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.

That leads me to believe that it was meant as another deterrent and nothing more.

Something is smelling soured here!