| Jun 30, 2011


By Jeff Green and Julie Druker

Council cautious on Arden revitalization

The Aden Revitalization Project has been building up a head of steam in recent months, and Terry Kennedy submitted a report to Central Frontenac Council at their June 28 meeting on the revitalization steering committee’s goals for the next few months.

While the committee is proposing to do some work cleaning up Arden and sprucing up the park and recreation trails this summer, they were looking for council approval before getting underway because the property they are planning to work on is owned by the township.

Proposed projects include painting and staining facilities in the Kennebec Recreation Park, upgrading trails and parking adjacent to the park, cleaning up the stream bed from the Mill Pond to the Post Office bridge, and cleaning up and disposing of materials on private properties in the hamlet.

In terms of cost to the township for these efforts, the steering committee asked for some gravel for trail reclamation, and for waiving of dumping fees and some help in transporting refuse that is collected through the clean up exercises.

Council did not have much problem with the painting and cleaning up proposals, and accepted the request to waive fees and provide a truck to collect refuse. But even though the work that is proposed to be done on parking lots and trails will be done with volunteer equipment and labour, there were concerns over the scope of the work and potential liability,

“I would like to see some more detail about what is being proposed; who will be doing the work; insurance, etc., before approving that part of the proposal,” said Mayor Janet Gutowski (newly returned from a trip to Australia where she was on hand for the birth of her first grandchild.)

Council approved the painting and clean up proposals and will consider the trail and road construction projects at their meeting on July 12.

Funding application – Council is submitting a grant application for $25,000 for playground equipment for the Arden Park. With $20,000 already in the 2011 budget for equipment, if the grant from the Hydro One “Power Play” initiative comes through, there will be $45,000 available for a playground structure that would be comparable to the one that was put in at the Sharbot Lake Beach a couple of years ago.

Farmers’ market committee - Council appointed a committee to oversee the Sharbot Lake Farmers’ Market and report back to council in October. Councilor Wayne Millar will be the council representative and chair of the committee.

Lake associations - On July 9 from 10 am to noon at Oso Hall, executive members of six area lake associations will be meeting informally with members of council to bring forth any issues or items that are of concern

Approval of Road Closure - Council members agreed unanimously to close a short section of Road 38 for 15 minutes to accommodate a traditional wedding procession that will take place on Friday August 26

District 4 Recreation Issues addressed - Council passed a motion authorizing the facilities management coordinator (working cooperatively with the manager of public works) to arrange for and supervise all township dock installations and removals in the spring and fall. A previous letter to council had complained of unnecessary damage to docks in the past due to lack of communication between the recreation committees and the township.

On the same topic, council also agreed to form an Ad Hoc working committee consisting of chairs of the four recreation committees along with CAO, mayor and deputy mayor to review the roles of the township and recreation committees in the planning, providing and maintaining of public recreation facilities

Council schedule - Council agreed to reduce summer council meetings to one on July 12 and one on August 9. The meetings scheduled on July 26 and August 23 have been cancelled.

 

 

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