/Expanding Hawk Lakes parking 

Expanding Hawk Lakes parking 

Expanding Hawk Lakes parking 

By Chad Ingram
Algonquin
Highlands township continues to work at providing additional parking
space along Little Hawk Lake Road and Big Hawk Lake Road, which both
lead to docking areas for water-access properties, and which become
crammed with parked vehicles during the summer months. 
A
private property owner along Little Hawk Lake Road is willing to sell a
parcel of land to the township for the construction of additional
parking, and councillors agreed during a Sept. 5 meeting that the
township will have an appraisal performed and then enter negotiations
with the property owner. 
At
Big Hawk, the plan is to develop 1.5 to two acres of township-owned
land to provide additional parking, and that project will include some
topographical obstacles. 
“We
are faced with some pretty big challenges there,” public works director
Adam Thorn told councillors. The biggest challenge is that a hill
constitutes much of the property. A level area at the bottom, and a
larger area at the top could be used for parking, and would need to be
connected with a road. A report from Thorn indicates a contractor has
estimated the work for the development of the property would cost about
$115,000, and also recommends the township contract an engineering firm
to create a development plan. The estimated cost for that is $10,000 to
$15,000. 
Deputy Mayor Liz Danielsen supported developing both levels at the same time at the Big Hawk Lake site. 
“Personally,
I think we should bite the bullet and develop both levels at one time,”
Danielsen said, adding she believed this would save money in the long
run.
Councillor Lisa Barry thought council should prioritize one of the two projects to be completed first. 
“It
is a lot of money to spend on two parking lots in one area,” Barry
said. “I think we should prioritize them at this time, that’s how I
feel.” 
“Some
may see this as unfair investment for one group of users,” Mayor Carol
Moffatt said, but added that it was ultimately about the provision of
emergency services, since cars parked along the roadway can severely
interfere with traffic. 
Because
of the complexity of the Big Hawk Lake project, Thorn recommended
hiring an engineering firm to act as project manager, preliminary
designer and concept developer and the township will release a request
for quotations for that work, with those figures coming back to the
council table. 

For
the Big Hawk project, Thorn said the plan was for engineering and
design to be completed in 2020, with construction taking place in 2021
and 2022. The Little Hawk project being simpler, if the township does
proceed with the purchase of the property, Thorn said the work could
likely take place in 2020.