Feature ArticleApril 22, 2004
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeContact Us
ATV issues wont go away: NF Council, April 13
At a North Frontenac Council meeting last week, the subject of All Terrain Vehicles came up twice, and that was without an ATV bylaw discussion on the agenda.
Cindy Cassidy from the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance (EOTA) addressed Council, presenting an update on recent initiatives by the group, and seeking some involvement from North Frontenac in the organization. A major initiative of EOTA, a non-profit corporation based in Tweed that manages the Trans Canada Trail running from Tweed east, has been an ATV tourism initiative.
We have raised over $2 million for a plan that is designed to develop tourism packages, a map, and other initiatives to take advantage of the tremendous growth in ATV use. They now outsell snowmobiles 10 to 1, Cassidy said, and there is lots of great potential for ATV tourism in North Frontenac, with the roads and trails that exist into wilderness locations.
Councillor Will Cybulski asked if it would be fair to say your long term plan is a trail network.
Cindy Cassidy concurred, and added that we are looking at providing night to night destinations as well, with accommodation and food for ATV travellers.
Mayor Ron Maguire asked if the ATV tourism plans had anything to do with allowing ATVs on township roads, and Cassidy said that it was only really necessary to allow road access, or the construction of trails next to roads, as a means of allowing ATVs to travel from one trail to another.
The presentation garnered enough interest that one or more Councillors expressed interest in attending an upcoming meeting of EOTA and reporting back to Council.
Crown Land Stewardship: For several years, North Frontenac has had an agreement to maintain roads on certain Crown lands in order to allow access for recreational use of lakes, streams and woods on Crown properties within the township. Fees are charged for the use of these roads to recover the costs of maintaining them, but the fees do not cover what North Frontenac is spending on maintaining the roads. Crown Land Stewardship committee chair, Councillor Bud Clayton, presented a proposal to increase the fees, and also to charge more to non-residents than to residents. Residents are paying for the upkeep of the roads through taxes, and non-residents arent, Clayton said. The proposal also calls for a charge per vehicle, so a truck carrying an ATV would pay twice, which would be $80 for non-residents.
Councillor Betty Hunter said I think the impact of this proposal would be detrimental to the local economy because it would hurt tourism, but Clayton replied he had floated the idea to the Ottawa Valley ATV Association president, who agreed with the proposal.
The proposal will be discussed in committee.
Fire Department Issues Glen Manion, a volunteer firefighter in ward 2 (Clar-Mill) appeared before Council, expressing concern over a fire truck that had failed an annual inspection, and was subsequently put back in service for seven hours before being pulled out of service for repairs. He said this had put the township at a huge risk if that truck had been called out and involved in some sort of accident. The fire committee had been involved in the incident, and had pulled the truck from service after seven hours, but said they would look into the matter further. Manion also raised the long standing issue of a fire door at the Clar-Mill station, which is attached to the township office. A motion was prepared and passed to finally put in a fire door, which has been under consideration for six years. Ken Cox, a volunteer who was present at the meeting, volunteered to help put in the door, which was accepted by Council. The work is to be completed as soon as possible. Thank you, Ken Cox said. Dont thank us, said Fire Committee member Will Cybulski, We havent put in the door yet.
Brief notes Clerk Administrator Penny Sahrman reported that the consultant hired to do an administrative review had completed interviews with staff and Council and will be reporting his findings soon.
The administrative complement of the township has shrunk. Chris Matheson, previously employed half time by Central and North Frontenac, had accepted a full time position in Central Frontenac, leaving NF without an IT specialist.
CLT Canada, an affiliate of Cole Lake Trumble, which it describes as North Americas oldest and largest private sector property assessment firm, sent a letter to Council asking for support for a proposal to introduce competition into the property assessment field in Ontario. Currently, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, MPAC, must do all property assessment in the province. Council unanimously endorsed the proposal.
