Matthew Street To Remain Two-Way Even In Summer

Craig Bakay | Apr 19, 2023

CF Council, April 11.

Central Frontenac Council did something that rarely happens in municipal council meetings - they brought back a decision of a previous Council to have another look at it. And as a result, Matthew Street in Sharbot Lake will remain a two-way street.

“In all my 40 years (on Council), I think this may have happened once before,” said Mayor Frances Smith.

In this particular case, the previous council decided to make Matthew Street one-way to vehicular traffic during the summer months, and two-way in the winter months. That decision was itself a response to public pressure in the dying days of the previous council.

Generally speaking, changing the decision of a previous Council is frowned up, because a councillor could conceivably keep bringing back an issue until they achieved the result they desired.

Many municipalities, including Central Frontenac, have clauses in their procedure bylaws requiring a 2/3 majority vote of Council to revisit a previous decision.

Councillors Bill Everett and Nicki Gowdy filed a Notice of Motion to have the issue brought back to Council, and that motion passed unanimously, bringing the decision up for reconsideration.

A new motion - to remove the three-month, one-way trial on Matthew Street and to have Public Works and Council come back with signage recommendations (essentially a warning to pedestrians and/or a notice to drivers to watch out for pedestrians) also passed unanimously/

Gowdy said her conversations with residents prompted her to make the move.

“Residents in the area would like to see a two-way street,” she said.

Councillor Susan Irwin, who represents the Oso District, which includes Sharbot Lake, said “in my conversations (with residents), there isn’t support (for a one-way street).”

The concept of making Matthew Street one-way was based on a recommendation of Jewell Engineering, who also engineered the revitalization of Elizabeth Street and downtown Sharbot Lake.

After some initial pushback from residents on the proposal, Public Works retained GHD, an Ottawa-based firm specializing in transportation planning and traffic engineering to study the issue and they concurred with the recommendation to make the street one-way downhill (westbound) for a trial period.

It was Mayor Smith who brought forward the proposal to make the street a seasonal one way street back in October.

Septic inspection scale back.

Following the recommendations of Chief Building Official Andy Dillon, Council decided to scale back the (mandatory) septic reinspection program for this year in order to catch up with paperwork.

The program was to perform 300 inspections per year but Dillon said that goal isn’t realistic until the paperwork is caught up.

Dillon recommended 50 inspections this year, on Hungry Lake and the West Basin of Sharbot Lake to complete inspections on lake trout sensitive lakes.

“There have been many challenges to the program including record keeping, enforcement and lack of resources dedicated to the program,” he said. “In the future, if Council thinks this program should continue at 300 inspections per year, I would think that would justify the hiring of a full-time position to administer the program.

The program is also going to need someone to actually do the inspections as South Frontenac Township, who had been doing them, has indicated it will no longer be able to offer its services.

Don Lee

Coun. Nicki Gowdy informed Council on the death of Don Lee, who died last week at the age of 103. Lee had been a former Reeve of Hinchinbrooke Township and Warden of Frontenac County. He was also a builder in the Hinchinbrooke area.

Road committee? Better luck next time

A motion, brought forward by Coun. Bill Everett, to re-establish a Central Frontenac Roads Committee, was defeated.

Mayor Frances Smith said the committee had become unworkable because it was working on recommendations (requests) from the public and councillors rather than staff.

“Perhaps we can do that again in 2027,” Smith said.

Meeting time change

Council directed staff to come back to the April 25 meeting with a report on the implications of moving Council and Committee of Adjustment meetings to 6pm from 4pm.

A couple of councillors argued that moving meetings to 6pm would make it more convenient for the public to attend (and make it more inviting for people to run for Council).

But Mayor Frances Smith pointed out that such things have been suggested (and tried) before with little or no success).

“We have more people watching now on YouTube than we have ever had attend in person during my 40 years on Council,” Smith said.