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Wednesday, 05 February 2020 13:32

Sharbot Lake Village reconstruction project

Back in September of 2019, Central Frontenac Township received confirmation that under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), the Province of Ontario will provide $1.06 million and the federal government another $1.9 million, towards a $3.2 million project to reconstruct Elizabeth Street in Sharbot Lake.

On October 9th, the newly hired township public works manager, Tyson Myers, told Council that he had already begun work on the project, and reported that in addition to Elizabeth Street, work will be done on two adjacent streets, Robert and Garrett.

He also said that the business community and the public at large will be consulted in the run up to the project. At the time, construction was slated for the summer of 2020.

Since then, Myers has been working to get the plans for the project ready. Jewell Engineering has been working with the township on what is now being called the Sharbot Lake Village Reconstruction project, and while the project is still in the planning stages, he said that the schedule is going to start moving along quite quickly in the coming weeks.

“Jewell Engineering is working hard to complete the plan and profile drawings for the township’s review. Residents may have seen surveyors on the streets and in their yards collecting data and property boundaries to provide to the engineering team.  I am working with the home and business owners, the economic development committee, the Sharbot Lake business group, the accessibility committee and many others to gather as much local input that I can, to bring forth to the engineers to try to incorporate in the initial design,” Myers wrote, as part of an email interview this week.

He said that he expects to have a set of “plans and profile drawings that are detailed enough to show the public” within the next couple of weeks.

In addition to new asphalt, the “reconstruction to the village will provide upgraded underground infrastructure, additional areas of curb and sidewalk, with a focus on the downtown core.”

The infrastructure project will also provide an opportunity for a downtown revitalisation project that people from Frontenac County and OMAFRA (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) have been working on and have already presented to the Central Frontenac economic development committee.

“The program would capture market information and opportunities for economic development that relate to the work being done on Elizabeth Street,” he said.

Updates will be brought to Council and posted on the township website in short order and Myers said that input from an upcoming public information session will be incorporated into the final plans.

At this time, the expectation is that construction will get underway in the late summer, which is at least partial relief for the local business community, which is dependent on summer tourist traffic.

“This is a very exciting time for Central Frontenac residents as I think our investment in the core of the community will have a ripple effect on the rest of the township that will bring growth and opportunity,” he wrote.

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC

While the majority of South Frontenac Council supports a flat playing surface facility requested by the South Frontenac Stocksport Club, they’d like a little more information as to the multi-use aspects of the facility before committing $85,000 to it.

Actually, in its submission to Council last fall, the Stocksport Club said they’d commit to raising $25,000 of the total $100,000 price tag but CAO Neil Carbonne told Council staff could live with $15,000 from the club to start in order to get construction going in the spring rather than waiting for the full amount which could drop the start time to late summer.

Stocksport representative Karl Hammer told Council last fall that his group is applying to host the 2021 world championships, which would bring in significant visitors to the Township for such an international event.

Councillors Alan Revill and Ron Sleeth both had reservations about the project without knowing what other kinds of events the facility would support such as concerts, theatre in the park or perhaps even a farmers market (Dep. Mayor Ross Sutherland’s suggestion).

Many of the proposed uses would likely require a roof of some sort and since the final specifications for the facility were unclear, Council asked staff for a more detailed proposal before committing the funds.

The facility would be located in Harrowsmith’s Centennial Park.

“I think this gives us an opportunity to add another facility to our Township,” Sutherland said. “I’ve looked around for a good flat surface for things like cycle events and dog trials and there just aren’t any flat surfaces.”

“I do hear the concerns that there aren’t enough people participating in the sport to warrant a facility but if you don’t have a facility, you won’t have participants,” said Coun. Randy Ruttan. “I’m impressed with (the proponents’) enthusiasm and I support this.

Carbonne said that nothing would happen with the facility until the money from the club is received.

Senior Planner position approved, cap on private lane grants

Council approved the creation of a senior planner position, put a $7,000 per project cap on the private lane assistance program and a request for four noise bylaw exemptions for events at Desert Lake Resort between the hours of 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Town hall I Perth Road

Dep. Mayor Ross Sutherland and Coun. Randy Ruttan announced they’ll be holding a Town Hall meeting at Harris Hall in Perth Road Village on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 10 a.m

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC

RED is back.

The program which provides matching grants for economic development initiatives in rural Ontario, was used by the Land O’Lakes Tourist Association (now defunct) to maintain its operations for many years, and by Frontenac County to establish a community development officer position several years ago.

At the annual Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference in Toronto this week the provincial government announced that a relatively modest $5 million in grants will be available from RED at this time, under two streams.

Organisations located in over 400 rural municipalities in Ontario are eligible to apply for a share of the funding.

The first stream is the Economic Diversification and Competitiveness stream which provides a maximum of $150,000 to cover 50% of eligible project costs. The second is the Strategic Economic Infrastructure stream which provides a maximum of $250,000 to cover up to 30% of eligible project costs.

Municipalities, not-for-profit corporations, indigenous communities or organisations, and local service boards are eligible to apply for funding. The application deadline for the program is February 24th. Priority will be given to projects that are supported by a partnership between two or more organisations. Under the economic infrastructure stream, projects that were already under consideration before the application period got underway this week will be given priority.

Local municipalities will likely be talking about applying for funding when they meet in the coming week or two.

The ROMA conference was held in Toronto between Sunday, January 19th, and Tuesday, January 21st.

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY

Last week, the Province of Ontario confirmed the annual funding for infrastructure needs, that they provide to rural Ontario municipalities, in the run up to the annual Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference.

The Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund was established under the former Liberal government in 2014 to provide funding to small, rural and northern municipalities in order to help them “build and repair critical infrastructure”.

The funding was minimal in the first couple of years, but doubled in the run-up to the 2018 provincial election. After the election, which saw the vast majority of rural ridings elect Conservative MPP’s, the program has doubled once again.

In Frontenac County, most of the money goes directly to the townships, which have responsibility for just about all of the municipal infrastructure, which is dominated by roads and bridges.

South Frontenac, which has already passed its 2020 budget based on estimates, will receive $508,412 for 2020, up from $498,738 in 2019.

Central Frontenac will receive $361,718, down from $368.076 in 2019.

North Frontenac will receive 304,907, down from 310,472

Frontenac County received $50,000, the same as last year.

In Lennox and Addington (L&A), the county level of government has more infrastructure responsibilities than the local townships. L&A will receive 761,841 this year. In 2019 they received $758,478.

Addington Highlands Township will receive $54,461 this year. In 2019, they received $55,084.

Rural municipalities also receive funding each year under the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) based upon a formula that looks at population as well as fiscal circumstances. OMPF is crucial to the smallest municipalities.

For 2020 Addington Highlands will receive $2,053,400 ($743 per household) the same as 2019.

Central Frontenac will receive $2,148,900 ($520 per household) about the same as last year.

North Frontenac gets $1,705,200 ($499 per household) down about $700 from last year.

South Frontenac will receive $1,553,400 ($148 per household) also about the same as 2019.

Published in General Interest

The Sharbot Lake Business Group’s twice annual gatherings, winter and summer, are opportunities for groups of individuals and local business owners with an interest in developing the hamlet and the surrounding region, as an economic hub in Central Frontenac.

They are also social gatherings, with free food and coffee, and a cash bar, available for all who attend. At the winter gathering on Monday night, which was attended by 63, according to the group’s official chronicler, Ken Fisher, a delegation of department managers from the Frontenac County planning and development department was on hand.

The delegation included Megan Rueckwald - manager of community planning, Richard Allen, manager of economic development; and their boss, Joe Gallivan, director of planning and economic development.

In addition to county officials, senior managers from Central Frontenac, Mayor/Warden Frances Smith and most of the township council, were on hand.

After hearing updates from the business group leadership, Gallivan made a presentation that was the main event of the evening.

His presentation was based on a section of Draft 2 of the updated Central Frontenac Official Plan – Special Policy Area – Sharbot Lake.

“The goal of the section is to create a cohesive plan for future development in Sharbot Lake,” Gallivan said, quoting from the text.

After a brief trip through the history of Sharbot Lake as a frontier town/railway hub in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Gallivan talked about the current configuration of the hamlet, from its southern entranceway over a causeway that divides the two basins of Sharbot Lake, to the junction of Road 38 with Highway 7 at the north end.

In addition to the waterfront and business core sections of the hamlet, he said that attention needs to be paid to the Highway7/38 intersection.

Destination - Sharbot Lake, which is the heading for a 7- page section of the official plan, talks about some possible future developments in Sharbot Lake.

“A lot of people here take the entrance to Sharbot Lake from Road 38 for granted, but when you come around that curve and see water on both sides as you approach the causeway, it says everything about it being a village on the water. A gateway at that location would communicate to people that they are leaving the rural road and entering the village,” he said.

As examples, he showed slides of the entranceways to Richmond, Gravenhurst, and Gananoque. Gallivan also pointed to language in the Destination - Sharbot Lake section of the official plan that talks about the core of the village, the impact of improvements to Elizabeth Street that will take place in the coming year or so, and “the need to develop infrastructure necessary to sustain existing businesses and community services as well as new commercial development.”

The plan envisions the establishment of a formal trail hub in recognition of the junction of the K&P and east-west Trans Canada Trails and the Railway Heritage Park that has become, in the words of the plan, “a core public space in the village.”

Two other major changes, which might be coming to Sharbot Lake, are out of the hands of local business people and politicians, but they are included in the plan because they would have a major impact on the future of Sharbot Lake if they come about.

The first refers to the possibility that Highway 7 will be made into a 4 lane highway, which is a long range plan of the Ontario government, although there are no active plans to bring it about.

“It is the position of Council that the redesign of Highway 7 as a highway similar to other 400 series highways in Ontario would damage the future rural economy of this part of the Frontenac region,” according to the draft Official Plan.”

The alternative for Sharbot Lake, would be for the township promote a parkway development when talking to provincial officials. The parkway would potentially run between Sharbot Lake Provincial Park and Fall River Road. This section of the roadway would see a speed reduction to 60km/h, would be only two lanes, with bike and pedestrian lanes at its sides, and would have a light at the junction with Road 38.

“The MTO [Ministry of Transportation] does not care about rural economic development, they only care about getting people from point A to point B as quickly as possible,” Gallivan said, “but the current Minister of Municipal Affairs, Steve Clark, from a riding just next door, he gets it, so there is an opportunity to put the parkway idea to him, which is something your mayor and council can do.”

The other project that may be in the cards is the VIA Rail hi frequency rail line between Toronto and Ottawa, which includes a stop in Sharbot Lake in the most current project map.

Gallivan said that developing Hi-Frequency Rail service was included in the letter sent to the new Provincial Minister of Infrastructure from the Prime Minister, and added that “a year or so ago I would have given the rail project a 25% of happening, but now I would put it at over a 50% chance.”

The township has passed a motion supporting the concept of a new rail service stopping in Sharbot Lake. It is however, the subject of some controversy in Sharbot Lake, because if the new line follows the path of the former line, it would cut the narrow piece of land in the core section of the village, and curtail access to the beach, which is the feature that is identified in the Draft official plan as central component to the entire concept of Destination-Sharbot Lake.

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC

EORN (the Eastern Ontario Regional Network) has secured the last piece of funding it needs to set up its newest project. A $71 million commitment from the Province of Ontario, paired with a $10 million commitment from local municipalities, leaves only a federal government commitment of another $71 million still to come.

A request for proposal for private sector partners to invest the remaining $61 million for the $213 million project to get underway.

The Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) has designated both mobile (cell service) and fixed broadband (high speed internet) as a basic service for all Canadians.

The EORN project is designed to fill some specific service gaps in Eastern Ontario that would not be filled otherwise by the private sector because of what it calls “market failure”, not enough revenue for companies to justify large capital investments to serve too few customers in rural areas.

Currently 40% of the area does not have access to high definition internet services, 20% of the area does not have access to standard definition internet services, and 10% of the are has no voice call (cell) service at all.

This new project has, as its goal, 99% voice call cell service, 95% coverage for standard definition internet service, and 85% high speed internet service. In addition EORN intends to invest $34 million in increased capacity (5G) network enhancements in high density, high usage areas.

EORN is a not for profit corporation created by the Eastern Ontario Warden’s caucus to help improve internet service in 12 eastern Ontario counties and the City of Kawartha Lakes. To date it has been responsible for bringing more than $300 million in high speed infrastructure to the region.

Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith is one of 9 board members who oversee EORN operations.

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC

North Frontenac Township officially opened its Re-Use Centre at the 506 Waste Disposal site (3444 Road 506) last week.

The site has been open since May but Public Works Manager Darwyn Sproule said they needed some time to “put together inventory and organize volunteers” before ‘officially’ opening.

The site is open from May 15 to October 1 annually, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

They will accept a variety of items including small furniture, garden equipment, sporting goods, tools, toys, hardware, books, windows and doors, housewares, clean wood, craft materials and paint (not spray).

They do not accept hazardous materials such as propane tanks, batteries, bulky items (ie furniture), food waste, tires, liquids, unsanitary items (toilets, sinks, etc), textiles or clothing.

They do encourage people to use their bulky items posting board for such things (appliances, electrical devices, furniture) but bulky items for repurposing will not be delivered to, unloaded or stored at the Centre or Waste Disposal Site.

Sproule said they are pleased with the way things have been going so far and excited about the future of the site.

“This is the highest order of recycling,” Sproule said. “Items are dropped off and usable right away.

“This is opposed to all the steps in ordinary recycling including washing by residents, collection by the Township, transport to a recycling depot and then transport to a place where the materials can be repurposed — all of which requires energy output of some sort.”

Sproule said the operation was well underway when he took over from former Public Works Manager Jim Phillips.

“The building was purchased and the foundation in when I came in,” he said. “Jim and waste/recycling lead hand Gary Thompson were the ones who toured similar operations like the one at McDonalds Corners and others and got things moving.”

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC
Wednesday, 26 June 2019 10:52

Shining Waters re-surfaces

After being passed over during the most recent federal budget, the Shining Waters rail proposal, linking Toronto and Ottawa with stations in Peterborough, Tweed, Sharbot Lake, and Smiths Falls along the way, has new life.

Mariam Monsef, MP for Peterborough and Minister for Gender Equality and International Development, announced on Tuesday (June 25) that the federal government and the Canada Infrastructure Bank are committing $71.1 million in new funding to complete planning activities over two years to advance the VIA rail proposal.

The announcement was made at the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, which is housed in the former Peterborough passenger rail station. A similar announcement was made in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, as the proposed Toronto to Ottawa rail line has been paired with a Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec City line that would travel on the north side of the St. Lawrence River through Trois Rivieres.

A map that was printed along with article in the Globe and Mail that broke the news about the funding includes stations in Tweed and Sharbot Lake.

“This project would bring significant economic growth to our community and the affected regions along the corridor,” Monsef said.

The work that is slated to be done using this injection of funds includes consultation with stakeholders and indigenous communities, an examination of the required land and track acquisition, and the completion of the technical, financial, and commercial analysis that is required for a final investment decision.

Monsef added that this new expenditure is a step along a process towards bringing the new rail line to fruition but said “this train has yet to leave the station, but this is the furthest we have ever come on the idea of a passenger train.”

The project itself will cost about $4 billion to complete, $6 billion if the rail cars are fully electric. One of the potential outcomes of the $71 injection of federal dollars is to create enough certainty about the viability of the rail service for it to attract private investment dollars

In the Globe and Mail article, the section of the proposed line that runs between Ottawa and Peterborough is said to “involve reviving a long-abandoned rail line that has since been converted to a recreational trail”.

The advantage of using the trail is that it is simple to acquire, whereas the section between Peterborough and Toronto will require the purchase of an existing Canadian Pacific Rail line.

Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith received a heads up from VIA rail’s communication department about the announcement early this week, and brought the information to a meeting of Central Frontenac Council on Tuesday afternoon.

“This is the first communication I have received from VIA since just after the federal budget came out in April , when it looked like the project did not have much momentum,” Smith said. “That seems to have changed.”

The announcement of funding for rail in Eastern Ontario and Quebec comes about on the second business day after the start of a long summer of election campaigning. The House of Commons rose last week, not to return until after the election.

The Frontenac News has received an unconfirmed report that VIA rail has already looked at locations for a station in the vicinity of Sharbot Lake, and is considering ducking just south of the village rather than following the former rail line which would rumble within metres of the Sharbot Lake Family Health team, the Sharbot Lake beach and the Central Frontenac township office.

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC

Members of North Frontenac Council made short shrift of the 2018 township budget on Monday morning (January 28), working through the entire document, approving a couple of small tweaks, and approving it in principle in time for a late lunch.

The only major change they made to the document was to fund half of the $110,000 increase in the Ontario Provincial Police requisition with reserve funds instead of tax levy dollars. A $55,000 cut in the levy represents almost a 1% difference, dropping a projected increase of 2.37% in the draft budget to 1.41% in the final document. In real dollars, North Frontenac ratepayers will kick in $5.85 million this year, $88,000 more than the $5.77 million they paid in 2017. The other factors that make up the property tax bill will not have a major impact this year either, since the increase in Frontenac County taxes of about $60,000 is offset by a decrease in education taxes of about $45,000.

North Frontenac township did face some increased costs this year, including $50,000 as a first payment towards an Infrastructure Ontario loan to cover repairs and upgrades to the township office. They are also spending $100,000 extra for winter road maintenance, as well as the $55,000 extra for policing. On the other side of the ledger, the township benefited from an increase in its Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) allocation. The OMPF is a fund set up by the Province of Ontario to help rural and remote municipalities. This year the allocation to North Frontenac jumped by $234,000, to over $1.6 million.

“We did really well this year from the OMPF, and that helped us to cover some of the increased budget pressure,” said Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Robson.

Among new spending in the budget is $35,000 towards funding the phase-in for increased planning costs. At their regular meeting on Friday, January, 26, the township decided to stay with Frontenac County Planning Services even though costs are set to rise as the department adds a new senior planner. Some of the $35,000 increase in the line item for planning is to cover year one of the phase-in of those costs ($11,000) and the rest ($24,000) to cover township staffing costs related to planning.

Mayor Ron Higgins said he is very pleased with the budgeting process this year, “and in all four years we have done well. We have build up our reserves to the point where we could use $55,000 to offset increased OPP costs this year and keep the increase to 1.4%, under the inflation rate.”

He said he is “thrilled with the levy increases this council has been able to bring in, and with the impact of some of the changes that have been made at the staff level as well, which have paid off both in terms of cost and in terms of service.”

On the issue of the contract with Frontenac County for planning service, which is set to rise each year for the next three, he said that he does not see North Frontenac ever pulling out of the contract.

“We could never get a better price for planning services by going to a contract planner,” he said.

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC
Wednesday, 12 July 2017 11:02

Bob’s Lake Dam Replacement

The iconic dam at Bolingbroke that created Bobs Lake is going to be rebuilt. Careful consideration has been made in scheduling this complex, in-water construction, due to timing challenges associated with fish spawning, and both high and low water periods. Due to these challenges, the optimal month to begin construction is in early July. Although, earlier or later starting dates are possible, a July start minimizes the possibility of the project running into a more challenging spring season. As the design process is still ongoing, a summer 2017 construction start was not possible and therefore July 2018 is the new target. Due to poor quality rock at the current dam site, it is anticipated that the new dam will be located approximately 40m upstream. Additionally, a second spillway will be added to the dam in order to meet current Canadian Dam Association safety guidelines. This additional spillway will act as a redundancy in case one spillway is ever blocked or requires repair. Additionally, design work has been undertaken in order to create a new walleye spawning habitat in the stream channel that will be created between the new dam and the existing dam.

Community engagement is also underway for this project and will continue through the summer and into 2018. This will include additional public meetings that will be coordinated with community and lake associations. The new dam will not alter the water management strategy for Bobs Lake and residents should not experience any significant change in water levels as a result of construction.

The replacement of the Bobs Lake dam is part of Parks Canada’s three billion dollar investment over five years to support infrastructure work to heritage, and other assets. Dams have existed on Bobs Lake at Bolingbroke since at least 1821. In 1870 the dam site was purchased by the Government of Canada in order to enhance the size of the reservoir for the Northern Sector of the Rideau Canal. In 1871 the dam was significantly increased in size and the volume of water in Bobs Lake was raised considerably.

The current dam has been in place since 1930 and has seen several major repairs over the course of its operation.For up-todate news on infrastructure work along the Rideau Canal, please visit website: www.pc.gc.ca/rcInfrastructure. If you would like to be added to the community engagement list and receive updates on this project, please e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and include Bobs Lake Dam in the subject heading.

Published in General Interest
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With the participation of the Government of Canada