It is a scene that has been replicated time and time again across the country.

Fifteen or so people gathered at the almost empty Kingston airport just before 1 o'clock on Saturday, February 27. As they chatted with each other in the lobby, Nancy Bayly was sitting in a far corner with Ron Albinet of the First Baptist Church of Kingston, and Dr. Mohamad Bayoumi of the Kingston Islamic Centre.

The First Baptist Church has provided an administrative home for the Frontenac Refugee Support Committee, a group of South Frontenac and Frontenac Islands residents who have been working for months to host a family from Syria. They reached out to Dr. Bayoumi for help with translation services when the family arrived.

The three of them greeted Frontenac County Warden Frances Smith, who trekked in from Over the Hills Road (back of Road 509) to provide greetings from the County to the newcomers and the four of them formed the official greeting committee. When the small plane arrived, everyone went over the window to get a first glimpse of the 10 members of the Al Khalaf family as they disembarked.

A few business commuters came off the plane first. Then came the family: a middle-aged man and woman, three young women, three young men, and two boys. They gathered for a second on the tarmac, shivering a bit against the cold, then headed in, the boys running ahead.

The support committee hastily unfurled a Welcome to Canada banner as the greeting party headed over to the door. Bright-eyed and smiling, the family reached forward to shake hands and share hugs.

After all the planning and all the waiting - several months for the support committee and several years for the Al Khalafs - they were here. One of the committee members rushed off to gather coats; there were many to choose from because the committee only had basic information about the Al Khalafs, the number and approximate ages of each person. They then got ready to drive off to their new home.

The committee had secured a one-year lease for a four-bedroom townhouse near the Kingston Centre for the family, and one of the volunteers was already back there, preparing a Syrian welcoming meal for supper. This week will be filled with bureaucratic details, health cards and Social Insurance Numbers, etc., as well as lining up English classes and schooling for the boys and young adults in the family.

The Al Khalafs are being sponsored by the Frontenac Refugee Committee and will also be receiving some support from the federal government. The group has already raised over $33,000 out of a preliminary goal of $45,000. There will be some support from the federal government, but the bulk of the responsibility for supporting the Al Khalafs for their first year in Canada falls to the committee.

At first, the committee was told that they were going to be hosting a six-member family, and then they found out they would be hosting a 12-member family. This has been the basis for their fundraising efforts. However, shortly before they learned that 10 members of the Al Khalaf family would be arriving on February 27, they also found that an additional four members will be arriving in the coming weeks, one of whom is pregnant and due to deliver in May.

“We are committed to supporting the family for a year financially, but the commitment doesn't end there. We will be following them until they are completely settled and making a contribution. Their priorities right now are to learn English, go to school, and find work, as soon as possible,” said committee member Ruth Allen.

The Al Khalafs are living in Kingston for the time being, even though they are being sponsored by Frontenac County residents.

“The services are in Kingston,” said committee member Nancy Bayly, “and the language training is in Kingston, so we decided early on that even though we are a Frontenac County group, we would look to find a place for them in Kingston to start off. They may move to Frontenac County once they are settled, but they are in Kingston for now.”

Of the 10 who arrived on Saturday, six will be attending school, starting this week.

Meanwhile, back at the airport, the adults were figuring out how to deal with the luggage and who was going to drive with whom. The two young boys, who had been fidgeting as all the greetings were taking place, broke free and bolted out of the terminal door to the parking lot. They veered left as they got out the door, chased each other for a minute, then finding a bit of snow, one of them gathered it up in his bare hands and threw the snow at the other.

The snow was not ideal for snowballs, but they did the best they could, laughing the whole time.

Appeal period passes without incident

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has clarified the wording in a clause they inserted into the Frontenac County Official Plan, and South Frontenac Planner Lindsay Mills has informed his Council that an appeal is no longer necessary.

The issue that concerned Council was over a clause prohibiting development within settlement areas or hamlets where public water and sewer services are not available. As Mills pointed out to members of South Frontenac Council at a meeting on January 26, this clause would affect development in all of South Frontenac hamlets (and all hamlets in the entire County)

Even Sydenham, the only hamlet in SF that provides water for residents, does not have a sewer system in place.

The clause included an exception, however, permitting new development in cases of “infilling and minor rounding out of existing development”.

Mills wrote to the Ministry on the morning of January 27th asking for clarification, and on the same day Damien Shaeffer of the Ministries Kingston office, saying, in part “the terms 'infill' and 'minor rounding out' are not defined and allow flexibility for implementation based on local circumstances.”

Shaeffer added that proponents of development within hamlets will “need to demonstrate that there will be no negative impacts associated with the provision of individual on-site services before the development can proceed.”

Since this is already how development is done in South Frontenac, Mills did not feel it necessary file an appeal of the Frontenac County Official Plan by the Monday deadline.

Instead he sent an email to members of Council late last week, along with a copy of Shaeffer's response. In his email, he said “This letter addresses the Committee of the Whole’s requirement for written confirmation of the meaning of the wording. Accordingly, no appeal to the passing of the County Official Plan is necessary.”

The Frontenac County Official Plan comes into effect tomorrow morning, February 2nd, having cleared this final hurdle.   

The companies that have proposed wind projects in Addington Highlands and North Frontenac, and solar projects in South Frontenac will have to wait until early spring to find out if the Independent Electricity Service Operator (IESO) has accepted their bids under the Large Renewable Procurement (LRP) process for renewable energy projects.

A statement on the IESO website says that the delay has come about because of the unprecedented response to the LRP.

“Based on the high volume of proposals received in response to the LRP I RFP (103) and complexity of the evaluation process, the target date for the completion of the evaluation of proposals described in the Timetable has been extended to March 2016,” is the message that was posted on the site on November 20.

The original timetable for the announcement of the winning bids was set for November or December.

The wind projects have been controversial, sparking the establishment of a group called BEARAT (Bon Echo Area Ratepayers Against Turbines), and at least one of the solar projects, Collins Lake, which is located on Perth Road just south of Inverary, is also controversial.

South Frontenac Township Council has come out against the Collins Lake solar project, but they have supported other projects in the township. North Frontenac Township Council is also opposing the NorthPoint 1 wind turbine project, being developed by NextEra within their boundaries.

Addington Highlands Council has come out in favour of the NorthPoint 2 wind project of NextEra and the Denbigh wind project, which has been developed by Renewable Energy Systems of Canada.

Rightly so, Frontenac Park is considered the hidden jewel of Frontenac County. It is located in the midst of an array of communities and cottage lakes, within a stone's throw of Sydenham and is a short drive from Kingston; and yet it is a backwoods park in a unique geological and climactic location. It features the best canoeing, camping and hiking this side of Bon Echo Park, which is also a jewel but one that is less hidden and is also shared between Frontenac and Lennox and Addington.

In his definitive book on the back story about the land where Frontenac Park is located, “Their Enduring Spirit: the History of Frontenac Park 1783-1990”, Christian Barber extensively researched all of the development that took place in and around the park before the idea of a park was floated and eventually acted upon in the 1960s.

In doing so, Their Enduring Spirit is not only a valuable resource in terms of how the park was developed; it is also an account of the difficulties posed by the Frontenac Spur of the Canadian Shield on those who were unlucky enough to attempt homesteading in its rocky terrain.

The park is located in what were then Loughborough and Bedford Townships, now both part of the Municipality of South Frontenac. Many of the settlers who attempted to make a life in that region did so in the mid-to-late 1800s. There were some Loyalists among them, but there were also a number of Irish immigrants who made their way first to St. Patrick's Church in Railton, and then headed into the wilderness north of Sydenham in search of a new life.

What greeted them was brutal and difficult.

The history of a number of homesteading families forms the core of Their Enduring Spirit. Based on historic records, interviews with descendants who lived on or visited those who lived on the farms, and by walking the land and examining the remnants that are being reclaimed as wilderness lands, a picture of life in the back townships during the first 100 years of Frontenac County emerges.

The first family to be profiled in the book is the Kemp family, who arrived at their farm at Otter Lake, near the west gate of the park, sometime in the 1860s. By the time of the 1871 census, William and Jane Kemp, both 47, had six children living with them. The land they laid claim to, in addition to other properties taken on by their son George, was very good by local standards. Over two decades of work, making use of the efforts of the entire family, 30 acres of the 95 acre property had been cleared.

“That might not sound like much to show for 20 years of labour, but in that district most farms worked 15 or 20 cleared acres. In fact the clearing was usually completed in relatively short order. But it was back-breaking work, without mechanical means. It involved cutting down the trees and clearing the brush, then burning the stumps that could not be wrenched from the ground by a team of horses or oxen and hauled away to form a first fence row. In the meantime the job of raising a crop to feed the family over the winter had to go on, and the first seeds were usually sown among the stumps ... it was no wonder that among the first settlers it was axiomatic to hate trees,” wrote Christian Barber in Their Enduring Spirit.

The Kemp family prospered, and by 1900 the original log cabin that was built in the early 1870s had disappeared beneath white, painted clapboard, and numerous outbuildings had been constructed as well. There was a root cellar below, and fields that extended right to the front doorway.

Still, cash was not easy to come by.

A ledger from M.A. Hogan's General Store in Sydenham illustrates this. In late 1912, Mary Shales Kemp, George's wife, who managed the family finances among numerous other tasks, purchased dishes, a pair of overalls for a dollar, and the indulgences of walnuts and a vase, for a total cost of $7.32.

Her custom was to pay for her purchases with butter and eggs from the farm. However on this occasion, after the eggs and butter were factored in there was a shortfall of $1.45. Back went the overalls and the extra 45 cents was paid in cash.

During the mica mining year in the first decade of the 20th century, George Kemp found a number of small deposits on his farm, and even took on investors to pay the $70 that was needed for drills and blasting powder at one site. However, enough mica was never found to make a profit on the venture.

To the extent that there were roads in the area, they were built and maintained by all of the farmers living in there, sometimes as part of their taxation responsibilities, which, in the late 19th century, included putting in some time improving the local roads.

While the Kemp family were able to establish a successful farm in what is now Frontenac Park, it was ultimately unsustainable. Mary Kemp lived on the farm after George died, but moved away in 1928 and sold the property in 1941. The last people to occupy it were a family from Wyoming in the late 1940s.

By the time Mary Kemp died in Sydenham in 1952 at the age of 93, the property where she had made her life had been abandoned and the house and barns had burned down.

When Christian Barber went to the property in the late 1980s as he was preparing his book, it was mostly overgrown with vegetation, and it required effort on his part to find the remnants of what had been a going concern for 60 or 70 years.

He notes this at the end of his chapter on the Kemp family of Kemp Road : “... the fields, so painstakingly cleared and planted and harvested by generations of settlers, are overgrown with sumac and birch, locust and juniper. Rusted barbed wire – embedded by years in the centre of the trees that it was originally stapled to the bark of – is stretched to the breaking point by fallen trees, and there is no one to cut them away; no farmer in overalls, with strong, knuckly, barked, and sun-tanned hands to walk the line on a summer day between haying and harvest and maintain a fence.”

The Kemp family's story is similar in outcome to others told in the book - struggle and some success followed by a move to better farmland elsewhere in the region or to work off the farm in Sydenham or beyond. Mining and logging were also prevalent in the park. Logging started in the early 19th century and mining later on, with the logging having the greatest impact on the land, as it did elsewhere in the region generally.

In the interesting chapter on mining, Barber touches on the story of Antoine Point on Devil Lake.

Francis Edward Antoine and his wife, Letitia Whiteduck, built a log cabin on the Point in the mid 19th century and they are buried there. One of their sons, John Antoine, is listed, along with the government, as the owner of Antoine Point in the 1883 Meacham map, one of the best source materials for information about land ownership in those years. John, with his wife Elizabeth Hollywood, had 11 children. According to Antoine family lore, it was John who found mica deposits at Antoine Point, although there are competing accounts about who found the ore at that location, and it seems that the Point became of interest to mining interests in the early 1890s.

There is an entry in the land registry indicating that John Antoine sold his interest in the land to William Jones for $50 in 1897, and the Antoines moved to Godfrey, and eventually back to Sharbot Lake, where another branch of the family was already located.

The idea of establishing a wilderness park on the lands in Loughborough and Bedford township that had resisted settlement, and whose lakes (Devil, Big Clear, Otter, and Buck) were not already cut up into cottage lots, was first floated in the 1940s.

In 1954 a Parks Division was created within the Department of Lands and Forests of Ontario (the precursor to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

In 1957, the Kingston Rod and Gun Club submitted a proposal for a new park to serve the growing numbers of people in Kingston and southern Frontenac County wanting to experience the great outdoors, hiking, camping, fishing and the enjoyment of a sandy beach.

The proposal included twenty seven 200 acre lots in Bedford and twenty five 200 acre lots in Lougborough, a total of 16.2 square miles, with an option to increase it to 23.7 square miles if the area below Otter lake was added.

That effort was not successful, and seemed to be dead when Murphy's Point Park on Big Rideau Lake near Perth was established instead.

Five years later, in 1962, another group, the Kingston Nature Club, put forward a similar proposal. This time, even though the cost of purchasing private land for the park had ballooned to $200,000, the proposal was successful. It eventually cost over $1 million to create Frontenac Park, which opened in the late 1960s.

The park's first superintendent, Bruce Page, was the great grandson of Jeremiah, one of the first settlers on the land in the vicinity of what became Frontenac Park.

Applewood Application Forwarded to County for Final Approval

Planner Lindsay Mills presented his recommendation that Council receive the October 30 planning report and forward all relevant documents to the County, as representing the Township’s conditions of draft approval for the Applewood plan of condominium for 22 (reduced from 23) residential units on the eastern portion of Loughborough Lake.

In his report, Mills referred to a public meeting on September 2 (a meeting that actually occurred on October 7), during which he said “members of the public made a number of specific enquiries about the development but most comments were positive.”

This is somewhat at odds with the report of this meeting in the Frontenac News of October 9, which indicated many unresolved concerns from residents, under the general tenor of 'I’m not against development, but…'.

Some of the people at that October 7 meeting asked about the reliability of the well monitoring tests, the perceived lack of adherence to the goals and vision of the Township’s official plan, and the creation of lots with protected wetlands as their waterfront. At the time many of the 60 residents present asked for one more public meeting before the township forwarded the draft plan to the County.

Nonetheless last week Council passed Mills’ recommendation with no discussion.

Last Meeting of this Council

Mayor Davison presented plaques to departing members of Council Larry York and Al McPhail: Del Stowe was absent. Deputy Mayor Vandewal gave a similar plaque to Mayor Gary Davison, who thanked Council, staff and community volunteers for their hard work, support and cooperation. Davison said “The township is a success story, and I have found my time on Council both as councilor and mayor to have been a truly enjoyable experience. Thank you all.”

The first meeting of the new Council will be Tuesday December 2.

The South Frontenac Council chambers will never look the same again.
A brand new coat of arms for the township was unveiled on Tuesday night, August 5. It is fastened to the wall behind the Council table and can be seen from anywhere in the room.
Former township councilor, Mark Tinlin, who resigned last year in order to move to St. Thomas for family reasons, was the driving force behind establishing a coat of arms for the township during his time on council. He returned to Sydenham to participate in the unveiling.
Once the gleaming new sculpture was unveiled, Tinlin explained all the elements. There are four reeds in the middle of the coat of arms, representing the four founding townships and referring to common vegetation in the township. At the top is a loon, a reference to the lakes in the township, and on it there is a circular crest in colours that are a nod to the Algonquin heritage. On either side of the crest there are Griffon’s claws, taken from the coat of arms of Sieur de Frontenac. The loon is perched on a crown, a reference to municipal governance. The stags on either side are symbolic of the woods and the hunting traditions. One of the stags has a crest with a fish to mark recreation and tourism and the other has a milk can to illustrate the agricultural history of South Frontenac. The stags are standing on Canadian Shield rocks that are dotted with Trilliums, a common flower in South Frontenac and the floral symbol of Ontario. The wording on the sash at the bottom, "Our Strength is Our Community", was the winning entry in a township-wide slogan competition. It was submitted by township resident Neil Allan.
“This beautiful coat of arms will be here forever,” said Tinlin.
Mayor Gary Davison thanked Tinlin for his efforts, and wished him well in St. Thomas, where he is running for alderman in the coming election.

Financial Audit Report

Howard Allan, a Chartered Accountant from Perth, reviewed his company’s audit of South Frontenac’s 2013 finances. Mr Allan made it clear that his approach was broader than merely reviewing the financial statements; it included a thorough review of governance policies and administrative and decision-making processes relating to “The orderly and efficient conduct of the Township’s business.”

Although he made a few minor recommendations, Allan’s overall report was very positive. He complimented staff on their cooperation, high level of professionalism and well-maintained records. “The Township’s financial position is strong.”

Development Charges Update

South Frontenac is the only Township in the County that presently levies development charges. A development charge is a fee that may be added to residential building permits, to help offset the increased costs of providing services to the new residents. Although the highest percentage of the charge goes to public works (roads, bridges, equipment), money is also apportioned to fire protection, police services, general government, recreation and libraries. A public meeting to review the Ainsley Group’s background study and recommendations on the Township’s charges drew no comments from the floor. An updated fee schedule will be incorporated into a by-law this fall.

Proposed Signage By-law

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth brought a draft by-law intended to address the proliferation of signs within some of the Township’s road allowances. He said that the question of commercial signage (which includes the blue ‘government-looking’ tourism signs) will need further discussion: should the Township rent road allowance space, or restrict commercial signs to a specific distance from the road?

Long Swamp Bridge to Remain Closed for Now

The roads department has just received a draft version of the Long Swamp bridge assessment, and has not had time to thoroughly review it. The options listed are: 1) do nothing/confirm load posting, 2) remove bridge and close road, 3) strengthen existing bridge, and 4) replace with new structure. Projected costs of these options run from $5,000 to $200,000.

Council accepted Segsworth’s recommendation that the Long Swamp Road remain temporarily closed until this issue has been resolved. 

Fire Services Save Life

South Frontenac resident Randy King spoke to Council of his heartfelt thanks to Fire Chief Chesebrough and the volunteers of South Frontenac Fire Department. He described how their prompt and appropriate intervention saved his life during a sudden health crisis in early June.

Speakers Series Proposed

Geoff Sandiford of the Frontenac County Sustainability Advisory Committee introduced the committee’s new chair, Tracy John. He then spoke of their proposal to set up a series of speakers this fall to address ‘subjects that matter’ to residents of each of the Townships. He said they wanted to know what topics Council felt would be relevant to their local communities. Councillor McDougall said that at the annual meetings the Township had held with local Lake Associations, there seemed ongoing confusion about the roles of the Stewardship Committee, the Conservation Authorities, and the Ministry of Natural Resources; perhaps an evening that included representatives from each of these agencies would be useful for the lake associations.

The rest of Council agreed: no one offered any other suggestions, although Sandiford had listed a number of potential topics including: car share programs, volunteering, solar hot water heaters, septic alternatives, seed banks, environmentally conscious movie nights, and community revitalization. Mayor Davison thanked them for coming, and said they ‘had planted the seeds’ of a number of ideas for engaging the residents in our communities.

New CAO

County Warden Bud Clayton introduced Kelly Pender, new CAO for Frontenac County. Pender spoke of the importance of the County and the Townships working together in partnership.

Request to Lease Township Property

A resident of Harrowsmith has asked Council to consider leasing, with an option to purchase, a small parcel of Township land in the village of Harrowsmith. He says he is renting a neighbouring apartment, and would like to park his RV on the property. After a brief discussion, Council agreed unanimously that they intended to retain the land in question, would not consider leasing it, and if they should at some time decide to sell it, they would contact adjoining landowners to see if they had any interest in the parcel as a lot addition, for it is too small to be considered a separate property.

Chip Wagons

Further to recently expressed concerns about the chip wagon bylaw, the Corporate Services Committee has recommended three changes to clarify the bylaw: 1) specify that licenses are issued by the Building Inspector, not Council; 2) state that chip wagons should not be located within 500 meters of a business where similar products are sold unless there is written consent from the permanent business, and 3) eliminate the suggestion that any vendor can simply make application to Council for an exemption from any provision of the bylaw. These recommendations will be brought to Council as part of a consolidated bylaw, and once passed, a copy will be issued to all current license holders.

Exerpts from the citations for South Frontenac Volunteer of the Year awards

Lory Dark

Lory Dark has been a dedicated member of the volunteer staff of the Portland Township Community Caring, an organization located in the Princess Anne Building in Hartington, for many years.

Community Caring receives donations of used clothing, household items, toys and books from the community. Lory and her volunteers sort and price the articles which are then sold for a very modest amount. Their mission is Reuse, Recycle and Reduce. Lory helps to distribute the funds that are taken in and in turn the funds are donated to community associations such as the Township Firefighter’s Association or Southern Frontenac Community Services.

Although Lory would be the first to admit that it takes a team of dedicated volunteers to manage the never-ending administration of the Centre, Lory is being recognized for her years of dedication leadership, including the successful application in 2011, when she was the Chairperson, to become a Committee of the Township of South Frontenac.

Norm Irwin

Lifelong South Frontenac resident Norm Irwin’s first love was baseball. He started coaching at the age of 16 and has been actively involved in minor baseball ever since. He coached Central Frontenac Cyclones Rep. Fastball Teams from 2000 to 2013 from Mite to Junior Division. If you wanted to find Norm between April and October just go to one of the local baseball diamonds. This schedule requires a very supportive family. His wife Sheryl, his sons Doug and Brett, and his daughter Jacklyn are actively involved in Norm’s coaching activities. Over his career Norm has won 4 Ontario Championships (Squirt, PeeWee, Bantam, and Junior).

In addition to his coaching, Norm also has provided countless hours of property maintenance on behalf of the Township.

In addition to his baseball exploits, he has been a member of the Loughborough Parks and Recreation Committee since 2008. He has been leader in the Friday Night Lights Committee which was instrumental in acquiring lights on McLellan Field in Sydenham for the past seven years. This committee through fundraising donated over $30,000 to this project. He has also coached Bantam Rep. Hockey and he has refereed the Wednesday Night Basketball League for 5 years. Norm’s contribution to the school community was recognized this year by Sydenham High School when he was awarded the Hilliard Watson Memorial Trophy for Community Involvement.

Norm’s passion for sports and commitment to the community makes him a worthy recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award for 2014.

Jim Kelly

Jim has been a Lion since 2005 and has held the offices of President, Vice President, Membership Chair of the Sydenham and District Lion’s Club, but most importantly he was the leader starting Vision Screening in Loughborough and Harrowsmith Schools. A program by District A3 Lions to assess Kindergarten school age children for their ability to see and starting in the new school year also to assess their ability to hear.

Secondly, as part of the Medical Alert bracelet program with Lions Clubs in Canada Jim started and organized the Sydenham District Lions Golf Tournament with goal of funding local schools. This program provides the Medical Alert bracelets as needed to school children upon request through the School Administration.

Finally, it’s important to highlight Jim’s involvement with the Loughborough Christmas & Emergency Relief Committee. Jim for years has volunteered with this committee and its efforts to provide community relief in the form of food and / or financial assistance as needed.

We wish to thank Jim for his many contributions to this community by recognizing him as Volunteer of the Year.

Roberta Smith

If anything is happening in Battersea, Roberta Smith, a lifelong resident, is there, willing to lend a helping hand. Roberta has volunteered at Battersea United Church for many years, cooking, cleaning and serving delicious church suppers and luncheons and much more.

Since her retirement she has joined the Storrington Retirees Association, where she was elected to the Retirees Executive and volunteered to look after the Entertainment Committee. She does a wonderful job keeping everyone entertained at the luncheon meetings every month. Roberta volunteered to be the representative of the retirees Association on the Storrington Recreation Committee. The committee put her to work: she volunteered to arrange to have the Storrington Centre painted, the floors stripped and cleaned, and more. Roberta has been a great help at the Canada Day Celebrations at the Gerald Ball Memorial Park on July 1^st an excellent celebration for the community. Andof course, she has been a strong presence at the Pumpkin Festival. We wish to thank Roberta for her many contributions to this community by recognizing her as Volunteer of the Year

Meeting was opened with one minute’s silence, to honour the memory of Debbie Bracken, who for many years was Township treasurer.

Banking Bid Decided

Treasurer Fragnito reported that, of the five proposals from area banks, two stood out from the rest: National Bank and RBC. After satisfying interview requirements, she and CAO Orr recommended continuing the Township’s banking relationship with the RBC: “…we both strongly felt that…although National Bank offered the best net position to the Township, there would be a loss functionality and internal controls.” Council agreed to enter into a five year agreement with the RBC, with an option to renew for a further two years.

Surplus Money

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) announced in May that they had surplus funds from Gas Tax money set aside for administration, and would be distributing, on a one-time basis, the unused funds back to municipalities to invest in infrastructure. South Frontenac’s share of $14,937.65 will be allocated to the Township’s Federal Gas Tax reserve until a project is chosen.

ComplIance Audit Committee

Amendments to the Municipal Elections Act require Council to appoint a committee to review written complaints about campaign finances. Council approved the appointment of three qualified applicants: Roxy Dennison-Stewart and Christine Bell, both of Loughborough, and Sandy Cameron of Bedford.

“We Need a Policy”

A proposal for a Storrington subdivision draft plan hit a snag over a comment from Public Works advising that 712 metres of municipal road between the firehall and the subdivision entrance should be surface treated by the developer.

Public Works Manager Segsworth said this was based on the projected increase of traffic over this portion of gravel road, citing similar requirements for passing lanes and upgrades to intersections which developers have been required to provide before gaining approval for other projects. Planner Mills confirmed that there were provisions in the Planning Act which would allow this.

Councillor McPhail agreed that if such improvements were required, saying they should not become a burden on all taxpayers. Mayor Davison and Deputy Mayor Vandewal both said that although the road upgrade sounded like a good idea, the Township needed a clear policy before requiring a private developer to upgrade a public road.

Council voted to defer a decision to forward the draft report to the County, pending further discussion.