Winter Survey for Seasonal Residents
To view the 2013-14 Winter Survey and the Board's 60-Day resolution, download the PDFs.
Instructions Notes
1. Is your cottage Seasonal or Year Round?
Answer Seasonal if your cottage is one of the 71 seasonal cottages not designated as a permanent residence under By-law 13 or By-law 18. Then complete the survey.
2. Will you be using your cottage during the off-season (November 1, 2012 to May 1, 2013)?
Your Cedar Springs cottage may be used only for summer seasonal recreational purposes. However, we have what we call the off-season, the period from November 1 to May 1 of each year. Many people use their cottage on weekends and holidays during this period. There are restrictive covenants on title to your cottage lot providing that weekends and holidays are the only days that you may use your cottage during the off-season. However, on an annual basis, the Board considers whether to provide relief from that covenant for the up-coming off-season. This year, the Board has passed a resolution to provide such relief so long as the actual number of days of use does not exceed 60 days during the off-season. There can be no assurance that the Board will do this in future and so use during the off-season may be limited to weekends and holidays.
3. Will you need to use your cottage more than 60 days during the off-season?
If you answer Yes, you must apply to the Residency Committee 30 days prior to the required extension (except where special circumstances, such as a death in the family, make 30 days notice impractical). Contact the Chair of the Residency Committee. The Board applies the following criteria when it considers whether to grant approval for use during the off-season for more than 60 days: (i) generally, grant relief only once; (ii) restrict relief granted on compassionate grounds to health problems and financial hardship; (iii) don’t grant relief for reasons of a matter of convenience of the member (including business reasons) ; and (iv) grant relief only to members who understand and practice the seasonal philosophy of the community. The Board reports to the community the name of any member granted relief and, while respecting the sensitivity of the matter and the privacy of the member, the reasons for giving its approval.
4. Are there any special conditions surrounding your off-season use of the cottage?
You may want Brent Corp to know you are out at Cedar Springs (eg: health, emergency notification)?
5. Please provide your off-season residence municipal address, phone number and mailing address if different from residence municipal address.
One aspect of the Club seasonal use Bylaws prohibits cottages from being used as a person’s only residence during the off-season November 1st to May 1st. The requirement is to actually reside in another residence during the off-season. The member must have another residence available (it could be but does not have to be his permanent residence) for use at any time during the entire off-season so that the Cedar Springs cottage is never used as the only residence during the period. And they must reside there during the off-season so that their cottage is not converted to a year round residence, contrary to the purpose of the Bylaws. Even if a member maintains and stays from time to time at another residence, a member must vacate their cottage for all but 60 days during the off-season for the Board not to form an opinion that conversion from summer seasonal recreational use to year round use has taken place nevertheless.
60 Day Resolution Notes
1. Each Shareholder is granted blanket approval to use, and permit the use of, their seasonal recreational properties during the 2013-14 Off-Season for a maximum of 60 days during such Off-Season, unless in the case of a particular Shareholder some greater number of days has been approved by the Board of Directors upon prior written request;
2. That if a Shareholder restricts the use of his or her seasonal recreational property to 60 days or less (or some greater number of days approved by the Board) during the 2013-14 Off-Season, the Board:
(i) will accept that the Shareholder will have complied with any Seasonal Residency Undertaking signed by the Shareholder;
(ii) will accept that the Shareholder will have complied with Section 3(a) of the Restrictive Covenants; and
(iii) will not form an opinion for purposes of Article 9 of By- law 15 that conversion of a seasonal residential dwelling to year round use has taken place and, therefore, the Shareholder can be certain that the Board will not seek to have the Shareholder declared a Member Not in Good Standing at a Special Meeting of Shareholders called for the purpose.
If use of their seasonal recreational cottages does not exceed a total of 60 days during the off-season, this blanket approval Board Consent means members subject to Restrictive Covenants on their Lot have temporary one-year relief from the one covenant therein in which they promised they would use their cottages only on occasional weekends and statutory holidays during the off-season [Restrictive Covenant Section 3(a)] . Since it would be equivalent to repealing a By-law (which requires 75% member approval), Board Consent cannot grant blanket relief from:
This statement in the resolution does not tell the story about Article 9 of By-law 15. The By-laws cover the following uses: only residence, year-round residence and permanent residence. Since it would be equivalent to repealing a By-law, Board Consent cannot grant blanket relief from any By-law. The Board indicated its interpretation of only residence and conversion to year round use as explained in Instruction Note 5 above. However, the By-laws also prohibits conversion from seasonal residential use to a permanent residence. If a member was found to have converted their cottage to a permanent residence, the Board is still able to form that opinion for purposes of discipling a member under Article 9 of By-Law 15.
2. Members be made aware that this resolution or any other Board approval does not provide relief from external regulation of seasonal use (e.g. for septic systems) and members still risk enforcement actions by government agencies (EG: City of Burlington, Niagara Escarpment Commission, Conservation Halton, etc.);
Many cottage owners are subject to written undertakings to government authorities and to conditions on development permits to maintain seasonal use in compliance with the Burlington Official Plan policy. The Board Consent resolution provides no interpretation of and no relief from those obligations.
More details may be found by clicking to the Seasonal Residency webpage.
1. Is your cottage Seasonal or Year Round?
Answer Seasonal if your cottage is one of the 71 seasonal cottages not designated as a permanent residence under By-law 13 or By-law 18. Then complete the survey.
2. Will you be using your cottage during the off-season (November 1, 2012 to May 1, 2013)?
Your Cedar Springs cottage may be used only for summer seasonal recreational purposes. However, we have what we call the off-season, the period from November 1 to May 1 of each year. Many people use their cottage on weekends and holidays during this period. There are restrictive covenants on title to your cottage lot providing that weekends and holidays are the only days that you may use your cottage during the off-season. However, on an annual basis, the Board considers whether to provide relief from that covenant for the up-coming off-season. This year, the Board has passed a resolution to provide such relief so long as the actual number of days of use does not exceed 60 days during the off-season. There can be no assurance that the Board will do this in future and so use during the off-season may be limited to weekends and holidays.
3. Will you need to use your cottage more than 60 days during the off-season?
If you answer Yes, you must apply to the Residency Committee 30 days prior to the required extension (except where special circumstances, such as a death in the family, make 30 days notice impractical). Contact the Chair of the Residency Committee. The Board applies the following criteria when it considers whether to grant approval for use during the off-season for more than 60 days: (i) generally, grant relief only once; (ii) restrict relief granted on compassionate grounds to health problems and financial hardship; (iii) don’t grant relief for reasons of a matter of convenience of the member (including business reasons) ; and (iv) grant relief only to members who understand and practice the seasonal philosophy of the community. The Board reports to the community the name of any member granted relief and, while respecting the sensitivity of the matter and the privacy of the member, the reasons for giving its approval.
4. Are there any special conditions surrounding your off-season use of the cottage?
You may want Brent Corp to know you are out at Cedar Springs (eg: health, emergency notification)?
5. Please provide your off-season residence municipal address, phone number and mailing address if different from residence municipal address.
One aspect of the Club seasonal use Bylaws prohibits cottages from being used as a person’s only residence during the off-season November 1st to May 1st. The requirement is to actually reside in another residence during the off-season. The member must have another residence available (it could be but does not have to be his permanent residence) for use at any time during the entire off-season so that the Cedar Springs cottage is never used as the only residence during the period. And they must reside there during the off-season so that their cottage is not converted to a year round residence, contrary to the purpose of the Bylaws. Even if a member maintains and stays from time to time at another residence, a member must vacate their cottage for all but 60 days during the off-season for the Board not to form an opinion that conversion from summer seasonal recreational use to year round use has taken place nevertheless.
60 Day Resolution Notes
1. Each Shareholder is granted blanket approval to use, and permit the use of, their seasonal recreational properties during the 2013-14 Off-Season for a maximum of 60 days during such Off-Season, unless in the case of a particular Shareholder some greater number of days has been approved by the Board of Directors upon prior written request;
2. That if a Shareholder restricts the use of his or her seasonal recreational property to 60 days or less (or some greater number of days approved by the Board) during the 2013-14 Off-Season, the Board:
(i) will accept that the Shareholder will have complied with any Seasonal Residency Undertaking signed by the Shareholder;
(ii) will accept that the Shareholder will have complied with Section 3(a) of the Restrictive Covenants; and
(iii) will not form an opinion for purposes of Article 9 of By- law 15 that conversion of a seasonal residential dwelling to year round use has taken place and, therefore, the Shareholder can be certain that the Board will not seek to have the Shareholder declared a Member Not in Good Standing at a Special Meeting of Shareholders called for the purpose.
If use of their seasonal recreational cottages does not exceed a total of 60 days during the off-season, this blanket approval Board Consent means members subject to Restrictive Covenants on their Lot have temporary one-year relief from the one covenant therein in which they promised they would use their cottages only on occasional weekends and statutory holidays during the off-season [Restrictive Covenant Section 3(a)] . Since it would be equivalent to repealing a By-law (which requires 75% member approval), Board Consent cannot grant blanket relief from:
- prohibition on use as a permanent or year-round residence (interpreted to include domicile, primary residence, full-time residence or only residence) [Restrictive Covenant Section 3(b)];
- prohibition on use as a permanent or year-round residence or other than for recreational cottage purposes as provided for by the City of Burlington Official Plan [Restrictive Covenant Section 5]; or,
- prohibition on use as a primary residence [1997-2000 Undertakings].
This statement in the resolution does not tell the story about Article 9 of By-law 15. The By-laws cover the following uses: only residence, year-round residence and permanent residence. Since it would be equivalent to repealing a By-law, Board Consent cannot grant blanket relief from any By-law. The Board indicated its interpretation of only residence and conversion to year round use as explained in Instruction Note 5 above. However, the By-laws also prohibits conversion from seasonal residential use to a permanent residence. If a member was found to have converted their cottage to a permanent residence, the Board is still able to form that opinion for purposes of discipling a member under Article 9 of By-Law 15.
2. Members be made aware that this resolution or any other Board approval does not provide relief from external regulation of seasonal use (e.g. for septic systems) and members still risk enforcement actions by government agencies (EG: City of Burlington, Niagara Escarpment Commission, Conservation Halton, etc.);
Many cottage owners are subject to written undertakings to government authorities and to conditions on development permits to maintain seasonal use in compliance with the Burlington Official Plan policy. The Board Consent resolution provides no interpretation of and no relief from those obligations.
More details may be found by clicking to the Seasonal Residency webpage.