High Speed Internet Coming To Addington Highlands

Craig Bakay | Oct 13, 2021

After more than a year of flawless online meetings, it was bound to happen sooner or later. The audio portion of Addington Highlands Council’s Oct. 5 meeting simply didn’t come through to the YouTube feed. You could see them, but what came through audibly was garbled beyond recognition.

“We didn’t know it was happening,” said CAO/Clerk Christine Reed. “If we had known, we’d have recessed and tried to fix it.

“I don’t know what the problem was but we’ll have someone from the County in and we hope to have it resolved by the next Council meeting (Oct.19).”

Perhaps somewhat ironically, one of the larger items being discussed on Oct. 5 presented some good news on the electronics communications front.

Council did approve sending a letter of concurrence to Rogers Communications regarding a new communications tower at the Mazinaw Lakeside Resort.

But that’s not all.

Council received correspondence from Rogers concerning the new tower site in Denbigh as well as proposals for three other locations (Hwy 41 and Massanoga, Hwy 41 and Slate Falls Rd. and Snider Road and Matawatchan Road).

“As people rely more on wireless devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops for business and personal use, network improvements are required to ensure high quality voice and data services are available,” Rogers said. “As a Tier 1 Carrier, Rogers’ federal mandate is to fill coverage gaps such that all residents have access to high speed broadband services.”

“Improvements will be all along the 41 corridor in the beginning,” said Reed.

“This is an encouraging development,” said Reeve Henry Hogg in an interview the day after the meeting. “This is part of the Eastern Ontario Cell Gap project and there’s federal money going into it.

“We haven’t had much cell coverage and internet too.”

Hogg said that given trends happening during the pandemic, this could bode quite well for the future of the Township.

“It’s a start,” he said. “I think people can relocate here and this could encourage them to work from home.

“I’m optimistic.”

Hogg said that wireless communication and banking was part of his election platform.

“We even have an ATM at the Foodland now, meaning we don’t all have to depend on the Bank of Montreal.”

Crown Land Stewardship in AH

Council added Joel Arthurs and Bruce Schwenger to the Working Group studying a potential Crown Land Stewardship Program with Arthurs representing lake associations and Schwenger representing residents.

However, while he’s prepared to discuss it, Reeve Henry Hogg said he has some “reservations” about the whole idea of creating a system similar to what neighbouring North Frontenac Township has developed.

“I have some concerns,” Hogg said. “I see it as being very expensive.

“We’d have to hire some people and get some new equipment to build roads and then we’d have to maintain them — they can’t be just forest access roads.”

He said the roads will have to be maintained as well as any potential campsites and “you can’t just send one person out, it has to be two.”

He said the Township would likely have to obtain some boats and there will be acquisitions in terms of computers and software for booking sites.

“It’s a concern,” he said.

Pigeon removal – discs favoured over nets, or guns

CBO David Twiddy thinks he might have come up with a solution to all the pigeons roosting in the outdoor arena in Finton.

The pigeons seem to have moved in to a shadowed location in the roof of the west wall of the arena which is sheltered from the wind and elements. While the birds themselves aren’t that big of a problem, what they leave behind, ie pigeon poop, is and not only are the droppings a potential health hazard, who wants to sit on benches covered in pigeon poop?

Spurred on by Coun. Helen Yanch, Twiddy has looked at various potential solutions including $57,000 worth of netting and offers of .410 owners to clean them out. But neither solution was deemed acceptable.

So, he contacted Orkin Canada, who suggested a rather sci-fi solution, something called Optical Gel Disks.

“The salesperson said the six-inch disks give off a low-level sound that creates the impression the disks are on fire and the pigeons won’t go near them,” Twiddy said. “They also have a lemon scent that the birds don’t like.”

Twiddy said they’d probably need about 740 of the disks spaced six inches apart but even so, “it will probably cost one-twentieth of what we’d have to pay for netting.

“We’re now looking for a quote.”