Central Frontenac Council - Sep 24/13

Jeff Green | Sep 25, 2013

Although the township is loathe to take on the maintenance or ownership of any private lanes for fear that it will open the floodgates for similar requests from every private lane owner in the township, staff and council have looked favourably on a portion of Fanning Lane, which is off Bell Line Road west of Road 509.

The reason they are so inclined is that the road has really been theirs all along, even though it was maintained by Butch Fanning for 28 years before he died.

“The lane is located on a township road allowance, and there is a motion from 1985 that indicated Mr. Fanning was told to use the lane to access his property. It was indicated that the public works manager of the day would be upgrading it,” said Public Works Manager Mike Richardson.

“If this has been our responsibility all along, we should at least take it on now,” said Mayor Janet Gutowski.

“Essentially, Butch Fanning did our work all that time,” said Councilor Frances Smith.

The township will take on 245 metres of the road, until the lane splits with the township road allowance. The road will be renamed Fanning Road and a sign will be put up at the point where the township responsibility ends, saying “Road is not maintained beyond this point.”

Solutions to Crow Lake Village speed woes hard to come by:

A discussion about possible solutions to the problem of cars speeding through the narrow roadway in Crow Lake village served to eliminate a number of proposed solutions.

Councilor Wayne Millar asked whether rumble strips might be a solution, but Works Manager Richardson said they can only be used on paved highways; they cannot adhere to the surface treatment on township roads such as the Crow Lake Road. The idea of speed bumps was rejected as potentially posing a danger to public safety because they could send vehicles off the road into the buildings located next to or even lower than the roadway in Crow Lake.

“Contractors use that road all the time and speed bumps have been known to cause dangerous load shifts in trucks. That would be another potential hazard,” said Richardson.

The possibility of approaching the OPP to put in a speed metre for drivers to see as they enter the village was discussed, and will be looked into.

Construction activity says above 2012, but halcyon days are still far off:

While construction figures show values that are almost a half million dollars higher than this time last year, activity remains somewhat sluggish. Thus far in 2013, permits for 11 new residential units have been issued as well as 6 new seasonal units. In 2012 those numbers were 13 and 5, and in 2011 they were 12 and 10.

Construction values by the end of September 2011 were $5.7 million, as compared to $3.8 million last year and $4.2 million in 2013.

County OP gets easier ride in Central:

In contrast to South Frontenac, Central Frontenac’s planning consultant Glenn Tunnock was kind to the draft Frontenac County Official Plan. In a report that was presented to Central Frontenac Council for adoption, Tunnock made a number of specific suggestions, and pointed to a number of issues that he feels need clarification, but his overall assessment was that as it stands the County Plan will not impede Central Frontenac as it pursues its development goals.

“Based on our review, we would not anticipate the need for a shift in the policy direction of lower tier plans; however municipalities should see clarification on the expectations of the County for studies that may be required in undertaking the next five-year review of the local official plan, especially with respect to the capability of settlement areas to accommodate further development,” Tunnock concluded.

Council accepted Tunnock’s recommendations with no further comment.