By Vanessa Balintec
The following are brief reports of items discussed at the May 16 meeting of Algonquin Highlands council.
Charlsey White deputy chief administrative officer for the County of Haliburton made a delegation to council for support on behalf of the county to enhance the shoreline protection bylaw.
The Shoreline Tree Preservation Bylaw (2012) protects trees greater than five centimetres in diameter at shoulder height from being removed within 30 metres of the high-water mark of any body of water within the county.
The proposed new protections would protect everything within 30 metres of the high water mark along with all native shoreline vegetation. The amendments would aim to regulate cleaning clearing and alteration of land and will work in combination with existing forestry and shoreline preservation bylaws.
“Main goal? No further loss of our natural shorelines” said White. The bylaw will increase the proportion of native vegetation working towards a goal of 75 per cent native vegetative coverage and overall increasing ecological health and restoration throughout the county.
White says this bylaw is looking to stop grassing down to the shoreline lockstoning and site alteration that changes the slope and runoff of water. “We’re looking at all ways that we can protect our shoreline.”
According to White if a charge is laid and taken to court the ultimate fine for an individual is up to $10000 plus the remediation of the site.
Public consultation with lake associations and private property owners will take place throughout the summer.
Council supported the initiative.
Stanhope Public Works Garage – Phase One
Councillors asked during their 2019 budget discussions that staff look at locations and design costs for a new public works garage in Stanhope.
Public works operations manager Adam Thorn presented the option for land to be developed on North Shore Road which has existing infrastructure a large area of land to build on low utility installation costs and construction would have no increased impact on the surrounding area. He asked council’s support to move forward with the next step of the site assessment.
“This property alone has the potential for us to grow down the road” said Thorne. “I don’t mean just building size but if we wanted to look at options for solar if we wanted to look for options for putting in a sand dome … it’s options for us to move that shed back out of the way and future growth for anything else that we need to put in that area.”
The cost of the overall building is estimated to be $2 million. Thorn requested the township transfer funds from the public works road garage reserve to cover costs associated with the preliminary design and concept development of the project.
Council supported the initiative.