Amendments to the Sibbald Point Provincial Park Management Plan (2015) to support sewage treatment system upgrades

Sibbald Point Provincial Park is a 225-hectare (ha) recreational class park located on the southern shore of Lake Simcoe, approximately 40 kilometres (km) northeast of Newmarket and 60 km north of Toronto. The park welcomes over 330,000 visitors annually and offers a variety of high quality ecologically sustainable outdoor recreation experiences.

To better support ecologically sustainable recreation opportunities and park operations, we (the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks) are proposing to amend the Sibbald Point Provincial Park Management Plan. This amendment would change zoning in the area immediately surrounding the existing trailer fill and dump station from natural environment zone to development zone. This change will allow us to make necessary upgrades to the park’s sewage treatment system to address issues related to aging infrastructure and to meet growing demand.

Proposed changes to the Sibbald Point Provincial Park Management Plan

We want to change approximately 2.9 ha from natural environment zone (NE2) to development zone (D1) by changing the following wording:

• change the zone description of Section 8.3.1 Campground (D1) to “Zone D1 consists of the campground area, and includes the campsites, comfort stations, main gate area, trailer fill and dump station area, and associated parking and roads. The zone also includes area to accommodate upgrades to the trailer fill and dump station and the associated sewage treatment system"
• add “The trailer fill and dump station may be upgraded, replaced, or expanded as required. This may include expansion to accommodate infrastructure upgrades, relocation of associated sewage treatment infrastructure, and road reconfiguration to improve vehicle flow (e.g., road widening, addition of queuing lane)” to Section 9.3.3 Water Management to support necessary upgrades

We would also update the zoning map (see attached), associated zone sizes throughout Section 8 Zoning, and the implementation priorities list (Section 10) to reflect the above changes.

Opportunities for public consultation

We are interested in any comments the public may have. This is the only opportunity for the public to comment on this proposed amendment to the Sibbald Point Provincial Park Management Plan. All comments received will be considered in the amendment to the management plan.

The ministry will also be contacting Indigenous communities and contacts on the project mailing list, including provincial and regional stakeholders, to advise them of the proposal.