Shoreline restoration on Lake Simcoe's west shore, from Barrie to Hawkestone

Parks Canada manages Lake Simcoe's level through the Trent-Severn, but its list of waterbodies under its in-water jurisdiction names the channel from the Talbot dam to the lake, not Lake Simcoe itself. On the west shore the bank permit comes from LSRCA. We confirm every approval your lot carries and file them.

Yes, on a residential lot with Lake Simcoe frontage. Council approved the Community Planning Permit By-law in June 2025, and shoreline work, grading and fill, and tree and vegetation removal on those lots now go through one Town permit, with LSRCA's forms filed alongside. We prepare both applications.

In the Shoreline Residential zone, By-law 97-95 sets a 20 m minimum rear yard setback from the average high-water mark of Lake Simcoe. A 2025 application went to a minor variance hearing for a pool at 15 m and a retaining wall at 11 m. We draw that line on the site plan before any armour stone goes in.

On the Kawartha lakes, almost always two. Parks Canada permits all work on the bed and waters of the Trent-Severn lakes, including shoreline stabilization, and the conservation authority permits work in its regulated area along the shore. We prepare and file both.

Kawartha Conservation's published guidance steers away from hardened shorelines, meaning retaining walls, sheet piles and armour stone at the water's edge. What it recommends is river rock in mixed sizes on a 3:1 slope along the natural contour, native plants and a no-mow buffer. We design to that, and put armour stone where it earns its place: steps, seating walls and terraces up the bank.

On lakes that hold walleye and bass, which is most of the Kawarthas, Fisheries and Oceans Canada's timing window keeps in-water work off-limits from March 15 to July 15 while fish spawn. Parks Canada permits are valid for one year, so we file in fall or winter and schedule the build for the open window.

Kawartha Conservation publishes its timelines: a streamlined permit is checked for completeness in 10 days and issued within 14 more, a standard minor permit in 14 plus 21 days. Parks Canada asks for applications several months before the start date. That is why fall is the time to start.

Yes. Removing a failed timber, concrete or stone wall is shoreline work too, so it goes through the same permits, and the bank is re-sloped and planted where the wall stood.

By the length of frontage, the slope, how machines and stone get to the water, and what the permits require. You get a written price after the site visit, with the permit work priced in the same quote.