Private/Public Road

TOWN ASSUMING OUR ROAD

This is continuing to be quite an issue not just around our lake but in Bracebridge specifically. There was another article about a Bracebridge resident (Scott Crockatt) in the local paper this week.

He is insisting that tax payers as a whole should subsidize a plan by the Town to begin looking after private roads year round. It seems he is about 400' away from where the Town stops maintaining his road and he wants them to plow to his drive because they owe it to him. Why? Primarily the weight of his argument is based on equality for all rate payers. Why do some enjoy year round service while others must pay separately for winter road plowing, there is no tax reduction based on where you live so there should be a process to equalize everyone's receipt of benefits. This should constitute a change in the way services are delivered and access (the roads) should have an initiative ("seek out new and innovative") implemented by the Town.

The last Public Works Committee meeting he attended, Ron Walton (public works engineer) disclosed the Town's road system had an overall length of 315.6 KM, of which 73.2 are maintained only in the summer. He speculated it would cost $18 million to bring these roads up to standard and an additional $136,000 per year to maintain them.

Mr. Crockatt is requesting we the public (mainly those on private roads that are paying winter snow removal), make this more of an issue for this upcoming election. He personally rejects the notion that he (and his neighbors on private roads) must personally bear the expense of road upgrades.

Don

Winter Road Snow Removal

As I'm sure we are all aware, the road around our lake is private and maintained by the Lake Association. This summer at the Association Annual General Meeting a motion was passed to have ALL association members pay for year round road maintenance (including snow removal) beginning the year of 2007. This means the cost for snow removal 2007-8 will be estimated in next years dues (sent out in March 2007) and added onto our invoices. I'm expecting our fees will be $250.00 next year plus your contributions to the fish stocking program and Regatta.

This year however the road will be paid for by those who have paid in the past and those new people who plan to use the road this winter to come to their lots. Ken Geller (Geller #1003 kgeller@rogers.com) is the lead on arranging and collecting the money to pay the contractor.

Crockford has been awarded the road contract to plow only; Ken is collecting $350.00 from those who are using the road this winter. Crockford will offer driveway plowing from $100.00 for a push (2 truck lengths in) to $250.00 for 250 feet of drive. Mike O'Hara (O'Hara #1023 ohcsi@vianet.ca) is offering to blow driveways and I'm told you need to call him for a quote.

Sanding will be done on a voluntary basis, meaning those who need it will look after it. Sand is delivered to the turn around some time after Thanksgiving. There are blue plastic barrels along the road at the hills and will need to be filled. I would also suggest that each owner bring a 5 gallon pail, fill it on their way into the lot and leave it around the drive somewhere for their personal use, please do not use the sand in the barrels.

I will post a bulletin on the lake board as you enter the lake for those who may not have heard about this.

Don

Power Outage (60hrs.) Sept.24/06

POWER OUTAGE (60hrs) AT LAKE

We had quite a wind storm last Sunday morning and lost power to the lake around 6.30am. There where a number of trees down on the road but no real property damage that I could see or has been reported. Power was restored around 6.00pm on Tuesday, I could see more lights across the lake so I'm comfortable saying the whole lake was on then.

My Uncle used an ice cube on a dish in his freezer to let him know the power had been off enough to be of concern. He would either come up and find nothing of a refrozen glaze on the plate. High tech, no but it worked for him. Our freezers will hold product frozen for about 12 hours and then the count down begins.

I will post a bulletin on the lake board as you enter the lake for those who may not have heard about the power failure.

Don

Septic Tanks & Cleaning

Septic Tanks

(copied form Ed's E-mail)
I have a question that may be ok for the blog site, or perhaps you could answer. Regarding septic system pumping: Are there any pumping companys that people would recommend or suggest to stay away from? Is there any price break on a couple of cottage properties having their septic system pumped out during the same trip? Is there a recommende season to have a septic system pumped out?

Lake Name

What's in a Name?

(copied from Joe's e-mail)
I understand that the cottage association has, in the past, considered the option of renaming the Lake. I also understand that such a change has typically been opposed, although I'm not sure what the reasons were. Could someone who is more familiar with this issue post a comment with a bit of detail as to what has happened with this issue in the past.

Joe

Kids riding ATV's on Lake Road

Almost hit one with my car.

I was very concerned when I saw three youngsters (two on ATVs and one on a small motor bike) heading down Lorne Rd. last Sunday at lunch time. I thought them to be too young to drive such big vehicles, they all had helmets and looked very diligent driving along the side of the road. I then mentioned to my wife that I had a near miss on the lake road with an ATV just this week. She also had a near miss a couple of weeks ago and told me of a story that friends where also in an incident with a very fast and agressive ATV on our lake road.

I took it upon myself to visit the local OPP station and inquire about the status of ATVs on the roads. To my surprise the OPP have issued a release dated July 2004 that specificly deals with ATVs on roads. Specificly, they are not allowed on any of the roads, private or not and not allowed even to drive along the side. They are to be licenced, insured and only driven by licensed drivers with helments. ATVs fall under the highway traffic act.

I told them that I see ATVs on the roads all the time and they said if I took their licence number or knew where they are parked at night, I could call the 1-888-310-1122 (OPP) number to report the incident. An officer would make the call and issue a report and ticket where appropriate.

My last thought was to write this note on our BLOG and get lake owners feedback. What is your opinion on the issue and what should we do about ATVs on the road?

Don