By Chad Ingram
The following are brief reports of items discussed during an Oct. 8 meeting of Minden Hills council.
A multi-day musical festival with an emphasis on water quality and education that organizer Earth Productions had been hoping to host at the Minden Hills fairgrounds in 2016 will not be happening community services director Mark Coleman told councillors.
Coleman explained that part of the proposal involved using an adjacent private property which is no longer available.
The event which organizers also tried to host during the previous term of council will not be going any further at this time Coleman said.
In the summer council voted to create a “no parking” zone along Bobcaygeon Road near a stretch of businesses near Deep Bay Road and promote a municipally owned but seldom used parking lot in the area.
The road advisory committee has since recommended that no parking zone be extended up Bobcaygeon Road to Fleming Road and the roads department has surveyed parking on streets throughout Minden. The report with recommendations to council was submitted for review. It can be viewed by searching the Minden Hills agenda for Oct. 8 on the county website.
The township will take Fleming College up on an offer to have a group of about 20 students and their instructors carry out improvements at Snowdon Park over a two-day period.
Community services director Mark Coleman recommended the township have the group rebuild a boardwalk in the park. Currently it’s comprised of a number of sections that are not joined and are a little worse for wear.
“They’re labour-intensive projects” Coleman said emphasizing the materials for the township would cost in the neighbourhood of a couple thousand dollars.
Councillors were pleased with changes at the Scotch Line landfill just a week into the management contract with new company Highlands Environmental.
Property and environmental services manager Ivan Ingram told councillors the plan was to cover fill each day with a bulldozer on site which should help to reduce the seagull population at the landfill.
“So we won’t have to go to drones or falcons” he said referencing a previous report on methods to mitigate the population of the scavenging birds.
Councillors were also pleased with aesthetic improvements at Scotch Line including cleanup around the site’s main entrance.
“A dump doesn’t have to look like a dump” said Reeve Brent Devolin.
The township will convert the lights along Riverwalk into light-emitting diodes (LED) which will save money on energy costs over time.
Only one quote was received for the project which will cost just more than $6000. It’s estimated the conversion will save the township $2500 annually.
