Central Frontenac Council -
Sept 8/08
By Jule Koch Brison
CF Railway Museum gets new life from
Council
Garry Giller, representing the board of
directors of the Central Frontenac Railway Museum Committee, came to
council seeking renewed support for the project, and left elated by
what he received.
The committee was formed almost eight
years ago to build a museum to house Gary Cooke’s extensive
collection of railway memorabilia. The original plan was to build a
replica of the old Sharbot Lake railway station. Over the years, the
committee has come to believe that a museum by itself would not be
viable unless it were combined with a multi-use building that could
also meet the township’s need for more administrative space, house
the library, and serve as a heritage/cultural centre.
In Giller’s submission to council, he
wrote that if council were to withdraw its support, the committee
would abandon the idea of building and continue to pursue the concept
of a “Living Museum”, where parts of the collection are displayed
in different locations.
Councilor Harvey said, “It all comes
down to money. We’ll have staff working out of trailers, what’s
our priority?”
The railway group has raised $10,000
and is prepared to do more fundraising, but would be unable to
maintain a building. Council agreed that any building would have to
be owned by the township.
Two issues that council addressed were
the survey and acquisition of the original station site, which is a
small triangle of land, and collaborating with the committee in
building a multi-use building.
Councilor Bob Harvey told Giller that
the county has undertaken a project with four other counties to
purchase the old K&P line. “We’ve purchased it; we’ve paid
the money but we have no deed for it yet.” He said that part of the
original station site may be within the line, but “It would cost
more to survey it [the line] than we paid for it”.
Gary Giller informed council that he
has consulted with a surveyor, Dan Cormier, who “said that for
$5,000 he could get it straightened out”.
Council had set aside $10,000 in their
2008 budget to pay for a survey for the railway museum project, so
the $5,000 falls well within ght budget.
The other question is whether the
township could acquire the site from CP Rail. Councilor Frances Smith
pointed out that the ownership of the site is the fundamental issue
that needs to be settled, “If the site’s not available we’ll
look elsewhere,” she said. She then brought forward a motion to
contact CP Rail to ascertain whether they would be willing to sever
the site from the larger purchase. The motion passed unanimously.
Councilor Gary Smith said, “We should
also examine the feasibility of a multi-use building in conjunction
with the railway committee; it wouldn’t cost us anything except
staff time”. He brought forward a motion to that effect, which
passed with one dissenting vote, that of Councilor Harvey.
Mayor Janet Gutowski told Giller that
his presentation was timely, in that the municipality is examining
its own needs for space.
GIFT FOR DUCHENE Mayor Gutowski
presented outgoing acting CAO John Duchene with a handmade canoe
paddle. She said that after the new council was elected they had
lost staff, and it was a “steep learning curve”. She said that
Duchene had ensured that council “wasn’t up a creek without one
of these”.
SPEED LIMIT SIGN: Ernest Barr
brought a request that the township put up a speed limit sign on the
Long Lake Road before the Mountain Grove sign. He said there used to
be a sign there. Council agreed to his request and referred it to
the Public Works Manager.
BROWN’S APPLICATION: Township
Planner Glen Tunnock reported on several matters to council.
Tunnock recommended that a zoning bylaw
to allow Doug Brown to sever a lot on St. Andrew Lake near Godfrey so
that his sister can build a cottage, be adopted. The new lot would be
a “water access lot”, to be accessed from a property on the north
side of the lake. Councilor Bill Snyder objected on the basis that a
permanent agreement to park a car for a boat launch to the new lot is
illegal. Glen Tunnock replied, “I’m not a solicitor and can’t
say whether it’s illegal; solicitors for both parties have looked
at the agreement.” Council passed the bylaw.
BRIDGEN’S ISLAND:
A bylaw to permit new development on 14 lots within a proposed plan
of subdivision on Bridgen’s Island on Eagle Lake was tabled
pending further advice from the planning department. The proposal is
an attempt to take a 30-year-old co-operative arrangement between 14
lot owners on the island and give each of the lot owners a deed to
their lot.
Since the applications
were filed, Eagle Lake has been deemed a “highly sensitive trout
lake”, severely limiting development. The township’s solicitor
has indicated that the old rules would apply, but the Ministry of
Municipal Affairs and Housing has stated that “…The creation of
more than 10 lots would not meet the intent of the Township’s new
Official Plan Policy”. Tunnock told council, “It would be
imprudent to proceed with the zoning amendment. Nobody wants to go to
the OMB [Ontario Municipal Board]. Hearings are expensive”.
Councilor John Purdon
asked about the status of the application at the county level and was
informed that it is stalled there as well.
ZONING BYLAW
HARMONIZATION: Tunnock also reported on a public meeting that was
held to investigate harmonizing zoning by-laws for waterfront
development for six municipalities: Tay Valley, Drummond/North
Elmsley, Lanark Highlands, Rideau Lakes, and South and Central
Frontenac. The intent is to have municipalities adopt common
planning regulatory approaches so that lakes that straddle two or
more municipal boundaries are treated consistently. Tunnock said
that Central Frontenac has higher standards than the other
municipalities, and that council isn’t obliged to harmonize. Mayor
Gutowski commented, “It’s excellent that municipalities are
talking to their neighbours”.
COMPREHENSIVE ZONING
BYLAW UPDATE: Since the township’s Official Plan has been updated,
Tunnock urged Council to update its Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw
within the next six months “so as not to have two documents out of
sync for too long”. Public workshops and open houses would be
held, but Councilor Frances Smith objected, saying “This is an
aggressive schedule – we don’t want to be rushed.. I don’t
like public open houses in December”.
Councilor Gary Smith
suggested that the open houses be held before the public workshops so
“If issues are grating on people’s minds they could bring them
forward. We could get input early.”
OMB HEARINGS: No
date has yet been set for a hearing on an issue that is presently
before the OMB – a proposal by 1000 Islands Concrete to build a
facility on Highway 7. The proposal had been approved by the
township and the province but an individual appealed the decision to
the OMB. Hearings on another issue before the OMB, the Garrison Lake
subdivision, is set for Sept. 29 & 30.
PUBLIC WORKS UPDATE:
Mayor Gutowski and Councilor Gary Smith both complimented Public
Works manager John Simcock on the Zealand and Second Depot Lake
Roads, saying they have received many favourable comments about the
work.
Gary Smith asked Simcock
about letters to the editor in the Frontenac News complaining about
damage to vehicles from tarring and chipping on Hwy 509. He said that
speed limit signs were put up but they were stolen.
Simcock said that four
trucks that are “beyond repairing” will be retired. Councilor
Snyder pointed out that those trucks have sanders and asked how the
roads would be kept up with four fewer sanders. Simcock indicated
that the work would be done more efficiently and they would be able
to reduce routes, also reducing wear and tear on the equipment. He
said that taxpayers would not be waiting for service.
Simcock will be
presenting a full roads plan later, which he said would give a better
understanding of how the roads will be serviced.
Simcock mentioned that
township employee Terry Goodenough is seriously ill and council
expressed their support and concern for Terry and his family.
Councilor Snyder also
asked about the grading of the roads in his vicinity and Simcock said
they had been graded that day. Simcock said the problem is that the
roads need more material and the correct mix of material. “Once
they’re loaded properly you won’t have to grade every 20 days,”
he said. Snyder said that there’s not enough material for all the
roads. Simcock replied that that is true, but they would concentrate
first on getting the primary roads in shape.
He invited the councilors
to “put on hard hats and come down to the pit – what you’ll see
is not what you’re used to.”
FIRE CHIEF UPDATE:
Council agreed to support an application brought forward by Fire
Chief Mark MacDonald to the Frontenac Community Futures Development
Corporation for a $3,915 grant to erect a communications tower at the
Piccadilly Fire Station. The fire department has a 96 ft tower that
it is not using, and which it is contributing to the project.
ATV PURCHASE DENIED
AGAIN: Mark MacDonald again raised the issue of the purchase of
an ATV that would be used by both the roads and fire departments. The
purchase was denied at the August 11 council meeting. Mayor Gutowski
said that council was wondering why the request hadn’t come from
the fire department. MacDonald said it was a joint venture between
the public works and fire departments, which have been raising money
for the purchase of the ATV through collecting and selling scrap
metal. $12,000 has been raised so far. MacDonald said that it’s the
firefighters who have been volunteering and driving the metal to
Kimco to be sold.
He said that the packs
that firefighters have to carry into inaccessible areas weigh 70 lbs.
and the ATV would lessen the possibility of heart attacks. “It
isn’t a toy”, he said in reference to a comment that Councilor
Bill Snyder had made at the Aug. 11 meeting about the ATV.
Councilor John Purdon
asked if the firefighters use their personal ATVs and if that would
be more efficient than buying one ATV. Macdonald replied that
borrowed equipment can be faulty and told of an incident where the
brakes had failed on an ATV that was borrowed from a farmer. He said
the ATV would be kept at the Mountain Grove station, just like the
Jaws of Life are kept at Sharbot Lake and there would not be pressure
to buy one for each department.
Councilor Frances Smith
made a motion that council reconsider the purchase of the ATV, but
Councilor Gary Smith said that if the fire department needs an ATV it
should be included in the budget. He made a motion that the purchase
should be deferred to budget time, which nullified Frances Smith’s
motion. Mayor Gutowski said, “There’s no consensus here.”
Mark MacDonald gave
council a heads-up that he’s been approached by Canadian
Helicopters about an emergency helipad being built behind the Arden
station.
Central Frontenac Looks North for New CAO
by Jeff Green
As early as next week,
Central Frontenac Township will have new leadership in place.
At their meeting on
Monday, Council approved a bylaw appointing Mark Hall as Chief
Administrative Officer (CAO).
According to Central
Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski, Mark Hall is expected to take up his
post at the beginning of next week.
Mark Hall’s most recent
posting was as the CAO of the
Town of Moosonee.
Previously he worked in the far north, as public works manager in
Iqaluit, Nunavut, a position he left in October of 2007 to take on
the CAO role in Moosonee.
In the 1990s, before
moving north, Mark Hall worked for years in Kanata, where he was the
deputy clerk with responsibility for bylaw enforcement.
Mr. Hall currently
resides in Almonte.
The appointment of Mark
Hall fills a void that was created when interim CAO John Duchene
resigned his position at the end of August.
John Duchene took on the
position in January of 2007, replacing Heather Fox, who was on a
medical leave. His three-month contract was extended several times
and he remained on the job for a total of 18 months. Duchene informed
Council in June that he was leaving his position. A three-month
search culminated in a series of interviews by a committee mad up of
councillors and staff.
A second interview phase,
with two candidates, took place on Wednesday, September 3, and the
committee then recommended that Council offer the position to Mark
Hall.
“This is good news for
the township,” said Mayor Janet Gutowski. “We now have permanent
people filling the Public Works and CAO positions for the first time
since the election in 2006.
Gutowski said that Mark
Hall originally hails from Northern Ireland, where he was a law
enforcement officer.
