Lake Opinicon campground owner faces opposition to proposed expansion

Dave Hilhorst, the owner of Skycroft Campground and Resort, is going through the process of adding 127 campsites to the roughly 80 sites already on the 42-acre property on Lake Opinicon.

He will be losing 12 sites that exist on another three-acre portion of land owned by Queen’s University on Telephone Bay.

The land had been sold to Queen’s by the former owners of the campground in the 1980s, and there was a lease agreement for the existing sites between the university and the campground.

The lease isn’t being renewed by Queen’s, which operates its biological station in the surrounding area.

The university plans to allow the land to return to its naturalized state for conservation purposes.

Hilhorst thinks Queen’s is refusing to renew the lease because of the planned expansion, and other property owners’ opposition to it.

“The sites were there when Queen’s bought it,” says Hilhorst. “We’ve never, ever touched Telephone Bay.”

For the 50 to 60 members of Protect Opinicon, the expansion is a question of scale.

Robert Faguy, a director with the group, says even with the development occurring away from the water, it will impact the lake and wildlife — some of which are under threat.

“It just makes no sense to think that all these back lots wouldn’t access the beach,” says Faguy.

“Of course they will, and that is why these bylaws have density rules on the waterfront.”

But Hilhorst says a property owner on the opposite side of Telephone Bay from him has been building there.

He feels like he’s being held to a different standard.

“They’ve built several sites themselves just right next door to us, but they’re not saying anything about that,” says Hilhorst.

“This group’s okay with that, but here I’ve done everything by the book. I’ve done all the proper studies, invested a substantial amount to ensure that everything is going to be maintained and healthy.”

Faguy says they’ve retained their own experts as well.

“We’d like to have a town meeting,” he says.

“We want to present our views — we have studies, environmental studies that will contradict directly those of Camp Skycroft.”

It seems whatever South Frontenac Township decides about the proposed expansion, there is a real possibility that it will ultimately end up in front of the Ontario Land Tribunal for the final say.