FrançaisNewsletter 2012
President’s Message
Amis du Lac/ Friends of the Lake once again had an active year in its efforts to protect and preserve the Lake and the surrounding watershed.
- Efforts are underway to establish a land trust to preserve land within the watershed and the surrounding area.
- The environmental study commissioned by Friends /Amis was completed and made available to the municipality as part of an expanded study of the complete watershed.
- The Friends /Amis website created by Geoff Cresswell and Clea Mittag has been successfully launched.
- Friends /Amis once again supported the environmental education program for the youth of the lake.
- The 2012 lake calendars were a great fundraising success.
- In 2011 and early 2012 considerable time and effort was devoted to municipal concerns. Unfortunately, against the wishes of over 90 percent of lake residents, the municipal council voted to support the installation of a cell tower on the mountain in the village. The tower has been installed as well as a second cell tower near the south end in Laurel.
Land Trust
Preservation for the Long Term
The need for a land trust was first discussed in the 2009 newsletter:
“The land use committee seeks to preserve the lakes, streams and forests within the Sixteen Island Lake watershed for the future. The first approach is to work with the municipal council to establish bylaws that protect the environment……..Unfortunately bylaws can be changed depending on the personal objectives and agendas of present and future elected officials.”
“ However, there is a more permanent solution available to protect the watershed and lake. Establishing a land trust and conservation easements (servitudes) offers an effective method to assure that the land and lake will always be protected for future generations regardless of the municipal politics.”
Presently, there is an immediate concern with recommendations to the municipality for development. These are recommendation to reduce lot sizes, increase the number of dwellings and size of structures and to build roads, all in an effort to increase the tax base. The pressure to develop the second tier land around the lake will most certainly increase. This land needs be protected from development, including high density development.
Friends/Amis has been approached about the possibility of acquiring 72 acres of the village mountain top including land extending from the cell tower south behind the cottages along the east shore. The formation of a land trust and the purchase of this land would assure that it would never be used for second tier development as was the original plan. The land trust would also provide a means to protect other land within the Sixteen Island watershed. In many cases this could be done through the use of conservation servitudes (easements). Servitudes do not require a change of ownership of the land but offer the advantage of both protecting the land in perpetuity and possible financial advantages for the landowner.
The Land Use Committee previously sent the “Environment Canada Ecological Gifts Program Handbook” to numerous residents. Copies are available for those who have an interest in conservation for their land. For more information feel free to call Dave Logan 450-226-8939, or Chris Campbell, 450-226-6727.
Environment – Lake Study
The first phase of the study of the lake commissioned by Amis du Lac was completed in 2009 by the firm Biofila. The report for the first phase was received in 2010 and copies given to the municipal council. A second phase was commissioned by Amis du Lac and the field work was completed in 2011. These studies were done with a great deal of field assistance by a number of members including Corina Lupu and Lucie Barbeau. The municipality then decided to have a study of the watershed and Biofilia was selected as the consultant. Amis du Lac agreed to allow Biofilia to use the information from the first two phases in the final watershed study with the agreement that Amis du Lac would have access to the completed report. Because the data from phase one and two would be included in the final watershed report it was decided not to request a report for the second phase. The study of the complete watershed has been completed by Biofilia and will be presented to the municipal administration on July 16th. Amis du Lac will be given a copy of the complete study.
This is a report on a major environmental work initiated by Amis du Lac in 2009. Our association is delighted and proud of the excellent contribution by our members to the study. A special thanks to Corina Lupu under whose direction the study was possible.
Web Site
Good news! Friends/Amis has a web site.
Many thanks to Geoff Cresswell and Clea Mittag for their hard work creating the Association’s
website. Visit the website for urgent news bulletins requiring the attention of the
membership; current updates on matters that are deemed ‘At Issue’; minutes of past Annual
General Meetings; interesting and informative articles; and links to organizations and services
of local interest.
Calendars
This year Tim Boswell has made some beautiful changes to the layout of the annual
Friends/Amis calendar. As usual the pictures in the 2013 calendar are stunning. A special
thanks to Tim Boswell for his continuing hard work and to all the lake photographers who sent
in photographs. A reminder to all our members that photos of the lake, its landscape and the
flora and fauna are needed for next year’s calendar. The 2013 calendars are available from
Penny Love (450-226-8062) and at major events.
Youth Environment Education
Again thanks to Marty and Alison Warner Timusk for their environmental education work with
our youth. In 2011 they presented a program on birds of the area. The children participated
by making various birds from felt to be hung in a window or on their Christmas tree.
Friends/Amis supported the program with a donation from the Tom Clasper Memorial Fund
and will again participate in their 2012 project which will be on bugs. This is a wonderful
opportunity for all the children to learn about our environment.
Community
La Station:
As most of you know, la Station store/restaurant is now owned and operated by Roland
Meunier and Stephanie Chouinard. Patrice Gouyet was unable to continue for health reasons.
Roland and Stephanie have been living above the store with their daughters since January and
began by running the restaurant at la Station in early 2012. In May they bought the whole
operation from Patrice. There is a new energy apparent that anyone who has visited the store
will notice. There is new shelving and lighting as well as new and improved grocery and meat
products, weekly specials, better pricing on many items and of course the bistro/restaurant.
Roland is a chef having worked at the Fairmont Chateau Montebello as well as several other restaurants in the area. The menu at la Station is expanded and the food is wonderful – witness the difficulty of finding a table at this busy spot. It’s a good idea to reserve your table for dinner. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 8am to 7pm; on Friday and Saturday from 8am to 9pm.
Stephanie and Roland have long term plans for la Station and are fast becoming a part of the community. Their children are currently enrolled in swimming lessons at the club and the family is quickly integrating into the life of Lac des Seize Iles. They look forward to your support as they continue the tradition of la Station operation.
We are lucky to have a second restaurant in our small village – the Casse-Croute DCeize Iles. Open for 7 years now and run by Joselyn Patrimonia and her partner Daniel Cyr, they offer a more than full menu of casse-croute style food as well as a sampling of Filipino food from Joselyn’s native country. Daniel is the great nephew of world famous Louis Cyr who lived in the late 1800s to 1912 – Ben Weider said he was the strongest man to have ever lived. Maybe it had something to do with the food! The Casse-Croute is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9am to 8:30pm; on Friday from 9am to 9pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 9pm.
Municipal
Cell tower
In spite of the wishes of over 90% of the lake community who signed the on line petition, the
mayor and three councilors supported the placing of a cell tower on the mountain in the
village. This precluded the opportunity to arbitrate the location of the tower with Videotron.
Arbitration has resulted in satisfactory results in a number of communities in Quebec.
Unfortunately there is now a cell tower blinking in the middle of the village as well as a new
tower at the south end of the lake near Lac Laurel and the Bell tower to the east of the lake.
This was a major failure on the part of the elected municipal officials to satisfactorily
represent the wishes of the majority of the residents.
New wharf
Fortunately, the municipality decided against using the extremely expensive wharf design and
commissioned a second more reasonable engineering design. This design includes the use of
floating docks. Friends/Amis continues to be concerned about the location of the boat ramp,
the one way traffic at the unloading section and the height and stability of the floating docks
for use by our senior citizens, a remarkable number of whom now have knee replacements
etc. To our knowledge there has been no public consultation for input from the residents who
actually use the docks.
New toilet and skate building
The unrelenting spending continues with plans to construct a new building on the northeast
corner of the parking lot in 2012.
Elections
Municipal elections are scheduled for November 2013.
Executive and Board
There have been some changes to the board and executive of Amis du Lac. On the executive
Bill Clelland replaces Pieter Folmer as treasurer. Many thanks to Pieter for his long service as
treasurer. We welcome to the board Dave Estall, Louise Lorange.
Membership
Thanks to all who joined the association in 2011.Our membership numbers were up and our
offer of a three year membership continues to be popular. Three year members will be
notified when their renewal date comes up. It cannot be emphasized enough how important
all our members are to the Lake. Please encourage your friends and neighbors to join. Our
legitimacy as an association representing all the municipality is reflected in our numbers.
Check our new website for a membership form and all the latest news.
Annual General Meeting 2012
The Amis du Lac/ Friends of the Lake Annual General Membership Meeting is Friday July 13th at 7.00 pm at the municipal building.
2013 calendars will be available for sale to members at the meeting.
Friends/Amis wishes everyone a safe summer, filled with sunshine and the company of family and friends!
