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

HLC Minutes

Date: January 31, 2009

Location: Robinson Independent Grocer Community Room, Huntsville, ON

Present:

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

Burr Atkinson - Secretary - Walker and Pells Lakes Area Association

Shane Baker - Director - Tasso, Toad, Camp and Blue Lakes Association

Ted Mercer - Director - Otter Lake Association

Ian Hastie - Director - Lake Vernon Association

John Kenny - Director - Lake of Bays Association

Rob Zingel - Director - Fairy Lake Association

Ken Sharer - Guest - Lake Vernon 

Regrets:

Bruce Howlett - Treasurer - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association

Dan McKeon - Director - Peninsula Lake Association

Morris Eccles - Director - Lake of Bays Association

Roger Staig - Director -  Clovelly Point Cottagers Association

Dan McKeon - Director - Peninsula Lake Asso

Michael Young - Director - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association

Dan Kerr - Director - Mary Lake Association

Bill Jolley - Director - Buck Lake Ilfracombe Association

Jeanne O'Neill - Director - Harp Lake Association

Mike Greenfield - Director - Mary Lake Association

Peter Van Buskirk - Fairy Lake Association

Wendy Olan - Director - Bittern Lake Association

Brian Markham - Director -Bella-Rebecca Community Association

1.      Call to Order: Chair, Tonia D., opened the meeting at 9:50AM welcoming all members and guests.

      2. Approval of the Agenda: Motion by Rob Z. and seconded by Shane B. that "the agenda be approved". Motion carried.

3. Approval of the Minutes: Motion by Burr A. and seconded by Rob Z. that "the Minutes of the December 5, 2008 HLC meeting be approved". Motion carried.

4. Treasurer's Report: Bruce H. sent regrets and Burr A. distributed the Treasurer's Report to the Directors. Burr A. mentioned that Bruce H. paid our Insurance ($513.00) and December Room Rental ($26.25) last month, and that the balance at the end of December is $1,689.63. Motion by Burr A. and seconded by Ian H. that "the Treasurer's Report be approved". Motion carried.

5. Comments from the Chair:

                  Council Up-Dates: Tonia D. stated that the HLC Directors from Fox Lake Association (Elaine Jackson) and Chub Lake Property Owners Association (Mary McCulley) have resigned, and that she will ask these Associations for replacements.

6. Committee Reports:

                  Environmental Committee: Rob Z. reported the following:

                              A. Green Plan Meeting: Rob Z. presented a summary of the Town of Huntsville's Green Plan Public Meeting held on November 19, 2008 (see Attachment #1.). He reported that there will be additional Public Meetings on this issue. Shane B. mentioned that the opportunities for getting rid of Hazardous Waste (a District responsibility) are not particularly convenient and wondered if we, as Lake/Cottage Associations, should be more involved in promulgating information on our Website regarding Waste Management. After some discussion, Rob Z. was asked to get some more information on this issue by our next meeting so that we might consider posting it on our Website for the use of HLC Associations. Rob Z. agreed to get the information from the Town of Huntsville and Tonia D. said she would send Rob Z. a contact for getting similar information from the Township of the Lake of Bays.

                              B. Environmental Advisory Committee: Rob Z. reported that the Elm trees (35 of them) at Avery Beach had Dutch Elm Disease and would be cut down and, subsequently, be replaced.

                              C. Planning and Land Use Committee: Ian H. reported that an application (The Riley Application) for a Zoning By-Law amendment at 54 Hutcheson to permit a hobby farm with 2 horses will be addressed in February in the Town of Huntsville. Tonia D. said that she would put the application and a letter regarding it prepared by Ian H. (see Attachment #2.) on our Website for other to see and, if necessary, comment on. Ian H. also brought up severance issue on Pells Lake in the Township of the Lake of Bays and Burr A. said that Council has put it off to another time. Burr A. commented on this issue and said he would inform our HLC Committee of the time changes.

                              D. Local Government and Taxation Committee: Shane B. and John K. have each agreed to monitor the issues in the Township of the Lake of Bays and the Town of Huntsville, respectively. It seems, at this time of the year, that the main issue is budget. John K. said that he attended the Budget Meeting in the Town of Huntsville and introduced himself as a representative from the HLC. Surprisingly, he found that the baseline for each of the committees was set at 3% more than last year and that at the next meeting (sometime in March) they hoped to establish their budget. Whatever, John K. felt that the level of cooperation was extraordinary.   Shane B. said that in the very near future he would be doing the same thing at the Budget meeting in the Township of the Lake of Bays.

Finally, we, the HLC, felt that we should be monitoring the upcoming G8 events and keep our Lake Associations informed.

                              E. Communication and Membership Committee:

                                          a.) Contact List: We have not had information concerning the names, addresses, etc. of the Executives on our different Lake Associations. We need this information for our ‘Contact List'!

                                          b.) Website Redesign: Dwayne and Tonia D. have/are redesigning the Website.

                                          c.) Communications: We are committed to a monthly article to the Forester. Since we can use some of the articles posted by the MWC, Tonia will contact Rebecca from the MWC and see if we can do a combined effort in producing something for the Forester. Moreover, since we do not have anything for February, Tonia will see if the MWC would have something and take our place for February. 

7. Lake Association Reports/Concerns:

                  A.  Fairy Lake - Rob Z. said that a new Website has been created                                          for his Association.   

                  B. Otter Lake - Ted M. said that they are having a meeting on                                                 ‘Emergency Preparedness'.

                  C. Lake Vernon - Ian H. had nothing new to report.

                  D. Lake of Bays - John K. nothing new to present except that the                                           LOB Association is very closely monitoring the Marnoc                                                         Conservancy issue.

                  E. Tasso, Toad, Camp and Blue Lakes - Shane B. had nothing                                            new to report.

                  G. Walker & Pells Lake - Burr A. reported that a cottage burned                                         down on Walker Lake last week and that Pells Lake is still waiting                                              for the severance issue to be addressed in Council.

                  H. Oxbow Lake - Tonia D. had nothing new to report except that                                           some people on her Lake now have High Speed internet.

 9. New Business:

                  A. High Speed Internet: John K. suggested that we look into the status of High Speed Internet on our Lakes and, perhaps, invite Rob McPhee, the head of establishing High Speed Internet in the Muskoka area, to discuss at our next meeting the status of High Speed in Northern Muskoka. John K. said that he would look into having Rob McPhee at our next meeting.

                  B. Tree Cutting By-Law: Tonia D. and John K. brought up the issue of the Tree Cutting By-Law and whether the HLC should be concerned with it. The general feeling of the HLC Directors was that we direct our Environmental Committee to keep an eye on this issue and bring any information forward that they recommend to the HLC.

                  C. Buoys: Tonia will present this at our next meeting

10. Meeting Adjourned at 11:55AM

Next Meeting -Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 9:30 AM in Robinson Independent    

Grocer Community Room, Huntsville, ON

Prepared by: Burr G. Atkinson - (Secretary) February 20, 2009

Attachment #1

Green Plan Meeting Nov 19, 2008

The following summary is constructed from my notes and recollections, and may not be 100% accurate. In my opinion it is generally reflective of the meeting.

A focus group was held by the Green Plan sub-comitteee of the Environmental Advisory Committee.  The purpose of the meeting was to carry out a focus group to generate ideas

for a ‘Green Plan' for the town of Huntsville.

The meeting was facilitated by Caroline Grey, introduced by a gentleman whose name was, I believe Jon Snelson?, possibly chair of the Green Plan committee.  Mayor Claude Doughty attended as well councilors Mary Jane Fletcher and Fran Coleman and a number of invited representatives of various environmentally interested groups.  In total perhaps 35 individuals.

The group was described as not representative of the community at large, but rather the vanguard of environmental consciousness and implementation in the region.

The facilitator gave a brief background on Green philosophy.  She suggested a "Healthy Community Model', which saw the environment, economy and social aspects of community to be inter-related and interdependent, requiring balance.  When in productive balance, they encourage the health of the individual and community (RZ).

This balance is usually adopted/promoted by the vanguard quite readily.  The question is how to get the mass of people to change behaviour.  Guilt, shame and blame were pointed out to be ineffective. Rather a method that identified issues, provided information for contemplation and subsequent action was preferred.  For those who are late believers/adopters, policies (ie laws) are enacted to encourage change.

The reason for developing a ‘Green Plan' was ‘sustainability'.  Sustainability of a ‘healthy community' (economy, environment, social).

The Green Plan is intended to include documentation of do-able things, ie key priorities, an environmental focus.

A number of innovative group methods were utilized to encourage discussion. 

The group generated a list of ‘Green Plan' priorities. This list was intended to provide ‘What to do for sustainability'. Each participant was given an equal number of votes to cast in favor of various initiatives, in accordance with the weight of importance that they felt appropriate.  The votes were then tallied.

What to do for sustainability:

Smart Growth (including eg ‘inhibit sprawl?', ‘passive transport'   31 votes

Protect Natural Heritage  25

Green Building  23

Alternative energy 19

Greening of public and private space 19

The following items had less votes, perhaps 5-15 each (not in order of priority).

Energy use

Emission

Energy use economics

Energy efficiency

Local energy production

Waste management (including fast food, overpackaging)

Improve/strengthen 4R's

Local purchasing

Biking infrastructure

Planning for densification - urban density

Strengthen the downtown core

Shoreline development management

Water and Sewer

How to do sustainability

It was suggested that the ‘How' of implementation

Included: education; awareness; regulations; agency; columns?; school curriculum; municipal example/efficiencies; bylaws

Who is needed to do sustainability (Green Plan)

The type of people required to carry out the Green Plan was thought to be:

‘Brains that go Deep"  conceptually I believe

Relationship types

Action types

Analytical types

Values types??  Not sure if this referred to ethics or financial modeling

The people need to have experience, commitment, and interest.

Special emphasis was placed on ‘analytical types' who break down into two types: big picture, and detail oriented. Other very important attributes/points of the motivating group include: knowledge; catalyst for business & politics; willing to listen; attention to detail; big picture; belief; a need to understand what you're asking for; skills and strategies that are effective; succession planning; barrier analysis; buy-in; ownership; endurance.

Rob Zingel

Director HLC    Jan 26, 2009

Attachment #2 (See Website)