Rezoning of Skootamatta Lake Road to Commercial meets opposition

Craig Bakay | Oct 25, 2019

A seemingly routine public meeting to discuss a rezoning application turned out to be anything but.

The public meeting preceded North Frontenac Township’s regular Council meeting last Friday in Plevna.

The first aspect of the meeting that was not routine was that only four members of Council were in attendance (Coun. Vernon Hermer, Fred Fowler, John Inglis and Dep. Mayor Fred Perry). Perry said that he too had been considering not coming because of illness (his voice did suggest some sort of respiratory ailment) but came to ensure Council would have a quorum.

At issue was the request of Smarts Marina Ltd to rezone 804 Skootamatta Lake Road to commercial/industrial from residential to in order to store boats.

Speaking for Smarts Marina, James Smart, said they store about 150 boats and that future storage would be split between their current facility and this new property if the rezoning goes through.

“There would be no mess or garbage to speak of (on the new property),” Smart said. “All boats would be serviced at the marina before being stored on the property.

“There would be no more than five trips a day at the busiest times (and) we feel this (new storage facility) will impact the community in positive ways.”

However, adjacent property owner Brett Lord, who lives at 815 Skootamatta Lake Road, disagreed strongly.

He said that he and his partner Annie Reid started building their house, “There is no way we could have anticipated this.

“We would never have started building a home here if this compound existed.”

He said they also own a property at 828 Skootamatta Lake Road on which they planned to build a second home.

“This compound will have a negative effect on my property value, no one will buy a house next to a storage compound without a deep discount applied compared to other homes in the area.”

Lord said that they are also concerned that since they are downhill from the Smart property and they’ve already experienced problems with running water, there could be mixtures of oil, gas and battery fluids coming onto their property.

“The game has changed for me,” he said.

He wasn’t the only neighbour with concerns.

Rick Sears, who lives at 850 Skootamatta Lake Road, said: “I have similar concerns, especially with drainage.

“How can you deem this use compatible?”

Randy Sears, who lives at 843 Skootamatta Lake Road, said: “To turn a rural residential property into a commercial property, of course we’re against it.

“Yes, there are environmental concerns (and) it’s an absolutely beautiful, quiet street.”

Katherine Clarke who lives at 746 Skootamatta Lake Road, said: “We don’t like traffic.

“If you rezone for them, how many others will there be.

“If you do this, we’re selling our property.”

Nick Sproule, whose family owns property on the Road, said he was in favour of the re-zoning.

“If someone has a better picture to paint of this property, they should get out their wallet and buy it,” he said.

A bylaw to consider amending the Zoning Bylaw was deferred before the meeting.

Winter road maintenance approved for Norcan Lake Lane, but not this winter.

The group from Norcan Lake Lane who had come to Council’s previous meeting requesting winter maintenance came away from Friday’s meeting big winners, even if won’t likely happen this winter.

Council approved changing the road’s maintenance schedule to four seasons from three and even agreed to look into compensating the residents for this winter (to a maximum of $10,000) for what they’ll likely have to spend this year for snow removal, sand and salting.

“From a cost-benefit analysis it’s probably not defensible,” said Coun. John Inglis. “But I’m in favour of winter maintenance here because it’s a unique situation.

“And, this road is used by Ottawa area people for access to Crown Land.”

“From a moral issue, I feel these people have been paying full-service taxation and getting partial service,” said Coun. Vernon Hermer.

Public Works Manager said anyone contracting to service the road would have to be qualified to patrol the road and keep records.

He said: “It’s a three-month process and just not doable this year.”

CAO Cheryl Robson suggested Council get a legal opinion on what legal compensation options there are, to which Council agreed.