Huntsville - Lake of Bays Lakes Council

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Published on Huntsville Lakes Council (http://www.huntsvillelakescouncil.org)

HLC Minutes

Date: December 15, 2007

Location: 70 Hunts Road, Huntsville, ON

Present:

Bill Somers - Chair - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association

Bruce Howlett - Treasurer - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association

Burr Atkinson - Secretary - Walker and Pells Lake Association

Mary McCulley - Director - Chub Lake Property Owners Association

Tonia Di Sabatino - Director - Oxbow Lake Cottager's Association

Barb Stronach - Director - Federation of Ontario Cottagers Association

Jeanne O'Neill - Director - Harp Lake Association

John Kenny  - Director- Lake of Bays Association

Craige Boon - Otter Lake Association

Michael Young - Director - Hidden Valley Property Owners Assoc

Pat Boon - Guest

Don Bakeer - Guest

Regrets:

Elaine Jackson - Director - Fox Lake Association

Dan McKeon - Director - Peninsula Lake Association

Wendy Olan-Director - Bittern Lake Association

Ted Mercer - Director - Otter Lake Association

Dan Kerr - Director - Mary Lake Association

Bill Jolley - Director - Buck Lake Ilfracombe Association

Morris Eccles - Director- Lake of Bays Association

Rob Zingel - Director - Fairy Lake Association

Ian Hastie - Director - Lake Vernon Association

Dwayne Verhey - Webmaster - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association

1.      Call to Order: Chair, Bill Somers, opened the meeting at 10:13 AM welcoming all members and guests.

      2. Approval of the Agenda: Changes to the Agenda, as suggested by Mary M., included adding a part e) Liaison Committee under Committee Reports (6), and moving the Environment Cttee from the Policy section to this new section (i.e. e). Additions to the Agenda included adding to the New Business of the Agenda (i.e. 7) the following: (iv) FOCA and (v) Don Baker's Report on Developmental Changes in Huntsville. Motion by Mary M. and seconded by Bruce H. that the amended agenda be approved. Carried.

3. Approval of the Minutes: Motion by Burr A. and seconded by Mary M. that the Minutes be approved as amended. Carried.

4.      Treasurer's Report: Bruce H. - The Treasurer's Report was provided to the Directors. Bruce H. pointed that the Bank Fee charged to us (i.e. $2.00) will be returned since the Bank changed its policy on charging this fee. A discussion regarding moving our funds to another bank followed this statement by Bruce H. and our Treasurer said he would look into the benefits of such a move. Motion by Bruce H. and seconded by Burr A. that the Treasurer's report be approved. Carried.

5.      Comments from the Chair: Thanks to Mary M. and Elaine J. for going to Council on October 15^th in an unsuccessful attempt to get Lake Associations exempt from the fee charged to amend lake plans to the Official Plan. For almost all lake plans, the fee charged will be the one for minor amendments; $1000.00.

1. Committee Reports:

a)      Membership Committee Report: -Bruce H.- Received membership checks from Buck Lake  and Walker and Pells Lakes Associations. Still some questions about checks from Lake of Bays and Oxbow Lake Associations - Bruce H. will clarify these matters. Bill S. mentioned that the Tasso, Toad, Camp and Blue Lake Association has elected to send Shane Baker as a representative from their Lakes and that the Associations from Menominee, Dickie and Bella-Rebecca Lakes are still attempting to appoint representatives to the HLC.

b)      Communications:

i)        Forester Articles -Rob Z- Unable to attend today.

                               ii) Newsletter - Jeanne O.-Suggestion by Jeanne O. that we call this Newsletter our Winter Issue rather than our December Issue- everyone agreed. Jeanne O. said that the Newsletter was ready to go out.

c)      Special Projects:

i).Insurance: Motion by John K. and seconded by Bruce H. "that we accept the insurance coverage offered by Atrens-Counsel at $450.00 for full coverage" - motion carried.

                                    ii) Navigational Buoys -Mary M. - All of the Lakes involved had a meeting at Pipefusion last Saturday, but no agreement was reached since Jan Nyquist thought that he could make his pipe buoy into the barrel buoy and would provide a quote on his barrel buoy. Therefore, the buoy discussion was put off until Pipefusion was able to provide a quote. However, since the meeting Jan has provided a quote of $175.00 per barrel buoy and, according to Mary M., a communication from one of the Lakes claims that they could make their own barrel buoy for only $80.00. Interestingly, the cost of the buoy from the U.S. is ~$275.00 and Jan said that Pipefusion will provide a quote in the New Year on making this type of buoy. In addition, Bill S. stated that the buoy from DFO (see Minutes from last month) had been delivered to Pipefusion for their consideration. Thus, at this time, no decision has been made. Whatever the case, Mary M. felt that the lakes involved should recognize that the Mayor of Huntsville and/or the Town would only help with the cost of the buoys, if the lakes involved choose a uniform buoy. She felt that that a decision by the group regarding the buoys they wish to use needs to be reached in February.

               (d) Policy:

                          (i) Zoning By-law Review Cttee; Mary M. - The new draft of the by-laws (i.e. the final draft before it is approved) can be picked up next Wednesday. Mary M. plans to make her comments on it and send it out to our various lakes. She will ask the various lakes for their comments and/or changes so that she has a consensus document from the lakes which she will present to the Planning Committee on behalf of the HLC. Whatever, there will be one or two public meeting on this draft and Mary M. encourages as many lake people as possible to attend these meetings.

                          (ii) Letter Regarding Antler Island Severance Application; Mary M. -. Mary M. stated that she had sent a letter on November 7th to the Town stating that while the decision seemed reasonable, the HLC felt that the Town should not make it a practice of going against the Zoning-By-Laws in the Official Plan. Burr A. asked if he could have a copy of the letter for his files and Mary M. agreed. However, after some discussion, the Directors of HLC suggested that hereafter letters written on behalf of HLC should be posted on our website for all of the HLC Directors to see.

              (e) Liaison:

                                    (i) Environment Cttee; Mary M. - A guest from Simcoe-Muskoka Health Unit attended this meeting and spoke on a study they did in Gravenhurst regarding social awareness against anti-idling. Two sites were set up for this study, one at a public school and the other at a Community Centre in Gravenhurst. The speaker stated that should the results from this study appear worthwhile, they would consider working with Huntsville on presenting a similar educational program.

            The Environment Committee also intends to introduce an article in the Forester entitled "Tips for the Environment". Anyone interested in submitting tips is welcome to send these to Mary M..

            The Sound-Sorb issue has not been resolved.  

            The next meeting for the Environment Committee is next Tuesday at 7:00 PM and will focus on deciding priorities.

                          (ii) Muskoka Watershed; Mary M. - Mary M. went to a "great presentation" on the 30^th of November by Norm Yan from the Canadian Water Invasive Species Network. The talk was mainly on the Spiny Water Flea (presently found in many of our lakes) and the long term and diverse effects of it on the environment. New officers were elected to the Muskoka Watershed Council and Ian Trumbell was elected as Chairperson. Bill S. asked that Mary M. should make sure that Tonia D. gets a copy of the newly appointed executive committee for her contact records.

                          (iii) Old Business; Bill S. - Bill S. questioned whether a disclaimer had been put on the website regarding HLC Steps to Incorporation. The answer was no and Bill S. said that he would talk to our Webmaster (Dwayne V.) about putting it on our website. Bill S. also asked Tonia D. if anything had been done about putting together a "Summary" for our website regarding the Oxbow Lake and Camp Olympia legal case. The answer from Tonia D. was that it was being worked on. Bill S. asked Burr A. to resubmit a copy of the executives on the Walker & Pells Lakes area Association to Tonia D. Burr A. agreed to do this. Bill S. asked Tonia D. if the woman on her lake (see last months Minutes) was interested in writing an article for the Forester. Tonia D. stated that she had contacted her and that the woman felt that she did not have the time.

.   7. New Business:

                   (i) Stategic Planning; Mary M. - Nothing new to report from Mary M. but Bill S. mentioned that Ian H. had told him that he had a person (Lynn Sharer) on his lake who might be interested in overseeing/ conducting a meeting of this sort. However, Bill S. felt that Ian was concerned with the structure of such a meeting and what we might want this person to look at. These apparent concerns resulted in a long discussion by the Directors. Finally, Bill S. stated that he would call Ms. Sharer and find out (1) what information she would need to know, (2) what the approximate costs would be and (3) what other volunteer groups she has worked with.  

                  (ii) Fund Raising; - Tonia D. - Tonia D. suggested that we consider selling a cleaning product from Lord and Partners as a Fund Raiser. She has shared a cleaning product from Lord and Partners with relatives and neighbors, and received glowing replies about the product. The fact that this is a local company and that its products bear an Environmentally Responsible Logo, Tonia D. felt that it should be well received by customers. A long discussion, focused on its cost to us, the method and cost of selling it, labeling it, etc., followed Tonia's presentation. Finally, Bill S. volunteered to call and/or see the President of Lord and Partners and discuss the possibility of using his product as a Fund Raiser for the HLC.       

                                    (iii) Town Visioning Process; -Mary M. - On December 18^th the Town of Huntsville will put a visioning process on their website to which people can respond. Don Baker's group is preparing a video of what they feel the town should be visioning and Mary M. has asked us if we, HLC, wish to make some sort of visioning submission to the Town's website. If so, Mary stressed, we should have something prepared by January 15^th-18^th. A committee, composed of Mary M., Dwayne V., Tonia D., and Burr A., was established to put together a series of ideas we might want to focus on in a submission from the HLC.

                       (iv) Public Meeting for The Township of the Lake of Bays; -Burr A.- Burr A. said that it was an excellent meeting at which a number of representatives from several lakes, as well as contractors, lawyers, developers and other interested parties were present. The Mayor of The Township of the Lake of Bays encouraged anyone who had complaints and/or compliments regarding the operations of the Township to speak out, and they did. Burr A. felt that many issues, some of which the Townships Officers may not have been aware of, were presented and favorably received. In fact, the meeting was so well received that the Mayor suggested scheduling another, similar meeting in March of 2008.

                       (v) FOCA; -Barb S. - FOCA received a grant from the Trillium Foundation for a lake planning project in 2008. Recently FOCA's Board of Directors voted to move FOCA and its offices on February 1^st to Peterborough. Since Barb S. can not move with them, she felt that she had to resign as a FOCA representative for HLC. The HLC Directors gave Barb a round of applause for the excellent work she has done for FOCA and the HLC.     

                       (vi) Developmental Changes in Huntsville; - Don Baker -Mr. Baker informed the HLC about a huge development project proposed for the Southwest corner of the urban area (i.e. Yonge Street and Westernly over Highway 11). It is covering 340 acres and will consist of 623 housing units, a 9 hole golf course, etc. Whatever, Mr. Baker stated that at this time, he "finds no particular problems with the proposal", but wishes the HLC to be aware of this proposed project.

9. Adjournment: Motion to adjourn by Bruce H. and seconded by Burr A..   

Carried and adjourned at 12:22 PM.                

Next meeting - Saturday, January 5, 2008

Prepared by: Burr G. Atkinson - (Secretary) January 1, 2008