Jeff Green | Jan 29, 2020


11 months ago, with potential purchasers having contacted the township, Central Frontenac Council declared the building and land surplus to its needs in order to clear it for sale. A few weeks later, however, it became apparent that selling off the former fire-hall and the 1/2 acre parcel where it is located would not be that simple a proposition.

First of all, a ½ acre lot is undersized, and in order to make the land parcel viable for general and commercial, it would have to have adjacent lands added to it. But there are no suitable lands that can be added since the firehall is located next to the former Hinchinbrooke school on one side and the Parham Fair grounds and ball field on the other side. The well on the property served not only the fire hall but the fairgrounds and ball field as well, so a new well for those important township assets would need to be drilled if the lot were sold.

For those and a couple of other reasons, the township’s planner, Megan Rueckwald, recommended that the township look into keeping the building open as a storage facility, and spend the money required, to repair its roof and remove some drywall that has developed mold.

Councillor Nicki Gowdy said she had no problem keeping the building but said “I don’t think we need it for storage. Couldn’t we do something else with it?”

“If we wanted to use it for something else the cost of repairs would be higher. The storage use would be less costly,” said Councillor Victor Heese.

Council agreed.

Dewey unhappy with EOTA snub.

A proposal to approve the allocation of grant money from the Rural Economic Development (RED) Fund that may or may not be forthcoming, caused some consternation for Councillor Tom Dewey. Dewey is a long time Central Frontenac Council representative to the board of directors of the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance (EOTA), an ATV tourism marketing and trail not-for-profit corporation, based in Tweed. The County of Frontenac has applied for RED funding to upgrade the section of the K&P trail between Sharbot Lake and Clarendon, which is owned by Central Frontenac Township and is covered by a maintenance agreement between the township and EOTA.

“EOTA was not informed about this application, even as a courtesy,” Dewey said.

Mayor Smith said that the RED grant “is for a construction and upgrade project, it has nothing to do with maintenance”.

“As you know, Frontenac County pulled out of a maintenance agreement with EOTA for the K&P between Verona and Sharbot Lake just this month, replied Dewey, “and that was without notice as well. I can’t support this.”

Dewey’s was the only dissenting vote. If the grant application is successful, the RED money will replace existing grant money that Frontenac County has earmarked for the trail upgrade this year, freeing up money for the county to spend on other projects.

Sharbot Lake Public School Property – pilot project for communal servicing?

Frontenac County Manager of Planning and Development Services Joe Gallivan has been working on developing a new planning tool, communal servicing, in Frontenac County.

Because none of the Frontenac hamlets have municipal water and sewer systems in place, opportunities for residential development are restricted by the requirement for a well and septic system for each residential or commercial building.

The site of the former Sharbot Lake Public School is a prime example. The school was located on a two-acre lot, and Central Frontenac Township has been hoping to maximise the use of the lot in the near future. Pending some further evaluations of the existing septic system on the site, the township is hoping that it will be possible to put up two single story buildings on the site, each containing 5 one-bedroom apartments suitable for seniors.

Each of the buildings will require its own well in order to comply with provincial water regulations.

Joe Gallivan made a presentation, and urged council to apply for a $30,000 grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Green Initiative Fund, to explore the possibility of communal servicing for the site.

If communal servicing is viable, the site would have a single, professionally managed water service and septic system, and would be capable of supporting up to 40 housing units and/or commercial entities.

“The technical challenges for septic capacity can be overcome with existing technology, which has advanced in recent years,” said Gallivan.

A 40-unit development would have to be developed and financed by a private sector developer, whereas the existing plan for two, five-unit seniors buildings would likely be developed by the township and managed by the local not-for profit housing corporation.

The biggest impediment to communal service is that the township would assume financial liability if the communal servicing system ever failed and the developer went out of business.

So far, few municipalities in Ontario have been willing to take that liability on.

“The financial model is the make or break issue for this, said Gallivan, “creating a municipal services corporation to handle the liability may turn out to be the answer.

Gallivan added that the FCM has indicated to him that they would welcome an application for funding for this kind of pilot project.

Council passed a motion directing staff to prepare the grant application.

Support local
independant journalism by becoming a patron of the Frontenac News.