Addington Highlands Council

Jeff Green | Nov 18, 2015

Township to deal with MNR beaver dam

Addington Highlands has the go ahead to remove a beaver dam and “harass, capture or kill beavers” on a piece of Crown land that is located on the east side of Hwy. 41 at Mazinaw Hill, north of the entrance to Bon Echo Park.

Reeve Hogg sent a letter to the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) in early September, informing them that a beaver dam has created a 'small lake' adjacent to the highway, and that when the dam inevitably gives way there is every chance of flooding on several cottage properties to the west of the highway on Mazinaw Lake. Flooding is also possible on Road 41 at the bottom of Mazinaw Hill, Public Works Manager Royce Rosenblath told Council in early November.

Subsequently, the township has received a response from Suzanne Shalla, the resource management supervisor out of the Bancroft office of the Ontario MNR.

Shalla said that the township has the authority to enter onto “Crown land to destroy a dam in protection of property, which includes travel corridors and utilities, with no prior approval required... As the municipality whose infrastructure is threatened by this dam, your staff are empowered to manipulate or destroy the dam in order to protect your property as needed.”

At their meeting in Denbigh on Monday night, November 16, Reeve Hogg asked Rosenblath if his crews can begin dismantling the dam.

Rosenblath said crews will dismantle part of it and will then engage trapper Eythel Grant to set some traps before pulling the dam down entirely.

“They are bound to be pretty aggressive now as it is near winter,” said Rosenblath.

Meeting with new MP

Mike Bossio, the newly elected federal MP for Hastings-Lennox and Addington, has requested a meeting with Council in the wake of his election in October as part of the Liberal Party victory nationally.

The township is interested in talking about what role they can play as far as welcoming refugees is concerned and will bring that up at the meeting, which is set for 9am on November 30.

AH to second stage of provincial funding

The township has received notification that after considering their expression for interest for funding under the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF) for a $900,000 construction project on Matawatchan Road in the northeast corner of the township, the project has been selected to move forward to the application stage. The application is due on December 16.

If the project is approved, which is not guaranteed at this point, it will receive 90% funding from the province and will need to be completed by the end of 2017.

Long memory hurts Greer Galloway

The engineering firm Greer Galloway, which has done work for 22 municipalities in south and north-eastern Ontario, sent a letter to AH asking that they be put on the township's list of approved vendors in order to bid on contracts in the township starting in 2016.

“Greer Galloway built a bridge for us in the 1980s and they were a metre off-line with it, leading to all sorts of costs that we had to pay. When we asked them to help pay, they said the MTO had approved the project so they were off the hook,” said Hogg.

“That was a long time ago,” said Councilor Tony Fritsch.

“Yes, but I remember, and I'm still here,” said Hogg.

Approval in principle for recreational program at Flinton hall.

Sara Clayton approached the township for free use of the upper floor of the Flinton Recreation Centre on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays through the winter for a sports and arts recreation program she is setting up for children between 3 and 17 years of age.

Council approved the request in principle, saying that Clayton will need to see what uptake the program gets and return with a final request.

Road work on Old Addington Road

Wayne Snider approached Council for permission to do some work on the un-maintained Old Addington Road for logging purposes. The request was approved.