Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Greater Napanee council was burning the late evening oil during the Feb. 14 regular meeting, needing a special motion to go past 10 p.m. to get through the full agenda.
Among the topics covered was a presentation from Jon Hack of Sierra Planning and Management, providing an update on the town’s recreation master plan.
As one would expect, the report included talk of the ongoing efforts to get an indoor aquatic facility built in Napanee.
“We got some very good feedback on the need and desire for indoor aquatics,” said Hack. “We’ve learned of the history of aquatic services in town in previous decades. We also did, if anyone reads the plans, we took a regional lens on this. You do not plan for indoor aquatics knowing your next-door neighbour is doing the exact same thing because these buildings are, above any other, the most expensive municipal assets to operate in terms of recreation. More expensive than arenas. Having said that, the benefit to the community, in terms of getting people in through the door, repeated times over weeks, months and over the course of a year, when you actually add up the number of times people use the pool, compared to things like arenas, the relative cost per visit is often balanced out.”
Hack noted their data agreed with a survey taken in 2016, which indicated the south side of the Strathcona Paper Centre, which currently houses a section of parking and a soccer field, remains the best location to build an indoor pool. That would allow for the pool to be heated by excess heat generated by the twin ice pads.
On the topic of ice, the report showed based on the town’s population numbers, the two ice pads at the SPC would be sufficient until 2036. At that time the town may require a need for a third.
“There needs to be a reconsideration of the feasibility of building a pool, to give you, as council, a clear picture of what the current costs would be and what that would mean in terms of where it could go and to give you some control as to what that facility would look like,” added Hack.
Council voted to note and receive the report.
-Somewhat related to the town’s recreational plan, a pair of citizens heading up a group known as the Napanee Active Trails and Outdoor Group, gave a deputation on their desire to turn the abandoned rail bed in town into a multi purpose trail.
Dr. Tom Touzel and Mike Sewell have been proponents of the idea for several months, pushing for council to support their goal of creating a path from Dairy Ave. through town all the way to north of Hwy 401, utilizing the rail bridge between the Centre Street and Palace Road exits as a means to cross over the highway.
The path of the proposed multi-use trail, starting at Dairy Ave and crossing Hwy 401.
“We see this as a timely endeavour and a confluence of many things, a confluence of many ideas,” said Touzel. “The concepts of healthy living, which are evolving, changing aspirations of residents as new members come to our community, environmental imperatives which are staring us in the face at all times, the changing face of tourism and what tourists might want and the needs of the business community.”
Touzel noted there is some urgency to the matter as the province has already announced plans to widen the 401 to three lanes through Eastern Ontario. If the rail crossing remains unspoken for it could potentially be removed-at which point Touzel estimates it would never be replaced, as doing so would cost millions of dollars.
“This is not just about one trail, one place, one time,” said Sewell, noting the growing trend of active transportation. “It’s about a strategy that helps move people around this community, in and out. In my world all things come and go from the centre of this community, which is the downtown. That’s the hub. From there you start to see all of sudden this plan makes sense for people and how you move them.”
Touzel added he’d like to see people making footprints along the trail by this coming summer.
Greater Napanee mayor Terry Richardson liked the sound of the proposal, which council voted to forward to the town’s recreation committee for consideration.
“I do think it’s important for a community like ours that we do have to come up with some form of a trail system, if not to take us out of town but within the community itself,” said Richardson. “I think it’s a very doable thing.”
Not everyone in the community supports the idea however, evident by a last minute deputation made by Dave Milligan of Millspring Farms.
“This abandoned rail bed falls within 100 feet of many of our buildings that house animals, feed, crop and farm machinery,” Milligan told council. “Throughout the year we cross this rail bed multiple times hourly, daily, nighty, with heavy, wide machinery.”
He expressed concern of what might happen if these paths were open to the public.
“Bio security that is required with producing milk and food, would all be lost as a result of this trail,” said Milligan. “As well would the safety of our animals. We all know not everyone would stay within the trail limits as was spoken about with the 90 and 10 per cent. With our close proximity to town we already deal with trespassing, homeless people setting up tents and camps on our property. We’ve dealt with vandalism, fires and theft already. Inviting several more people access to our property via this trail will only make this issues worse.”
Milligan instead is seeking to purchase the section of the trail that runs alongside his property.
“With this in mind we have submitted a letter of intent to purchase the abandoned rail bed that passes through our farm to the clerk of Napanee,” said Milligan. “The town could use these funds to connect and develop some of the existing trails within the town limits, such as the waterfront trail, which would highlight our beautiful downtown district. These trails, properly designed, would better serve all the residents of Napanee.”
Council voted to submit Milligan’s concerns to the recreation committee as well.
-BluEarth Renewables’ request for support to expand their Little Creek Solar Facility to include an energy storage facility was denied by council.
In a recorded vote of 4-3, the motion that would see the town send a letter of support was defeated. Representatives from BluEarth appeared before council in January, seeking their support for the project, which is in response to the province’s call for energy suppliers to submit applications to build energy storage facilities in an effort to meet growing demand. Companies had until Feb. 16 to submit their proposals to the Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator, with a letter of support from their respective council seen as a potential huge boost to their pitch.
Councillor Mike Schenk was among those opposed to offering his support, citing concerns from neighbours of the facility.
“They are not living here locally,” Schenk said of BluEarth. “I am here to represent locally and look after the ratepayers so I cannot in good conscience go ahead and vote for something when (nearby residents) already said no to it or had grave concerns and weren’t contacted. That’s my philosophy behind it.”
Councillor Bill Martin also objected to supporting the proposal.
“I know those people out there and I know they were concerned about the blight on the landscape,” said Martin. “I would not be in favour of voting for this either. I don’t know if they’re going to be able to contact those people and have a happy medium but I wouldn’t be comfortable on voting in favour of that tonight.”
Councillor Angela Hicks and deputy mayor Brian Calver also voted not to support the expansion.
-Council voted to award a pair of construction contracts.
The reconstruction of East Street will be entrusted to Morven Construction Ltd. at a cost of $3.49 million.
The contract to supply, deliver and assemble s section of the water pollution control plant upgrade was awarded to Bel-Con Design-Builders Ltd. for $1.54 million.