North Frontenac Council

May 20, 2015

Norcan Lake Lane comes back to haunt NF council again

After passing a motion in January that bans council members and township staff from talking to anyone - the press, the public at large, and those directly involved - about the ill-fated Canalodge subdivision on Norcan Lake, residents from two previous subdivisions that were put up by the same developer on the same lake came to council this week.

And once again the name of the developer behind all three subdivisions, David Hill, was at the centre of a dispute.

Gord Hawley, the president of the Norcan Lake Cottagers' Association, which represents the owners of 27 properties that share responsibility for the upkeep of a three-season laneway, Norcan Lake Lane, requested that the township take over the maintenance of the lane.

Hawley pointed out that 10 years ago when the property owners with frontage on the lane signed the deeds to their property, which committed them to paying their share for its upkeep, they were not informed that the lane would become an access road for properties further along the road and to a popular lake as well.

“It was not a through road when we signed the deeds, but it is now. Yesterday, which was a holiday Monday, over 300 vehicles went by my property, on a road that I personally pay to maintain. Since the township gets the benefit from the traffic, and the benefit from the taxes from the 27 property owners on the lane, the township should pay for minimal maintenance on the lane,” said Hawley.

He also pointed out that the five largest properties on the lane are still owned by the developer, David Hill, who has not paid his share to the association.

“We took him to court and we won, but we do not expect we will see any money from him,” said Hawley.

He then added that a number of members of the Norcan Lake Association are now refusing to pay, and the association will likely fold at the end of this season.

“I expect I will be the last president of this association. I don't se how we can survive if we don't have enough money to cover the grading that needs to be done and the gravel that the road needs,” said Hawley.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that Norcan Lane is part of the route for the spring and fall Ompah Community Association ATV runs, and a promise by the association to grade the corners of the road after last year's spring run was never followed up on.

A number of council members said they were concerned about setting a precedent by taking on responsibility for a private laneway, but Councilor Denis Bedard said there are already precedents.

“We maintain Arcol Road; we maintain Sunday Lake Drive; we maintain the Mosque Lake Road. We have made decisions in the past to provide something for those residents; why not these? It is not winter maintenance they are asking for, just what is needed to make the road passable for three seasons.”

“We will be considering a report on maintenance on private roads later in the meeting. Let's look at this when we consider that report,” said Councilor Wayne Good.

Mayor Ron Higgins said that he would be in favour of approving a one-time $2,000 grant to the Norcan Lake Association to get them through this year. "That will give us time to consider our public works manager's report and come up with something for next year's budget cycle.”

The rest of Council did not agree and the $2,000 proposal was rejected.

Later in the meeting, the report on the unmaintained roads maintenance policy, written by Public Works Manager Jim Phillips, was presented to Council. It considered five different roads, including Norcan Lane, and went into detail about the history and state of repair of the road.

“An inspection of Norcan Lake Lane was recently conducted on April 24, 2015, at which time the condition of the road was found to be in fairly good condition, similar to the condition found two years ago and noting that the road had not yet been graded this year ... In fact this road was in better condition than many of the gravel roads maintained by the township ..." the report concluded.

The report said that the township is facing a cost of $300,000 overall in order to keep its network of gravel roads in good repair, and does not have that amount of money available. Adding additional roads would only add to that shortfall.

Although Council did not speak directly to the request for support from the Norcan Lake Association, it accepted Phillips' report as written, putting the matter on the shelf for now.

Snow Road Community Centre – Council will allow the Snow Road Community Centre Committee to do some further work at the centre, including painting the bathroom and putting in a horseshoe pit on the grounds.

Crotch Lake Cleanup – the clean-up of Ardoch Road by members of the Crotch Lake Association was approved for next month, with the township providing some gear for the use of the volunteers.

Tay Valley poaches another Frontenac County municipal professional – Angela Millar, the treasurer of North Frontenac, has left the township's employ to take up the treasurer's job in Tay Valley, where she will start working on June 1.

Millar joins former Central Frontenac Chief Administrative Officer Larry Donaldson at the Harper Road headquarters of Tay Valley.

“I am originally from that area,” said Millar, adding that she went to school at Glen Tay Public School, which is located next to the Tay Valley Township Office.

North Frontenac Council thanked Millar for her efforts on their behalf, and wished her well in the future.