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While appreciative of the offer, North Frontenac Council declined a group of property owners suggestion that the owners would pay to amend Frontenac County’s Official Plan at its regular meeting last Friday in Plevna.

In a letter to Council Jan. 28, resident Steve Dunham wrote: “I was pleased to see general agreement on Council regarding the need for the County to change this unreasonable OP provision (treating regional Areas of Natural or Scientific Interest as Provincial ANSIs). The reason for not proceeding with the request appeared to be the cost was to wait 1 ½ years until the next scheduled OP review at the County.

“I represent a large number of private property owners impacted by the current County ANSI provisions and we find the restrictions on our private properties for that period of time is unreasonable and unacceptable.

“In order to assist the Township to move forwards on the OP request promptly, our group of property owners are offering to compensate the Township for the $750 fee associated with the OP amendment request. Please advise if Council finds this acceptable and I will ensure payment is provided promptly.”

“These people have been waiting a long time,” said Coun. Vern Hermer.

However, Clerk-Planning Manager Tara Mieske said that if the Township were to initiate such a request, the County would “require a study as to why we want the change.”

She also said that such a study would likely raise the overall cost to the $1,750 range and that in all likelihood the actual change wouldn’t happen before the scheduled OP review anyway.

“The County already has two resolutions on this from this Council,” said Mayor Ron Higgins.

“To me, the process would still take 18 months,” said Coun. John Inglis.

“The County Planner acts like this (ANSI restrictions) is cast in stone, (and) I don’t trust him (to act on such a request in a timely manner),” said Dep. Mayor Gerry Martin.

“And County Council listens to him,” said Inglis.

“And if we go ahead, it will be more work for our staff, which we’ve said we’re trying to not add to,” said Higgins.

“We’re here to represent the residents,” said Hermer. “Somebody dropped the ball way back when.”

“I’m not sure spending money is representing,” said Higgins. “I don’t wan to take their money.”

“We’ve spent more for a lot less,” said Hermer.

Higgins said he and Martin would bring the matter up at the next County Council meeting and try to get a feel for “their feeling on removing regional ANSIs.

“God save us if we get a lot of rain, they’re going to make everything a wetland,” said Hermer.

 

• • •

Coun. Fred Fowler has just learned a lesson all new councillors learn early on — if you miss a meeting and there’s an assignment nobody wants, you’ll get drafted.

Fowler wasn’t at Friday’s meeting and sure enough, he was voted in to be the Township’s representative at Solicitor General Sylvia Jones’ OPP reasonable Roundtable Sessions.

Of course there were the expected comments about how he’d be the man for the job because of his background in law enforcement.

 

• • •

Council discussed ending the practice of selling off road allowances that lead to water in a future bylaw.

“I’m against selling access to water,” said Coun. Vern Hermer.

“And we’ve been doing it for years,” said Mayor Ron Higgins.

“I’ve been trying to get access to the Mississippi River for years but we’ve sold off all of those,” said Dep. Mayor Gerry Martin. “It was a mistake.”

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC

In the early ’70s, there was no fire protection in Barrie Township. Around 1972, Barrie purchased fire protection.

In 1990 the Fire Marshall’s office conducted a survey and a new department, the Kaladar-Barrie Fire Department was formed.

In 1998, municipal amalgamations took place but the Kaladar-Barrie Fire Department remained the same.

This past year, Loomex Training and Consulting conducted a North Frontenac Fire Review, an independent study on the level of fire service in Ward 1, as compared to Wards 2 and 3.

Last Friday, the Council of Addington Highlands met with their counterparts in North Frontenac in Plevna to discuss the results and recommendations of the study.

The study concluded that the level of service in the three North Frontenac Wards is very similar in the way they respond, the training standards, the challenge of recruitment and retention, the infrastructure and the daily operations.

“There is a difference, however, in how the departments are being managed, as well as differences in public education, fire prevention and inspections,” the report concluded.

As such, the report gave five recommendations as well as five service level options to be considered.

At the end of the day, however, things stayed pretty much status quo as both Councils passed identical resolutions.

About the only things changing are that Kaladar-Barrie Chief Casey Cuddy will present the Ward 1 budget to both Councils and a financial audit to ensure that the current 50/50 cost sharing is correct will be “discussed at the next Joint Fire Committee meeting.”

Both Councils agreed that the level of service has been working for some time now and took a don’t-fix-what-isn’t-broke attitude.

“The arrangements have been in place for four decades now and I’m not hearing people complaining about the service they’re getting at a car accident or house fire,” said Addington Highlands Dep. Mayor Tony Fritsch.

“I don’t think the service in Ward 1 is different than in Ward 2 or 3,” said North Frontenac Coun. Fred Perry.

When it was suggested that it might be an option for North Frontenac to simply purchase protection from its neighbour, Addington Highlands Reeve Henry quickly put an end to the idea by saying that while his Township might be able to afford half a pumper, the entire truck was essentially out of the question.

He also worried that without Ward 1 residents, they might have trouble fielding enough recruits for a fire department, especially when they’d still have to cover Highways 41 and 7.

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC

Last fall, North Frontenac firefighter Michael Leach went to Bolivia ostensibly for some rope rescue exercises. When he got there, he became involved in that country’s battle against wildfires in the Amazon basin.

What he found was many young people willing to put their lives on the line, but without many of the tools their Canadian counterparts take for granted.

Leach brought his story back and presented to the joint chiefs of the Mutual Aid agreement.

Moved by the need, the chiefs decided to get involved and the result turned out to be two ½-ton truckloads of gear being shipped to the Bolivian firefighters, courtesy of the Stone Mills, Napanee, Kingston and North Frontenac fire departments.

“We’re sending coveralls for fighting wildfires, bunker gear — especially boots, forestry hose, main water supply hose, all sorts of things,” said North Frontenac Chief Eric Korhonen. “We even got contributions from our suppliers Canadian Safety Equipment and A. J. Stone in the form of gloves and safety equipment.

“The chiefs of the mutual aid group were very quick to respond.”

Korhonen said the chiefs and the mutual aide group were “very sympathetic” to the plights of their Amazon Basin counterparts, referring to the efforts as “firefighters without borders.”

So, last week, a section of the firehall in Plevna was full of gear, all waiting to be sent off to the third-world country.

“We have at least two truckloads being sent to Peterborough where it will be put on a plane to Toronto and then to Bolivia,” he said.

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC

North Frontenac put the brakes on changes to its Safe Property and Noise bylaws made by its solicitor at its regular meeting last Friday in Plevna.

Coming on the heals of a discussion where CAO Cheryl Robson reported that complaints are up to 49 so far this year, compared with 16 last year, Coun. Fred Fowler said he has been getting complaints about the bylaws leading to those complaints.

“I’ve been getting a lot of complaints, less than 10 but a lot more than I thought I’d be getting, about how unfriendly we are,” Fowler, who retired after an extensive career in may facets of law enforcement. “These are absolute liability offences, meaning that even if you have a good excuse, that doesn’t matter.”

Robson said that most of the complaints are the result of a bylaw and are “black or white.”

“I agree with you Fred,” said Coun. John Inglis. “But our complaints are complaint driven.

“Some of the bylaws today just make my eyes roll.

“For example, the safe properties bylaw says grass must be under 15 cm.

“And the noise bylaw uses the word ‘reasonable.’ What does that mean?”

“I think we all agree that there’s some ridiculous content in these bylaws,” said Mayor Ron Higgins.

Inglis suggested a committee made up of Higgins, Robson and Fowler take a look at these bylaws.

“This is a good idea to slow these down,” said Robson. “Some things are legislation that has to be in there but some things are your discretion.”

“I think we’ve rushed through bylaws in the past,” Higgins said. “Because we haven’t realized the implications until later.”

Robson said that the lawyers often include sections aimed at reducing liability risk for the municipality.

“As soon as you start reducing risk, you’re perceived as unfriendly,” said Inglis. “(But) you cannot get zero risk.”

Efficiency?

An “efficiency study” contracted for by North Frontenac Township and completed by SP Maloney Corp didn’t sit too well with at least one member of Council.

“I think we wasted $6,850 to tell us what we were already aware of,” said Coun. Vernon Hermer. “It was an organizational drag with lengthy meetings and unnecessary emails.

“(The study) just added to inefficiency with all those interviews.”

“Yeah, we learned a lesson on this one,” said Mayor Ron Higgins. “I’ll leave it at that.”

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC

Seniors and Law Enforcement Together (SALT) is about trying to keep our seniors living independently in their own homes, SSgt. Sharon Brown told North Frontenac Council at its regular meeting last Friday in Plevna.

“We (police) don’t get calls when you’re having a good day,” she said. “Seniors are a vulnerable demographic when it comes to personal, financial and property safety.

“In North and Central Frontenac, 32 per cent of the population is 65 years and older (according to the 2016 Census),” she said. “The SALT committee is truly a community initiative and includes the OPP, Rural Frontenac Community Services, Frontenac Community Services, Central Frontenac Township, North Frontenac Township, the Sharbot Lake Royal Canadian Legion, Legal Services and Connections-Adult Learning.”

She said the project provides a series of educational presentations to rural and often isolated seniors where they will be informed on safety concerns that are specific to them.

“Crime prevention and community safety topics may include frauds and scams, personal safety, home security, identity theft, fire safety, emergency preparedness, wills and powers of attorney, and elder abuse, to name a few,” Brown said. “The sessions will include a nutritious meals, with opportunities to socialize and network with one another.

“Where transportation is a barrier, a ride can be arranged.”

As such transportation and the cost of lunch are included in the program “to address the need of some senior who are on limited incomes and/or do not drive,” she said.

Brown told North Frontenac Council CNF SALT has made an application for funding under the New Horizons Grant, which has funded SALT in South Frontenac since 2016.

Funding secured by South Frontenac was also used to launch the CNF SALT program and give four presentations in 2019.

However, any new grants will not be available until the spring of 2020. Therefore, Brown was at Council looking for $1,000 to hold three SALT events during the winter of 2020.

“We’re in a bit of a holding pattern,” Brown said.

Coun. Fred Fowler told Council that the Snow Road Community Association has committed $500 to the program, leaving $500 to come from the Township.

Brown said that when they started the program, there would be about 15-20 show up but now the numbers are in the 40-50 range.

“I was at the one in Plevna Hall and I think there were about 70 people, there,” said Dep. Mayor Gerry Martin. “It was the talk of the town for awhile.”

CAO Cheryl Robson said: “We can do the $500 as a grant and revisit it at budget time.”

Brown said they’d also be approaching Central Frontenac for funding to which Mayor Ron Higgins said: “I’ll talk to (Central Mayor Smith) Frances.”

The next area SALT talk is Jan. 24 at South Frontenac Community Services on Stage Coach Road in Sydenham from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC

After emerging from a closed session in which one of the listed items was “advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege . . . more specifically an update with respect to road maintenance,” Council rose and reported to pass the following resolution:

“Based on financial impact and potential other requests, Council denies the request for a grant for Norcan Lake Lane winter maintenance services in 2019/2020.

“And that Council approve providing winter maintenance services in the future years commencing Nov. 15, 2020, subject to the Township being able to find a qualified service provider.

“And that the Mayor approach the Mayor of Greater Madawaska about providing winter road maintenance.”

The measure passed 5-2 in a recorded vote with Coun. Vernon Hermer and Wayne Good voting against. Last Friday’s regular North Frontenac Township Council meeting in Plevna was a busy one, to say the least.

Zoning bylaw amendmend for boat storage site

Council looked at a proposal to rezone a property on Skootamatta Lake Road to rezone the lands from Rural to Commercial Exception Zone that would allow Smart’s Marina to store boats on the property.

In a planning report, Megan Rueckwald, manager of community planning, County of Frontenac, recommended “defer passing an amending bylaw for the subject property until the comments received to date have been addressed by a qualified professional to the satisfaction of the township including the completion of a stormwater management brief and drainage plan.”

In the conclusion/recommendation section of the planning report, she said: “Planning staff and Township staff met with the property owners Nov. 6 to evaluate the site and provide an overview of the comments received to date.

“At the meeting, planning staff advised the applicants that planning staff cannot advocate on their behalf (and) also spoke about the recommendation to Council that a stormwater brief be prepared by a qualified professional and reiterated that this is a decision of Council. Due to the volume of comments (65) received and complexity of the application, the applicants were advised that there are private planning consultants who may be able to assist the applicants in this process.”

Steve Smart asked if an engineering report would really be necessary given it would cost $5,000-$10,000 and suggested they could work with municipal staff on drainage.

However, Public Works Manager Darwyn Sproule said he felt strongly that any such report would have to be done by a professional engineer for liability reasons.

Mayor Ron Higgins said that the issue under discussion this day was “simply a request to make a Zoning Bylaw amendment.

“From a Council standpoint, I see no risk.”

Higgins recommended any studies come at the site plan stage.

“We make someone who tries to do everything right jump through hoops,” he said.

“This is a generationally successful business wanting to expand,” said Coun. Vernon Hermer. “I know of no reason (why they shouldn’t).”

Council passed a resolution approving a bylaw amendment.

Kaladar-Barrie Fire department beig reconsidered?

A report from The Loomis Group on the level of Fire Service in Ward 1 compared to Wards 2 and 3 recommended that North Frontenac Council review and consider different service level options.

Currently, Wards 2 and 3 receive fire services from North Frontenac while Ward 1 receives services from the joint Kaladar/Barrie department which is run by a committee made up of officials from both North Frontenac and Addington Highlands Townships.

The report, written by consultant Terry Gervais, concluded that the level of service being provided is similar in the way they respond, the training standards established, the challenges of recruitment and retention, infrastructure, and daily operations.

The difference, the report said, is in how the departments and processes are being managed as well as differences in public education, fire prevention and inspections.

The report presented five service level options for Council to consider.

• Remain status quo
• Ward 1 fire protection managed solely by North Frontenac
• Purchase fire protection from Addington Highlands for Ward 1
• Kaladar-Barrie fire department manages only emergency responses
• Amalgamated fire department.

“I like the status quo,” said Dep. Mayor Fred Perry. “I think we’re working well together and I don’t think we have a building to house our share of the equipment.

“They may need a few more resources.”

“You have your opinion and I have a different opinion,” said Mayor Ron Higgins.

Council passed a resolution to meet with Addington Highlands Council to decide how to proceed.

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC

At their meeting last Friday, North Frontenac Council passed a motion to explore 2 previously discussed options for the development of a regional roads network in Frontenac County.

The main stated purpose of the regional roads network is to make Frontenac County, as well as its member municipalities, eligible for road construction grants. For the past 20 years, only the municipalities have been able to apply for federal and provincial road and bridge grants.

A study prepared by Frontenac County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender, estimated that under the granting programs that have been in place, Frontenac County lost out on “$3M to $5.3M dollars higher over a three-year period” between 2015 and 2017.

In response to this, Pender proposed, in a report to Frontenac County Council in April, that each of the Frontenac townships endorse one of two similar versions of a plan that would see the county play a minor or no role at all in planning road construction on the major roads in the county, but establish enough responsibility to be able to apply for grants, which would save each of the townships and/or lead to a higher level of road maintenance.

A motion, passed by Frontenac County Council on April 17, asked each of the townships to pass a motion endorsing a version of the plan by May 31st.

North Frontenac did not do so in time, opting instead to wait for a legal opinion about a clause in the plan that calls for 1% ownership of arterial roads in each of the townships. Once that opinion was delivered, and said the 1% ownership will not create a legal issue. Still North Frontenac wanted the public works managers from the townships to discuss the proposals before bringing them back to North Frontenac Council for a vote.

The public works managers met on July 17th and recommended that one of the options be explored further through the development of a business plan at a cost of $40,000 to be funded by Frontenac County, using one-time grant monies from the Province of Ontario that are supposed to aid rural municipalities to become more efficient in their operations.

The motion that North Frontenac Council passed last week called for the development of the business plan by a consultant, but also asked that the consultant examine changes that are taking place in new funding models from both the federal and provincial governments.

The North Frontenac motion also specifically precludes a key piece of the county proposal, which is a call for the county to petition the province to remove clause 6.2 from the restructuring order of 1997 which created the current form of Frontenac County governance. Clause 6.2 prohibits Frontenac County from being involved in roads, and downloads all road issues and ownership to the local townships.

“Council does not endorse a petition to the Province of Ontario to remove section 6.2 … related to the prohibition of county involvement in roads …”

A report by North Frontenac Public Works Manager, Darwyn Sproule, brought two concerns with the county plan to the forefront.

One concern is that the funding program under which the county would have been able to receive grant monies, which it has been missing out on, has been discontinued and the details about the program that is replacing it are “unknown at this time”, according to Sproule.

The second concern is based on a string of successful grant applications that North Frontenac has received in recent years, up to and including a grant in 2019 of $1.5 million to go towards improvements to the Myers Cave/Harlowe Road. This comes on the heels of over $2.8 million in grants received by the township since 2014.

“With the current regional roads proposal, there doesn’t appear to be a downside to the county when grant applications are unsuccessful, but the ability for the townships to apply individually may be impacted,” Sproule wrote.

North Frontenac Council followed Sproules’ recommendation.

Councillor John Inglis, who spent eight years on Frontenac County Council between 2010 and 2017, said that the regional roads plan was brought forward in his first year at the county.

“It was a no-brainer then, it meant more money for roads. Now I see the funding formula has changed and I have a bias against it now. It now means ‘same roads, more staff.’”

  

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC

If you’ve ever been to the Flinton Community Jamboree, chances are you’ve seen Bill White perform. He’s played at every one, sometimes with The White Brothers Classic Country, sometimes with White Pines, his bluegrass band. For the 2019 edition, he played with both.

But as a good Plevna boy, the Flinton Jamboree is something of a ‘home game’ for him.

“It’s as close as I get,” he said. “I was here Day 1 and I don’t think I’ve missed a year (14 years actually).

“I don’t know why (laughs).”

Actually, it was growing up in Plevna that formed his musical roots, during those formative years.

“We had an old radio and at night we could get Wheeling West Virginia,” he said. “When the Beatles played Ed Sullivan, a lot of my friends were talking about it but I never had an interest in rock’n’roll.

“I listened to Mac Wiseman.”

(He actually got to be in Wiseman’s back-up band on two occasions and he mentions it with reverence in his voice.)

He says a song has to mean something to him for him to sing it.

“I’m not a writer,” he said. “But you have to sing a song with conviction.

“And I prefer a story song.”

While he admits to not being much of a rocker, he does excel at classic country and bluegrass.

He really doesn’t have a preference but does acknowledge that each genre is a slightly different headspace.

“With the country band, (which includes brother Murray on electric guitar, Tom Gardiner on electric bass, son Joe on fiddle and Gerry Ratz on drums), we do a lot of (Merle) Haggard,” he said. “Like we do at Little Texas on Sundays. “With the bluegrass, we don’t have drums keeping the beat so I have to do more of that, strumming heavier on guitar, so they’re marching to my time.”

And it all seems to be working.

White and his bands are busy every weekend in the summer and he rattles off a list of up coming gigs to prove it.

But he’ll always have a soft spot for the Flinton Jamboree.

“I’ve had a lot of good times here,” he said. “And I look forward to coming back.

“And, I’m available.”

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS
Wednesday, 31 July 2019 13:44

Accommodations in North Frontenac Township

If you’re visiting the area north of Highway 7 and east of 41 you’ll find beautiful forests, lakes and hills, but no motels or hotels, very few bed and breakfasts. You’ll find a restaurant and a bakery in Plevna, restaurants in Cloyne and Myers Cave. In general, the common knowledge around here is that things are full in the summer, closed in the winter. The great majority of visitors either own waterfront homes or have booked campsites and cottages months in advance. Not much available for the casual visitor in a car or on a motorcycle: and we’d like to change that.

The township has a committee looking at ways to increase economic activity- as do most municipalities of any size and this one is right now trying to do something to create more rental accommodations for visitors. We’ve just had a big boost in our efforts from a new zoning bylaw. It becomes legal on August 7, and has some rules in it that are new in Frontenac County, still novel in most of Ontario.

If you own an acre or more of non-waterfront property, you can now put a second dwelling on your property, limited to 45% of the floor area of an existing house. No need to sever off a separate lot or get any kind of a zoning change. Our idea in promoting this is to encourage some residents to build a single rental unit to supplement their income. It’s a bit of a gamble for us on Council, in that there may be no uptake of the idea. It’s a completely opposite approach to the accommodation problem from the initiative of finding an entrepreneur to build a hotel. You can advertise this ‘secondary building’ on Airbnb or simply put out a sign on the road. My own experience in travelling new parts by car is to look for roadside appeal in a place to stay.

Let’s say you try this, find that your rental cabin is solidly booked, and want to build a couple more. Now you will have to get a zoning change on your property, and even that is a bit easier than it used to be. It still takes an application, some thousands of dollars and some months to get through the process, but township staff will be able and willing to help along the way.

Call the North Frontenac Township office at 479 2231 if you want to know more. The new zoning bylaw is of course on the website.

by John Inglis, Ward 3 Councillor

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC

For those unfamiliar with the Fantasy In The Forest Art Show, it takes place every year in a mythical forest Kingdom somewhere down Draper Lake Road, allegedly in the Township of South Frontenac.

But for two days every summer (this was the 24th annual), this part of the Township magically teleports to another realm, one presided over by sculptor and King Jamie Brick.

“We have 86 artists this year (in 75 booths),” he said. “We had 60 last year.

“The bigger it gets, the harder it is to manage (but) I guess we’ll have to do something for next year (the 25th edition).”

One thing they did manage to vastly improve this year was the parking situation. For this year, they secured a location just where Draper Lake Road meets Norway Road and operated a shuttle bus every 15 minutes to take guests back and forth to the main location. Big improvement.

The limited parking around the actual site was reserved for exhibitors and food vendors.

One person who didn’t really know how much the parking situation had improved was The Tape Man, Jeff White. This was White’s first ever show/sale.

“Well, I did do a couple of Christmas craft shows at the school,” he said. “But nothing’s like this.”

White, a storyboard artist by trade (he worked on the Canada-France co-production remake of Belle and Sebastian among others), creates fantasy characters by first constructing a wire frame and then building it up with masking tape. He then applies an acrylic gel as a preservative.

“I like dragons and wizards,” he said.

He met Brick at the Originals Fair in Ottawa last December.

“I was just there looking for someone I could relate to,” White said. “I saw Jamie and we started talking.

“Next thing you know, I’m spending the last six months getting ready for this show.

“But even if I don’t sell anything, at least I’ve got my Christmas shopping done.”

(For those who might be interested, White is related to Plevna musician Bill White. Jeff’s dad, Don, is a member of the band Grateful We’re Not Dead and is Bill’s Cousin.)

On the other end of the spectrum, Ron Tremback and Patti Robertson of Solar Woodcuts have been coming to Brick’s world almost since the very beginning.

“It’s been at least 15 years,” Tremback said. “We go back to when there were only 12 booths down by the lake.

“The artists were billeted at cottages around the lake and we were billeted on an island. You couldn’t do that now.”

Tremback said he’s been doing this full time for 28 years now and has raised four kids in the process.

Fantasy in the Forest is one of his favorite shows and he has every intention of returning.

“You never drop a good show for something else,” he said. “The grass is not always greener.”

He said he enjoys seeing the same people every year.

“When we stop doing shows, we lose a lot of friends — and we don’t even know who they are,” he said. “Your booth attracts people of similar consciousness and that gives me hope for humanity.”

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC
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With the participation of the Government of Canada