HLC Board Meeting-2008_03_08
Published on Huntsville Lakes Council (http://www.huntsvillelakescouncil.org)
HLC Minutes
Date: March 8, 2008
Location: Robinson Independent Grocer Community Room, Huntsville, ON
Present:
Bill Somers - Chair - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association
Bruce Howlett - Treasurer - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association
Burr Atkinson - Secretary - Walker and Pells Lakes Area Association
Mary McCulley - Director - Chub Lake Property Owners Association
Ted Mercer - Director - Otter Lake Association
Dan McKeon - Director - Peninsula Lake Association
Tonia Di Sabatino - Director - Oxbow Lake Cottager's Association
Ian Hastie - Director - Lake Vernon Association
Wendy Olan-Director - Bittern Lake Association
Don Baker - Guest
Regrets:
Mike Greenfield - Director - Mary Lake Association
Dan Kerr - Director - Mary Lake Association
Jeanne O'Neill - Director - Harp Lake Association
John Kenny - Director- Lake of Bays Association
Michael Young - Director - Lake Waseosa
Elaine Jackson - Director - Fox Lake Association
Bill Jolley - Director - Buck Lake Ilfracombe Association
Morris Eccles - Director- Lake of Bays Association
Rob Zingel - Director - Fairy Lake Association
Shane Baker - Director - Tasso, Toad, Camp and Blue Lakes Association
Kim Small - Director - Hidden Valley Property Owners Association
Dwayne Verhey - Webmaster - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association
1. Call to Order: Chair, Bill Somers, opened the meeting at 9:38 AM welcoming all members and guests.
2. Approval of the Agenda:. Motion by Dan M. and seconded by Burr A. that the amended agenda be approved. Carried.
3. Approval of the Minutes: Motion by Dan M. 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 out that the HLC February balance is $1583.87 and that the HLC Directors Insurance has been paid (i.e. $486.00). Bruce H. reported that he was still dealing with Dickie Lake and Lake Vernon Associations regarding their membership dues. Motion by Bruce H. and seconded by Dan M. that the Treasurer's report be approved. Carried.
5. Comments from the Chair: Bill S. reported that the new Director for Hidden Valley Property Owners Association is Kim Small. Bill S. and Mary M. had a meeting with Lynn Sharer (Human Resources Consultant) on February 19th (to be reported on later). Thanks to Mary M. for the February newspaper article on the Environment Commissioner of Ontario's report. Also seeking people to put forward for an Environmental award by the Town of Huntsville's Environment Committee. Reminder that March 29th between 8-9:00 PM is Earth Hour. Bill S. has a CD on the 2007 Lake System Health Monitoring Program and is glad to share it with anyone interested.
6. Lake Association Reports/Concerns:
a) Lake Waseosa - Bruce H. reported that the Winter Newsletter of this Association was sent out and is on their Website. He also said that the Association finally went to court on the severance issue and the judge decided that this issue should go to a ‘full' court case sometime in September. This Association recently made submissions to the Town of Huntsville regarding proposed zoning by-laws.
b) Chub Lake - Mary M. reported that the Chub Lake Property Owners Association went to a public meeting on the Huntsville Highland Estates development. She reported that the property owners had some concerns which were discussed at this meeting. Namely, the infringement of the proposed trails on the back lots of the Chub Lake property owners and the possible light spillage from the proposed development. The builders listened and implied that they would make changes in the concerns raised by the property owners.
c) Oxbow Lake - Tonia D. had nothing new to report.
d) Peninsula Lake - Dan M. reported that the Association was very pleased that they won the case against the quarry issue. However, he also stated that the door was left open by the Court for the quarry owners to open this issue again. He also stated that the Association was very pleased to have received the approximately 2 acres of land given to them in a Land Trust (corner of Shaw and Maplehurst) and that they will be planting trees on the land.
e) Lake Vernon - Ian H. reported that the Lake Vernon Association plans to do a major water study on Lake Vernon. The Lake Vernon Environmental Association has started fund raising to support this study. This study is thought to cost about $10,000.00 and approximately one half of the money has been raised. Ian mentioned that at this time he was not sure about the details of the study.
f) Otter Lake - Ted M. reported that three Directors sent letters to the Town of Huntsville regarding the new by-laws, and the identification and protection of the wetlands surrounding Otter Lake. Moving forward!
g) Bittern Lake - Wendy/Joe O. reported that the addition of condo units to the development on their lake was of concern. Originally, only 11 units/lots were to be built on the lakeshore, however more recently that has been increased to 25 units through the condo density. A meeting was held with the Parry Township Council in October and concerns were raised about the impact of this proposal. The main concern raised involved the maintenance of Boundary Road (the only access road to the property). He noted that Perry Sound has an official Plan, but Joe was not sure if the builders were following it.
h) Walker & Pells Lakes - Burr A. reported that the District is planning to do a land survey on Walker Lake this year. This Associations AGM is set for June 28th.
7. Committee Reports:
a) Membership Committee Report: -Bruce H. - A new Director (Kim Small) has been appointed for the Hidden Valley Property Owners Association.
b) Communications:
i) Forester Articles -Rob Z- Unable to attend today.
ii) Newsletter - Jeanne O. Unable to attend today.
c.) Special Projects:
(i) Navigational Buoys -Mary M. -Mary M. reported that she calculated the cost for each complete Buoy set-up to be approximately $350.00 (includes buoy, chain, anchor, etc.). Since 24 buoy set-ups would be required, she submitted a document to the Mayor stating that $8,500.00 would be required for purchasing the buoy set-ups and installing them on the lakes. This document was submitted to Council for consideration in their budget meeting (March 10th). The Mayor said that he would support this on the basis that it would support Huntsville and boating for the tourists.
(ii) Strategic Planning; - Bill S. reported that he called a meeting of the Planning Committee (i.e. Tonia D., Barb S., Mary M. and himself) and they felt that they should obtain some feedback from the Associations, before they approach Lynn Sharer or any other Human Resource Consultant regarding our proposed strategic planning review. To obtain some feedback, they decided that a letter should go out to the Presidents of all the HLC Associations with questions posed about the HLC that they might answer/address (i.e. a survey of our mandates / operations / potential, etc.) and/or hold a meeting attended by all the Presidents of the different Lake Associations. In preparation for devising the appropriate questions to ask of the Presidents Bill has circulated a memo for us (the HLC Directors) to answer, address and /or modify. Bill would like an answer from all of the Directors within 2 weeks!
d.) Policy:
(i) Zoning By-law Review Cttee; Mary M. - Mary M prepared a consensus document from the lakes associations within the Town of Huntsville concerning the Draft Zoning By-laws which she presented to the Review Planning Committee on behalf of the HLC. A Zoning By-law Committee meeting was held week which she was unable to attend, however Bill S. did attend it. Mary reported that she had some special issues she wanted to bring up at the meeting (the Muskoka Heritage Areas and the mapping of the wetlands) that are not considered or mentioned in the Draft Zoning By-Laws. Since neither of these topics was dealt with at the meeting, Mary said that she would send a memo to the committee addressing her concerns regarding these issues. Although a number of concerns were dealt with at this meeting, a number of additional Public meeting are to be held prior to the adoption of these By-laws on June 22-23. The proposed dates for these additional meetings are set for March 20th, April 17th, May 9th and May 20th.
(ii) Environment Cttee; Mary M. reported that the Environment Committee has concerned itself almost solely over the past month with storm-water management at River Mill Park. The recommendation at its February 20th meeting for an oil/grit separator and dry swale to collect storm-water in the north end of the Park was denied by Council and replaced with an OGS and pipe only. At a special meeting on February 20th, the Environment Committee recommended an OGS and dry pond which is going to Council on Monday night. Mary thinks it will be turned down.
e.) Fund Raising;
(i) Lord & Partners; Bill S. said that he had contacted Barry Young, Owner of ‘Lord & Partners', and that he was all for us buying his product and selling it as a fund raiser. Bill handed out a copy of a product information sheet from ‘Lord & Partners' on the products Barry Young would sell to the HLC. The products would be sold to us at $10.00 per liter (supposedly they sell at $25.00 per liter). However, the HLC insurance agent is not happy about the HLC selling these products. Bill consulted with a Commercial Lawyer concerning the selling of these products and was advised that there is some risk of a potential law suit if something were to happen to someone using these products. This was discussed for some time and other ‘Fund-raising' suggestions were made. Finally, it was agreed that the Fund Raising Committee prepare a report on our options for raising funds and present it at our next meeting. The Treasure and the Chair of HLC were invited to attend a meeting with the Fund Raising Committee to draft a report for the HLC Directors and they agreed.
(ii) BBQ - Jeanne & Bob O. volunteered to be in charge of the Barbeque Fund Raiser this year. Bill S. said that it will be held on the weekend of August 23rd and 24th. Bill S. said that we could also have a BBQ on Friday, August 22nd if we could get enough people to operate it between 11:00AM and 6:00PM. Bill said that he would ask Jeanne if she would consider doing this and organizing the people to conduct it.
f.) Contact List; Tonia D .said she prepared a Contact List in two different ways and will send it out to us next week
8. New Business:
(i) Website for non-members; Mary M. motioned that we open our Website to like-minded associations as long as we have adequate space to look at our members needs. Seconded by Burr A. and the motion passed. Each organization's suitability will be approved by the board prior to acceptance.
(ii) Climate Action Muskoka; Mary M. said that this is a new organization specifically dedicated to climate. More information about this organization will be provided at our next meeting.
(iii) Round-Up Herbicides; Burr A. mentioned that the District is considering letting ‘Hydro I' use herbicides to keep the brush down around their lines and that Ben Boivin ( a District Counselor for the Township of the Lake of Bays) asked Burr A. to look into its use and impact on our environment. Burr A. commented about its active ingredient, glyphosate, and the other ingredients in the formulation of this group of herbicides, including the surfactant. He mentioned that the surfactant is somewhat toxic to non-target organisms and we should be concerned about its use. Bill S. read a letter from Michael Y. regarding Burr's comments. After some discussion, Mary M. said that she would bring these concerns to the Watershed.
(iv) Water / Sewer Comments; Bill S. wanted to known if we wished to comment on the District's proposal to include rural residents in its sewer and water levy. After some discussion, it was apparent that the Directors present at this meeting were opposed to the District's proposal. Whatever the case, it was decided that we needed to know if we had the support of our members to oppose the District's proposal. Bill S. said that he would prepare a statement that our Directors can pass on to the members of their Association and determine if the members of the Association support the HLC preparing a recommendation opposing the District's proposal.
(v) Don Baker's / LEAF's Comments; Don B. requested a meeting between LEAF (an independent organization entitled Local Environmental Advisory Forum) members and the Directors of HLC. He felt that there are areas of common interest that we might explore and suggested that he (Don B.) would put together an agenda. The HLC Directors agreed to meet for about 30 minutes with LEAF before (i.e. beginning at 9:00 AM) the HLC meeting on May 3rd.
Don B. discussed the views / concerns of LEAF regarding the "Storm Water Management Issues' in constructing River Mill Park. Don wanted HLC to support LEAF's recommendation to the Town's Council of a ‘Multiple Component Approach to Storm Water Management'. A letter from Michael Y. was read in support of LEAF's recommendation being put on the Council's table. After some discussion the HLC Directors decided that we would not support LEAF's recommendation, but, instead, stand by the Environment Committee's recommendation to Council regarding ‘Storm Water Management' which Mary M. voted for at the first meeting and Michael Y. at the second meeting.
9.) Motion to Adjourn: Motion to adjourn by Burr A. Carried and adjourned at12:10 PM.
Next meeting - Saturday, April 5, 2008
Prepared by: Burr G. Atkinson - (Secretary) March 24, 2008
