DELTA — Lower Beverley Lake Park is working through a broad review of its planning, building and environmental approvals as Rideau Lakes Township seeks more information about development at the municipally owned campground.
The review has exposed gaps in the historical record, including the absence of a comprehensive survey, while raising questions about campsite servicing, building permits and sewage infrastructure. Township staff say information remains outstanding.
Park manager William Morris says the board is compiling records and advancing work that depends partly on surveyors, engineers and provincial regulators, and it’s not a speedy process.
The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks confirmed with Hometown News that the board is co-operating with its requirements and there are no outstanding environmental concerns at this time.
“The Lower Beverley Lake Park Management Board is voluntarily complying with ministry requirements and has retained a consultant to assess the sewage works and prepare an ECA application,” ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler told Hometown News on Aug. 17. “There are no outstanding environmental concerns at this time.”
At Rideau Lakes Township’s Aug. 10 committee of the whole meeting, council supported Development Services’ recommendation not to proceed with third reading of the Tourist Campground Licensing Bylaw. Staff said existing planning, building and environmental authorities can regulate campground development. Council deferred the licensing question to the next council term.
They then turned their attention to the park and directed its board and manager to provide outstanding information and submit a written work plan and target dates by Aug. 31.
The outstanding questions fall into three areas: the missing survey and required site plan; the history of planning and building approvals; and the condition and approval of the park’s sewage works.
Survey is the first step
Development Services noted that a comprehensive site-plan-control application is required to show the 106-acre park’s 235 campsites, 11 cottages, three bunkies and other structures, along with servicing, circulation and setbacks. But a comprehensive survey could not be found in either the park or township files.
“No one could locate a survey,” CAO Shellee Fournier told Hometown News on Aug. 14.
After Morris checked land-title and registry records through legal counsel, council approved the more comprehensive survey option for $30,880, including HST.
Council was presented with two options when it considered the issue June 1. One, estimated at $6,160, would have updated an existing site plan to reflect changes since 2010. The more comprehensive option involved field work and the preparation and registration of a reference plan, including additional information such as shoreline setbacks for existing cottages.
During that meeting, Coun. Dustin Bulloch, who sits on the park board, said the more comprehensive option was needed because previous mapping of the park was not considered accurate enough by the township’s planning department for site plan control.
Fournier told council then that the planning administrator did not require a registered survey, but did require a plan of survey before a site plan and building permit could be issued. She also said there was a new building at the park that did not have a building permit.
A 16-by-10-foot shed across the road from the canteen was intended to be used as a small storefront. Morris said the idea came from a marketing session park representatives attended at a recent Camping In Ontario conference, where presenters stressed the importance of having a storefront. The building will not be used for that purpose until the required approvals and permits are in place.
“In order to be able to approve all of the sites, identify where all the sites are, approve current or past building permits, we need a plan of survey,” Fournier said.
Field work for this comprehensive survey began July 27.
Morris said that waterfront drone work had been completed and nine property pins located. Inland boundary and easement work remains before detailed internal mapping can proceed.
“The survey is definitely the first step in the process and it is a positive first step,” Fournier said.
Morris said completion dates also depend on outside professionals. “We have to work with Cambium Engineering. We work with the Ministry of Environment. We need to work with the surveyors,” he said. “They’re all timelines that are out of the control of the park board.”
Approval history under review
The township is also examining campsites developed, converted or serviced after 2005, when its zoning bylaw came into effect. It has not concluded that every post-2005 campsite or structure lacked approval.
Development Services Manager Tom Fehr has asked Morris and the park board to provide whatever records exist so staff can determine what was approved and what still must be addressed.
“If the Board has documentation showing said approvals (some or all), we’d like them,” Fournier said. “If they (some or all) don’t exist, that is the next piece of work that needs to be completed.”
Fournier cautioned that missing township records do not necessarily mean the approvals were never obtained.
Morris said some areas now under review were used for camping before they were serviced. The area historically called Overflow along the creek had campsites before a Valley Heartland grant helped add electrical service along the road in the early 2000s, partly for the Celebration of the Season Christmas lights attraction, he said.
“There were already sites there,” Morris said.
Other field sites were later supplied with water and electricity.
Morris said any failure to follow planning procedures was not intentional and rejected suggestions that changes were concealed from the municipality. Council representatives have served on the management board and annual reports have gone to council, he said. “It’s not like we were hiding it.”
Despite council representation on the board and annual reporting to council, township staff are now seeking records to establish what work was approved and when.
Records and work plan
The park’s management structure has also complicated the search. Bylaw 2010-5 places operations under the management board, requires it to keep business records and calls for its audited accounts and annual budget to go to council.
“The Township doesn’t have regular access to the Board’s files,” Fournier said.
Morris said historical permits and applications have been recovered from records consolidated after municipal amalgamation. He has also assembled correspondence requested by council concerning the sewage program dating to 2022. Morris said the correspondence will be provided to council.
Council’s direction also requires the board and manager to submit a written work plan and target completion dates by Aug. 31. It does not require every inspection, permit, application or infrastructure project to be completed by that date.
Old proposal differs from current septic work
The park’s wastewater issue predates the current review. In July 2020, Morris told this reporter, in a story published by the Smiths Falls Record News, that the board had sought funding for an approximately $1.6-million sewage project. “I do have a certificate of approval for that,” he said at the time.
That proposal involved far more than replacing several leaching beds. It was designed to treat 97,000 litres per day and included underground piping and chambers, a new washroom, a well, a water-purification system and a second trailer dumping station.
Morris and board representatives again presented the plan to council in 2022, but it was only received for information, he said. A Trillium grant application was submitted for construction of the washroom building that formed part of the proposal, but the application was unsuccessful.
The board outlined a narrower approach in a Feb. 25 release. Board chair Penny Sawyer and Morris said a December 2025 engineering review recommended replacement leaching beds for three systems.
“It is important to emphasize that the recommendations for repairs, upgrades, and replacements were made despite the fact that all existing sewage systems remain functional,” they stated. “No system failures have occurred.”
Asked about concerns over a possible leak or spill, Morris said heavy rainfall Aug. 7 caused puddles in several low-lying areas of the park, including two in F section. He said the park’s clay-based soil was already saturated from recent rain and the areas had dried when checked the following day.
The Board said minor items had been addressed and stressed that the targeted work was separate from the earlier centralized proposal.
Cambium was retained in 2026 to continue the environmental and engineering work. Morris said the firm has inspected systems, dug test holes and taken soil samples. He said the three priority systems serve the canteen, cottages 2 and 3, and the main service centre and trailer dump station.
One option is to move the dump station to the field near the park entrance, where another washroom and shower facility is planned. Morris said the proposed building would have its own water-treatment system and generator backup. He said the move would improve access for larger trailers and could avoid using additional transient campsites near the service centre for a replacement bed.
The board has earmarked approximately $185,000 toward sewage work, but Morris said it is not the final cost. “It’s going to be more than that,” he said.
Hometown News sought comment from Cambium about its current work, findings and the ECA process, but has not yet received a response.
Buried barrels to be replaced
Morris said approximately 130 buried blue barrels collect wastewater from seasonal trailers. He said a licensed septic installer inspected the barrels and connections and the information was provided to Cambium and MECP. The current concept is to replace them with approved above-ground holding tanks for those seasonal campsites.
“I’m not going to be able to provide a stamp on the blue barrels that are in the ground,” Morris said. “All of the blue barrels, the underground ones, are going to be gone.”
A phased transition has been discussed, but the board has not decided how this remediation should be funded.
Budget and seasonal renewals
Council approved the park board’s $1.3-million budget April 7. It includes equal amounts of projected revenue and expenses and represents the overall operating and capital plan, not money available solely for sewage work.
The budget includes $32,000 in revenue from seasonal and transient pump-outs and $20,000 for septic maintenance. Morris said the maintenance amount includes commercial hauling fees and minor maintenance on park equipment. It separately lists $16,000 for waste disposal and $5,000 for water testing.
Morris said seasonal fees are central to cash flow between the October closing and May opening. “We need the revenue,” he said. The payments help retain staff and finance winter improvements.
Township staff have recommended that the board’s Governance and Compliance Subcommittee delay issuing 2027 seasonal renewal packages while more information is gathered.
“There’s no rush to send them out in our opinion,” Fournier said. “We will have more information soon and can make more informed decisions at that time.”
Morris confirmed the packages have been prepared but not distributed. Staff’s recommendation was limited to delaying the distribution of the renewal packages while more information is gathered. It did not direct the park to close or conclude that the park would be unable to operate in 2027.
Morris said negative Facebook publicity had contributed to a decrease in transient camping and some reservation cancellations. He did not provide figures showing the number of cancellations or the financial effect.
Next steps
The park remains open, but the review is not complete. The next measure of progress will be documentation: a work plan setting out what has been approved, what remains unresolved, who is responsible for each step and when the township can expect answers.
The park board is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. Aug. 25 at the park pavilion. The meeting is open to the public.
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