Newsletter 2011

President’s Message

2010 was another eventful year for Friends of the Lake.

• The featured speakers at the annual general meeting were councilor Susan de Schulthess and town manager Michel Trudel from Bark Lake.
• The environmental study commissioned by Friends /Amis and headed by Corina Lupu made great progress and is preparing for an expanded study.
• The Friends /Amis website under the direction of Geoff Cresswell , Clea Mittag and Ken Calder is in development and will be launched this season.
• Friends /Amis supported the bat education and bat house program for the youth of the Lake.
• The Lake calendars were once again a great sellout success.
• In 2010 and early 2011 considerable time and much effort was devoted to municipal concerns.

Municipal

Since the Sixteen Island Lake municipal elections 18 months ago, the newly elected council under the direction of Mayor Luc Lamont has undertaken a number of projects in the municipality. Many actions were taken without adequate public consultations and frequently without all the council members being adequately informed.

• South end parking and wharf.  A major parking lot and wharf project at the south end was proposed by the mayor and built without adequate public hearing for all the residents of the community including seasonal residents. The wharf as designed was too costly and the scope of the project had to be revised during construction. A different less costly wharf was proposed by members of the community patterned after the successful municipal wharfs at Bark Lake. The municipality has significantly overspent on this project.
• Referendum to borrow money. The mayor proposed that the municipality borrow such a large sum of money for the loading dock project in the village that the municipality was forced, by provincial law, to hold a referendum.  In spite of a very short notice the referendum was defeated by the prompt action of the citizens. An approximate equal number of citizens from the village, the lake and Laurel, voting not to borrow the large sums of money required.

• Cost of village loading dock. In spite of repeated requests, the mayor delayed informing the residents about the layout and design of the proposed replacement for the loading dock in the village. It became evident that the proposed loading dock was of a similar design to the wharf at the south end and it would be prohibitively expensive. In September members of the community (engineers) presented the mayor and council a written proposal of three options for the loading dock that would better suit the needs of the lake residents at significantly less cost. The repair or replacement of the loading dock appears to be a low priority. There has not been a response to date.
• Design and cost of parking area. The administration continues to push for changes to the village parking lot area including an expensive gazebo/well/toilet/septic field and a new municipal service building to replace the existing one in the parking lot. There is some financial assistance available from the MRC for some of the gazebo, however it is expected that the project will be costly for the municipality. At a public hearing Friends/Amis requested that the total design of the parking lot and the loading dock be completed prior to starting any of the projects. These projects are inter-related. To our knowledge there has not been a design of the complete parking lot area /loading docks. Some preliminary construction work has been started for the gazebo and more floating boat slips have been added perpendicular to the dock loading area.
• Increased taxes. Municipal property taxes have increased by approximately 15% this year. In addition, the municipality which has a tradition of being debt free has begun borrowing funds. Two years ago a group of upset citizens from the village started a movement and circulated a petition to split the municipality in two and have the north end (village) join Montcalm. The reason for this drastic action appeared to be that a number of village residents felt their municipal taxes were too high. No word has been forthcoming from this group concerning this latest tax increase or the plans for large cost projects.
• Communications tower. Last fall the municipality was approached by Videotron to install a large communications tower on the Laurin property in the village. The seasonal residents of the community were not informed of the communications tower by the municipality. In spite of the knowledge that a large cell tower is not needed to successfully supply high speed internet service to all of Sixteen Island Lake, the Council voted 3 to 2 to support the Videotron tower.  Many emails from irate citizens and a petition with 489 signatures were sent to the council requesting that a cell tower not be constructed in the village. Over 338 (79%) of the petition signatures came from residents of the community or their families. On June 4^th a public consultation meeting was held concerning the proposed change to the language for residential zone 9 to accommodate one tower the height of the proposed Videotron tower. The language on this vote was written to exclude an existing cell tower that is so small it is difficult to see and has been in service since June 2009. The meeting was very well attended by citizens opposed to the proposed change and to the Videotron tower. Numerous residents spoke in opposition. There was almost no support for the changes to the zone 9 language. A copy of the petition in opposition to the tower was formally presented to the council. It remains to be seen if the council decides to change the language.

Thanks to all who supported the efforts to prevent the installation of an unnecessary 87 meter communications  tower in the village. Your emails of protest to the municipality, the signing of the petition, your letting your elected officials know how you feel about the tower, all contribute to the effort to prevent the tower. A special thanks to Richard Lessard, Ted Claxton and David Claxton for their tireless effort. Unfortunately it is not over yet.  Our community will continue to work to prevent this communications tower that would be a blight on beautiful Sixteen Island Lake.

Also, many thanks to councilors George Calder and Richard Lessard who have been working very hard during these difficult times. They are the only council members with previous council experience. Thankfully they have been there for the residents of Sixteen Island Lake for the past five and a half years.

Chris Campbell

Environment

• Bark Lake:  Friends / Amis where most fortunate in having councilor Susan de Schulthess and town manager Michel Trudel speak at our annual general meeting. Bark Lake is similar to Sixteen Island Lake with few roads and access mainly by boat. It is a very small municipality of predominantly seasonal residents. Bark Lake is known within Quebec for their success in protecting their environment, both lake and land. They talked about their success in completing an environmental survey of the lake and the forests and how they developed bylaws to protect the lake. They talked about how they managed the affairs of the Municipality of Bark Lake with a minimum number of people and cost and how they run the municipality with a short municipal meeting one day a month. Many questions were asked by our members. Thanks to Susan de Schulthess and Michel Trudel for sharing their experience with us.   

• Lake Study:  As most you know, in 2009  ‘Les Amis du Lac’ commissioned an environmental study of Sixteen Island Lake, the purpose of which was to obtain objective information, which in turn would allow us to make fact based decisions regarding the protection of our environment.

This study, assigned to the environmental firm Biofilia (assisted by many lake volunteers), is ongoing. The first report was tabled in the summer of 2010; the second report is due this spring (available to members on request).

Summarily, the areas of study included: The characterisation of the littoral zone (the area of submerged shore visible to the naked eye) and the buffer strip shoreline (bande riveraine).

• The examination of potential and existing spawning beds of grey and brook trout.
• The identification and density of aquatic plants, in particular the areas populated by the highly invasive Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum; these plants spread when propellers chop them; each small piece sprouts a new plant. Several Laurentian lakes are choking with them).
• The determination of the age of our lake (young [oligotrophic], vs. mid-life [mesotrophic], vs. old [eutrophic]) by measuring water temperature, turbidity, concentrations of phosphorous, oxygen, chlorophyll a, and pH in water samples at several locations in the lake. These measurements were combined with existing data dating back to the seventies.
• The measurement of Periphyton algae (that brown carpeting growth covering submerged rocks and tree trunks ..), also a health indicator and age predictor.

The results of the first study were presented to the municipal council in July 2010. This presentation sparked keen interest by the mayor and the councillors. At the urging of “Les Amis du Lac”, they decided to embark on a comprehensive environmental study to include all 5 bodies of water of the municipality (lac des Seize-Îles, passage des Grenouilles, baie des Sœurs, and lacs Wonish, du Grand Héron and Laurel) and the water shed.

In order to implement this, a committee was selected to formulate a quotation request (“Devis”). Committee members (Lucie Robillard, Denise Cloutier, Richard Lessard, Corina Lupu, plus on occasion Joël Badestecher from the M.R.C.) met several times from November 2010 to January 2011.

The Final form of the Devis was presented for tenders and these will be presented to council for budget approval.  Hopefully, and if all is conducted by the municipality with due diligence, this study will be completed by December 2012.

Corina Lupu

A special thanks to Corina Lupu for her continuing work for the Environmental Study of Sixteen Island Lake. Also to Lucie Robillard  Barbeau who has worked on this study and previous lake water studies and is presently our representative to the South Rouge River Watershed Organization. Sixteen Island Lake is in the Rouge watershed.

Youth bat project

Thanks to Marty and Alison Timusk for initiating the Bat project with the children. They presented a power point with lots of great photos of bats. Then the children assembled bat houses. There are now 18 single chamber bat houses around the lake and their locations are plotted on a map. It is planned to keep a count of the bats in residence each year. Friends/Amis helped with a donation for materials from the Tom Clasper Fund and will again participate with their 2011 project which will be on birds. This is a wonderful opportunity for all the children to learn about our environment.

Community

Le Station:

As most of you will have heard the Station store was sold late last year to Patrice Gouyet.  Patrice and his wife are bilingual. They are from France originally but have spent several years traveling the world.  In particular they lived in Bora Bora in the south Pacific for the last several years.   Having young kids and a desire to raise them in a different environment, they came to settle in St. Agathe about two years ago.  They fell in love with the lower Laurentians and decided to make this wonderful location their permanent home.

Patrice began his search to buy a small country store in late summer and found La Station through an ad Sylvie had placed.  Needless to say, one look at the charming setting and business and he was hooked.  He has been operating the store through the winter and is very much looking forward to the spring and the return of his seasonal cottage clients. Patrice’s passion for area and his desire to keep the country store feel make him an excellent addition to our community as the new store operator.

Patrice and his staff will continue to bring the familiar personal touch to the operation and will offer the same services that we have been used to over the past years. In addition the restaurant is open for business again serving breakfast from 7:30 am and lunch. He will also carry spring garden supplies.

Patrice would like to accommodate our community by offering products that we’d like him to carry in the store.  In particular, breakfast items, groceries, bread, meats/sausages, dairy products, any alcohol (wine, liquor, beer or liquers) or magazines/newspapers. He would like your suggestions at [email protected] The Station is a vital part of life at Sixteen Island Lake – more than a store; it is a community resource and meeting place. Patrice is committed to the store and the community. He will need our continued patronage and support.

Bill Clelland.

Calendars

Tim Boswell has once again produced a beautiful Lake calendar for 2012. Special thanks to Tim for his continued hard work. He takes photos, does the graphics, does the production layout and arranges for the printing of the beautiful lake calendars each year. Thanks to all who have sent photos to Tim and thanks to Hal Myers who each year takes stunning photos of the Lake. Everybody is encouraged to take photos of the lake, its landscape and the flora and fauna and send them to Tim. Small cameras can take beautiful pictures.  However the resolution must be a minimum of 6 mega pixels. Penny Love will be handling sales: 450-226-8062.

Web site

In 2011 Friends /Amis commenced the first stages in the development of a new website to be launched later this year.  The website will be home to 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. The plan is to launch the site in a simple format so that it may be easily managed and serve the membership with the information they need.  Your executive will keep you posted when the site is officially launched.

Geoff Cresswell

Thanks to Geoff Cresswell, Clea Mittag and Ken Calder and their hard work on our new Friends/Amis web site.

Membership

Thanks to all who joined the association in 2010. Our offer of a three year membership proved popular. Three year members will be notified when their renewal date comes up. It cannot beemphasized 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 . Enclosed in this packet is a 2011 membership form and return envelope.

Mary Campbell

Annual General Meeting 2011

The Amis du Lac/ Friends of the Lake  Annual General Membership Meeting is Friday July 15^th at 7.00 pm at the municipal building.

Calendars will be available for sale to members at the meeting.

Friends/Amis wishes everyone a safe and active summer, filled with sunshine and lots of family and friends!