Shanty Bay waterfront on Lake Simcoe: what to know

Shanty Bay sits on the north shore of Kempenfelt Bay, a short drive past Barrie's city limits. It feels close to the city and very much like a village at the same time: a historic church, a township wharf, the rail trail running through, and waterfront homes on private wells and septic systems.

For the township overview (taxes, schools, Horseshoe Valley and acreage), see the Oro-Medonte area guide on rossmanteam.com. This page is about the Shanty Bay shore.

What is Shanty Bay like?

Oro-Medonte's Official Plan lists Shanty Bay as one of 13 Rural Settlements, where new development is limited to infilling and minor rounding out. In other words, the village is not expected to grow much, and the shoreline you see today is largely the shoreline you will have in 20 years.

It has a long history for a small place. Shanty Bay's growth was linked to the Underground Railroad, and its St. Thomas Anglican Church, built between 1838 and 1841, is a rammed earth church that opened in February 1842. The Toronto, Simcoe and Muskoka Junction Railway arrived in 1871. Passenger service on the line ended in 1996, and the corridor is now the Oro-Medonte Rail Trail; the township notes Shanty Bay was once a mail-train stop.

What that means for a buyer: mature lots, older homes mixed with rebuilds, and neighbours who often have deep roots in the village. It also means the township's rules, not Barrie's, apply to everything.

Which roads make up the Shanty Bay shore?

The village is laid out around a handful of streets you will see again and again in listings:

• Ridge Road West runs through the village, parallel to the shore and above it.
• Line 2 South runs down from Ridge Road West toward Bay Street and the water.
• Bay Street is home to the township's Shanty Bay Wharf at 25 Bay Street.
• O'Brien Street runs south from Ridge Road West.
• Lakeshore Road West picks up further east along the shore toward Line 7.

The rail trail corridor also runs parallel to the shore through the area, with a parking lot at Brewis Park on Line 2.

Is Shanty Bay on municipal water and sewer?

Partly water, no sewer.

Oro-Medonte owns and operates 12 small municipal drinking water systems across the township, and one of them is the Shanty Bay Drinking Water System. It is a groundwater system with production wells, a reservoir and chlorination, and the township's 2023 compliance report says it serves about 197 residential homes and a fire hall. The township's annual compliance reports are posted online if you want to read the test results.

Homes not on that system use private wells or draw from the lake. Every home handles its own wastewater, usually with a septic system. The township itself notes that most Oro-Medonte residents are on private wells.

So the first question on any Shanty Bay property is simple: which water source, and what septic system? A recent township utility bill answers the first. For a private well, follow the testing steps in the rossmanteam.com guide to wells and water testing, including what to do if the home draws water from Lake Simcoe.

How does Oro-Medonte's septic program affect Shanty Bay waterfront?

Directly. Oro-Medonte runs the provincially mandated Septic Maintenance Program, and septic systems within 100 metres of the Lake Simcoe shoreline or a tributary are in it. That covers most waterfront homes in Shanty Bay.

How it works, from the township's program page:

• The cycle repeats every five years, with no end date set by the province. The Lake Simcoe group's last cycle ran 2021 to 2025, with a compliance deadline of December 31, 2025, covering 1,882 systems.
• Township inspectors do a visual check of the tank, any treatment unit and the bed, and leave a status card.
• The owner must submit paperwork each cycle: a septic tank inspection report for a conventional tank, a maintenance agreement for a treatment unit such as Ecoflo, Eljen or Waterloo Biofilter, or a service report for Norweco and Aquarobic units.
• Seasonal use is not an exemption.
• Missing the deadline can lead to orders and further legal action.

A township compliance record is not a pre-purchase inspection. Get your own septic inspection as a condition. The rossmanteam.com septic inspections guide compares the Oro-Medonte program with Ramara's and lists what a good pre-purchase inspection includes.

What is public access and parking like?

Shanty Bay's public waterfront is small, and the township manages it with permits.

• Shanty Bay Wharf, 25 Bay Street, has a township parking lot open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, holidays included.
• Permit parking areas in and around the village include parts of Line 2 South, O'Brien Street, Black Forest Lane and the 5/6 Sideroad. Permits are required year-round in these areas.
• Residents can get two free digital parking permits, one per vehicle. Non-residents buy annual, summer or winter permits online.

If you are buying on or near one of those streets, expect visitors in summer. If you are buying elsewhere in the village, a free resident permit makes the wharf easy to use.

In winter, Oro-Medonte bans parking on township roads overnight and into the morning for snow clearing, and prohibits parking that interferes with winter maintenance from mid-October to the end of April. Permit parking areas are exempt from the overnight ban. Confirm the current dates with the township, and see ice fishing and winter on Lake Simcoe for the winter side of shore life.

What should you check about the shoreline itself?

Shanty Bay faces south across Kempenfelt Bay toward Barrie's south shore. Before you buy:

• Permits for existing structures. Docks, boathouses and shorewalls on Lake Simcoe can need approvals from the township, the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority and sometimes provincial or federal agencies. Ask for every permit. See docks, boathouses and permits.
• What you can build. New work near the shore falls under the LSRCA's regulation and the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan's shoreline policies, explained in Lake Simcoe shoreline rules.
• Zoning in transition. Oro-Medonte is replacing its 1997 zoning by-law, and short-term rental rules changed after a 2026 Ontario Land Tribunal decision. The rossmanteam.com Oro-Medonte guide has the current status.

How does Shanty Bay compare with Barrie and Hawkestone?

	Barrie (Kempenfelt Bay)	Shanty Bay	Hawkestone and the Oro shore
Municipality	City of Barrie	Oro-Medonte	Oro-Medonte
Sewer	Mostly municipal	None; septic	None; septic
Water	Municipal	Small township system or private	Mostly private; some township systems
Septic program	Not applicable	Mandatory within 100 m of the lake	Mandatory within 100 m of the lake
Public water access	Large city waterfront	Township wharf	Wharf, launches, Bayview Memorial Park
Water body	Kempenfelt Bay	Kempenfelt Bay	Main lake

For the city side of the bay, see Kempenfelt Bay in Barrie. For the open-lake shoreline further east, see Hawkestone and the Oro shore.

How Jordan can help

Jordan Rossman is a REALTOR® with Real Broker Ontario Ltd., Brokerage, working in Orillia-area real estate since 2014, and Oro-Medonte is right next door. He can help you pull the septic program file, water source and shoreline permits for a Shanty Bay property before you commit, and compare it with what the same budget buys elsewhere on Lake Simcoe. Call 705-345-0797.