Raven News

Attention: Mayor Glover, Councillor Lacroix, Councillor Anderson, Ms Sykes,

Mayor - Terry Glover: tglover@lakeofbays.on.ca

District Councillor - Robert Lacroix: rlacroix@lakeofbays.on.ca

Area Councillor - George Anderson: ganderson@lakeofbays.on.ca

Director of Corporate Services / Clerk: Carrie Sykes: csykes@lakeofbays.on.ca

Subject: Lake of Bays Council Meeting, Tuesday January 10th, 2023, item 6(E)(V) "Raven Lake Landing Parking Lot"

I am a property owner on Raven Lake, and I regularly use the Raven Lake Landing and Parking Lot. I am deeply concerned that Township Staff have prepared a report to Council regarding a significant change in policy regarding the Raven Lake Landing Parking Lot with insufficient notice or consultation with the various individuals and organizations which use the Raven Lake Landing and Parking Lot. 

I understand that in the fall of 2022, the Raven Lake Cottage Association and Raven Lake Dock Association were told, by the mayor, that the matter of maintenance being completed by Lake of Bays at the parking lot was not an issue for the Township at that time.

Many groups, in addition to the residents and cottagers of Raven Lake, require that the landing and parking lot be maintained, as it has been, by the Township of Lake of Bays for the past thirty years.  Groups that use the landing and parking lot year round as the only public access point to the lake include the Algonquin Highlands Fire Services Dept, Lake of Bays Planning and Building Departments, Algonquin Highlands Planning and Building Departments, Haliburton Highlands Water Trails users, The MNRF Enforcement branch, The Ontario Provincial Police, Hydro One Crews, Raven Lake Dock Association members, Raven Lake Cottagers Association members, Tall Pines Snowmobile Club trail users, Lake of Bays ATV Club trail users, local contractors, and many other leisure organizations and members of the general public.

I request that:

1. Lake of Bays Council NOT accept the recommendation from staff at this meeting to “immediately cease all operational maintenance activities” at the Landing. 
2. Council commits to providing sufficient time for a rigorous public consultation and due diligence process which would detail the future impacts that such a measure would have on each of the public, and public sector stakeholders that will be impacted.
3. Council commits that it will not take such a direction without a fully developed solution in place for the continued operation and maintenance of the Raven Lake Landing and Parking lot.

Sincerely,

Add name and Cottage Address

I hope everyone is enjoying another beautiful summer on the lake. I wanted to follow up to the recent survey about the 2022 RLCA Annual General Meeting (AGM). 

For 2022, our AGM is scheduled for 7:00 - 8:30pm ET on Thursday, August 25th virtually over Zoom. Members will be able to ask questions using the Zoom chat during the meeting, or by emailing questions to info@ravenlake.org during the meeting or beforehand.

Please register for the AGM here.

Dear Raven Lake Cottagers’ Association Members,

On behalf of the RLCA Landing Committee we would like to share some exciting news about the progress of docking project at the Landing.

The Raven Lake Dock Association’s (RLDA) vendor, R&J Machine has completed the construction of the first phase of docks, and they are now ready to be installed as soon as the ice is gone from the lake this spring. The initial installation will provide 40 slips which the 76 RLDA members will be sharing to start the 2022 cottage season.

On March 29^th a rezoning application to permit the RLDA docks to extend up to a maximum of 176' from shore and accommodate a maximum of 96 boat slips for Raven Lake Water Access Residents was heard at the Lake of Bays (LoB) Council meeting.

Council unanimous voted to approve the LoB Staff Report recommending the approval of the rezoning application.

During the council meeting, on behalf of the RLDA, the Landing Committee committed to continuing to work with our neighbours near the landing to ensure concerns about the project are addressed:

• Keeping the overall length of the docking project to a minimum, and to keep the 4 main docks as close to uniform lengths as possible
• • The RLDA has contacted the docking vendor, the layout of the docks and slips in second phase has been changed to be more rectangular and uniform in length, and the shorter main dock has been placed at north end of the project.

• No additional lighting is included in the project in order to protect the night sky / dark sky in 5 Mile Bay
• RLDA will assist with re-naturalization of the shoreline where possible, appropriate, and allowed by the MNRF
• A working group has been established with the residents located near the landing to tackle some of the common neighbourly behaviour issues at the landing (ie. lighting, car lights, noise, boating, wakes, etc)

LoB published the rezoning approval on April 4^th; the Landing Committee is continuing to work with our planning consultant and with the LoB Planning and Building departments to submit the development permit application and building permit applications for the second phase of the project.

Once the necessary approvals are in place the main docks will be extended and slips will be installed for each of the 76 RLDA members.

The Landing Committee hopes that everyone is as excited as we are about how quickly and successfully the project has progressed since last fall. The RLCA Board of Directors, numerous Past Presidents, and volunteers on the Landing Committee have been working to see this project come to life since 2007. With the former stick docks removed, a new organized and centralized docking system installed, boating traffic removed from the shallow and environmentally sensitive areas and a large portion of the shoreline able to return to a natural state the whole Raven Lake community will be able to enjoy a much-improved situation at the landing this spring.

If you have any questions or concerns about the RLDA project, please reach out to the landing committee.

Sincerely,

The RLCA Landing Committee

Sean Hungerford, Scott Lewis, Graham Donald, Ross Lawrence, Mike Wlodek, Peter Hungerford, George Kenins, Craig Stoyles, Tom Wilson

Z 04-22 (Raven Lake Dock Assoc.) Notice of Passing.pdf

By Sue Tiffin, Minden Times, March 29, 2022

Councillors passed the township’s 2022 budget last week. The budget includes $14.6 million in total expenditures, $5.9 million which will come from property taxation. This represents a levy increase of 4.16 per cent over last year, for a 2.33 per cent increase in the municipal tax rate. This equates to an estimated overall increase of $14.94 for every $100,000 of assessment for residential properties.

“Changes approved in final deliberations resulted in an overall decrease in reserves of 31.5 per cent, but remaining funds should be considered a reasonable reserve balance for a municipality of this size,” said Jean Hughes, treasurer, in her report to council on March 17. “It was noted that the township is facing significant infrastructure needs going forward, and continued use of reserves without replenishing must be considered.”

Some budget highlights include the Dorset Recreation Centre’s mould remediation project, the continued reconfiguration of Maple Lake’s landfill, and improvements planned for the Stanhope Airport.

The final budget summary is available to view at algonquinhighlands.civicweb.net

Canadian Navigable Waters Act

The Raven Lake Dock Association hereby gives notice that a submission has been added to the Navigable Waters Registry pursuant to the Canadian Navigable Waters Act for public comment described herein and its site and plans.

Pursuant to paragraph 10(1)(b) of the said Act, the Raven Lake Dock Association has deposited with the Minister of Transport, on the on-line Common Project Search Registry (http://cps.canada.ca/) and under Registry Number 5319, a description of the following work, its site and plans:

The installation of new floating docks consisting of 4 - 6 foot wide piers and attached 4 foot wide fingers to create up to 96 boat slips each having dimensions of 22 feet x11 feet

in, on, over, under, through or across

RAVEN LAKE

at 21624 Highway 35 opposite Shoe Lake Rd. about 3 km. south of Dorset

Comments regarding the effect of this work on marine navigation can be sent through the Common Project Search site mentioned above under the Comment section (search by the above referenced number) or if you do not have access to the internet, by sending your comments directly to:

Peter Hungerford, 1732 Mater Drive Sarnia Ontario N7S3S5 TEL. 519-331-2098

Note that comments will be considered only if they are received not later than 30 days after the publication of this notice.

Posted at RLCA Web Site this 30th day of March, 2022

Peter Hungerford

(Peter B. Hungerford)

Transport Canada (TC) will not make your comments on a project available to the public on the online public registry. However, any information related to a work is considered as unclassified public record and could be accessible upon legal request. As such, the information and records provided should not contain confidential or sensitive information. If you want to provide confidential or sensitive information that you think should not be made public, please contact TC before submitting it.

We have some good news about the public docks at the Raven Lake Landing.

As many of you have commented, the public docks by the boat ramp have not been well maintained by the municipality in recent years and damaged sections have not been replaced.

Along with residents on the lake, the Raven Lake Cottagers' Association has raised concerns about this numerous times with the municipalities of Algonquin Highlands and Lake of Bays. More recently, members of the RLCA Landing Committee have also contacted the municipalities in this regard.

In early March, the township of Algonquin Highlands Council approved funds ($34,000) for replacing the public docks on both sides of the Raven Lake Boat Launch.

On behalf of the community, the RLCA Landing Committee has been in touch with the Algonquin Highlands Parks Director to request that these new docks be installed as soon as possible this spring.

More good news arrived yesterday when we received confirmation that the new docks have now been purchased and will be installed right away on top of the ice. Ramps to the new docks will be installed soon after and all of the work will likely be completed around the time that the ice goes out.

The municipality provided us with the image below of a similar installation.

We all look forward to these improved (and safer) facilities at the Raven Lake Public Launch!

Fresh off the ice! The new Raven Lake Public Landing docks were delivered on March 23rd. 

On March 29^th, 2022 at 9.00 a.m. the Raven Lake Dock Association (RLDA) application for rezoning to enable the installation of Phase 2 of the new docking project will be considered by the Township of Lake of Bays (LoB) Council.

RLCA & RLDA members should be aware that after the required notice of the rezoning was distributed the Township has received objections to the rezoning from some of the cottagers near the landing.  These objections will be taken into account by the Council at the upcoming March 29^th hearing, along with a Township staff report and recommendation, the Planning Justification Report prepared by the RLDA's planner, and any other comments received from circulated government agencies or the public.  Members of the public are also entitled to attend the hearing and submit verbal comments.

We believe that LoB will approve our application, as it is in the public interest and has been formulated to conform to the requirements of the MNRF. 

The Landing Committee encourages you to demonstrate that members of our lake community fully support the approval of this rezoning that is needed for Phase 2 of the dock project to proceed. A copy of the re-zoning notice as well as a letter of support submitted on behalf of the RLCA Board, Landing Committee and RLDA members are attached here for your reference.

To share feedback about the rezoning application (Z04/22 LOB, 21624 Highway 35, Roll No. 030-003-02900) with the Township of Lake of Bays, please reach out to Ms. Best-Sararas.

Thank You.

Members of the RLCA Landing Committee

Sean Hungerford; Scott Lewis; Graham Donald; Mike Wlodek; Ross Lawrence; George Kenins; Tom Wilson; Peter Hungerford; Craig Stoyles

RLDA Zoning Notice.pdf

RLCA Letter of Support for RLDA Rezoning Application.pdf

On the evening of October 27, close to 70 members of the Raven Lake community gathered online with the 9-member Raven Lake Cottage Association Landing Committee to receive an update on the progress to date on the landing dock project as well as to discuss the process going forward.

This committee of the Raven Lake Cottagers' Association is responsible for managing the new subsidiary organization, the Raven Lake Dock Association, as it works to secure legal docking at the landing.

The slides presented by the committee at the meeting cover all of the details so far, address many of the community's questions, and also list many questions that will be addressed in the months ahead.

You can download and review the RLDA Virtual Q & A slides here:

RLDA Virtual QA Session - Oct.27.pdf