One Way Street Plan Hits A Dead End - Central Frontenac Council, September 9

Jeff Green | Sep 17, 2025

Councillor Duncan McGregor proposed a motion to “Direct staff to prepare a report to the October 28 meeting outlining potential benefits/concerns with changing Elizabeth Street to a one-way street.”

In support of the motion, McGregor said, “we have identified issues with traffic and parking in Sharbot Lake” and one of the possible ways to address the issues is to make Elizabeth Street a one-way street. McGregor’s motion asked for a staff report on the matter, to be brought back on October 28.

“I would not be disappointed if, after looking at this, we decide not to go ahead, but I would be slightly disappointed if we did not even look at this,” said McGregor.  

Mayor Smith said she has received a number of phone calls, all negative.

Councillor Bill Everett, said one-way could “impede emergency vehicles. With one-way traffic there is no place for cars to get off the road. He also said it would not change the number of vehicles turning off and on to Elizabeth from Road 38, so there is no safety benefit.

In response to a question from Councillor Gowdy, Chief Administrator Cathy MacMunn said that a one-way street was not part of the engineering for the Road 38 when the upgrade to the road was being planned.

The motion was defeated.

Municipal Accommodation Tax

Richard Allen, Manager of Economic Development for Frontenac County, brought the presentation about the work his department has undertaken to explore the possibility of a Municipal Accommodation Tax in the Frontenac townships.

The tax would have to be approved at the township level. In response to a question from Councillor Gowdy, Allen said that neither the county, nor an individual township, could administrate any tourism marketing dollars raised by such a tax, so a new entity would need to be established.

Council received Allen’s presentation as an information item (i.e. not requiring any action be taken at this time).

Building permits

The August numbers for building permits were very low, compared to other months this year, and to the numbers in August in the last two years.

This led Councillor Susan Irwin to ask, Chief Building Official Andy Dillon whether the numbers “are just a blip or part or a longer-term slowdown in construction starts.”  

Dillon sided with the “blip” concept.

“August was slow but we have about 30 permits in process at this time,” he said, “and it only takes one or two new houses to jump the numbers up quite a bit.”

Permits for $230,000 in construction were sold in August, down from $2.2 million in August of 2024, and $1.9 million in August of 2023.

In year-to-date numbers as of the end of August, the 2025 total is $7.2 million, down from the Jan-Aug total of $13.6 million in 2024, and $9.5 million in 2023. So far this year, permits for 18 new permanent and seasonal dwellings have been purchased. By the end of August in 2024, permits for 23 permanent and seasonal units had been purchased, and in 2023, the total for the same time frame was 24.

Parking Bylaw

A draft parking bylaw was tabled, and a comment period for members of council to make comments and suggestions on the bylaw, will run until the end of September. A public survey is also being undertaken, with a deadline for responses at the end of September, as well. The draft bylaw specifies there is no parking on township-owned roads, which includes former provincial highways Roads 38 and 509, within 9 metres of any intersection, and 15 metres of a railway crossing. It also restricts parking on the side of any township road when “such parking may impede or interfere with snow removal or other highway maintenance”, and “on any highway within the township between November 15 and March 31, from 12am and 7am.”

There is also a specific restriction in two locations on Road 38 in Sharbot Lake where there are currently bollards in place (in front of the township office at Robert Street, and in front of the Cardinal Café at Elizabeth Street).

The draft bylaw and survey can be found at Centralfrontenac.com, by clicking on “Parking Bylaw Survey”.

In receiving the draft bylaw, councillors Duncan McGregor and Nikki Gowdy said they were pleased that Staff were seeking public input at the early stages of the bylaw development process, in this case.

Heritage Festival Committee

Council opted to maintain the Heritage Festival Committee as a stand-alone committee, instead of turning it into a subcommittee of the Economic Development Committee. The new committee will include 2 members of council, and at least four members of the public, one from each district.

Donation to Arden Legion Quarter Auction

Council approved the donation of a $25 gift certificate for groceries and some ”new township swag”, to the Arden Legion Ladies Auxiliary.