protéger, respecter, conserver
The LLPOA has removed a post on it’s website dated September 6th, 2019. This is a gesture of reciprocation to the olive-branch extended by the mayor as announced during the October 7th regular municipal meeting.
The LLPOA is heartened that the Council has since declared that the protection of Lake Louisa and surrounding environment is recognized as a high priority for them.
A follow up piece in La Presse Plus to the Sep. 18th article, this one by Tommy Chouinard. Read more here. . .
A review of many aspects of the WITRI story over the last few months are to be found in this article by Marc Thibodeau from La Presse Plus.
September 15th, 2019
Dear Ms Black,
Please consider this an official document and forward this letter to the councillors and the mayor for their consideration.
I’m writing today to comment on and ask questions about issues raised at the council meeting of September 9th, 2019.
The main area of concern is the continuing communication problems between Wentworth and its residents. The fact that approximately 130 people turned out for a council meeting in September in itself demonstrates that the taxpayers are unhappy and want answers. The municipality’s response, to strictly limit the time available per person and in total, was a poor start. Thirty minutes of discussion for all of the issues important to Wentworth’s residents is not enough, particularly in the exceptional situation which we are facing. Furthermore the aggressive tone of at least one councillor was unprofessional and unhelpful.
To continue reading this letter please go to September 15th, 2019 in the Letters from Readers section under the WITRI section or click here
Thank you for the many calls and emails of encouragement received over this past week. We will be campaigning door-to-door in our community to speak with you, shed light on recent events, and share information as we support the candidate Philippe Cyr, in his efforts to win the open seat on Wentworth council.
In a recent communication, Wentworth council stated that our Mayor had a verbal interaction with the WITRI developer as early as May 2018. This appears to be a departure from the Mayor’s past statements. Many residents will recall that this new date is earlier than he previously indicated in response to questions at past municipal meetings.
While we at the LLPOA continue to be dismayed by the municipality’s response to many of our questions in the past months, rest assured we will continue to speak out, to point out inconsistencies and to help protect your environmental interests and democratic rights.
We are encouraged by your continued support and look forward to speaking with you.
The LLPOA Team
Sept. 16th, 2019.
James Morgan, journalist for The Review newspaper, was in attendance at Wentworth’s General Council Meeting and his report of the meeting made their front page!
Read more here.
While the Lake Louisa Property Owners Association ( LLPOA/APLL) has noted on more than one occasion that it is highly irregular for a Municipality to provide a prospective developer/proponent a summary of comments before a project plan is deposited, and to present feedback “collected as part of the public hearing process”, we have none-the-less reviewed the report.
Respectfully, the LLPOA/APLL asks that the Counsellors of Wentworth decline to publish, distribute or make available this report in the June 23, 2019 format for the following reasons:
1. The Summary Report fails to fulfill its mandated purpose as noted clearly on the cover page and the introduction. Specifically the Summary Report does not make any reference to the community organizations that contributed feedback in person and in writing outlining the concerns and comments of Wentworth community members and stakeholders. The two obvious omissions refer to the LLPOA/APLL and the Dunany Community Association (DCA), and these community organizations represent the views of the largest Wentworth community groups, as well as the views of the majority of Wentworth community. These organizations have conservatively held over 100 meetings in 2019, and consistently communicated opposition to golf and the large scale development envisioned by WITRD for zone RU6. In fact, the Summary Report also failed to communicate that these organizations represent a significant portion of the population that support and “welcome development when done thoughtfully and according to the rules and regulations in place from all levels of government that doesn’t in any way compromise the environment” – as noted in the DCA and LLPOA/APLL submissions. Further, the Summary Report mentions individual names and anonymous feedback, and quantifies that 18 briefs and 11 verbal presentations were made; and in contrast the Summary Report does not mention that the President of the LLPOA held up over 270 signed petitions from community members documenting wide-spread opposition to golf and the large scale WITRD concept.
Note: In Section 1, Introduction, it is stated that the “purpose of the public hearings was to provide the municipality’s citizens and community organizations with a forum to comment on WITRI’s recreational tourism development concept”. Reference to the petitions should have been included in the summary, and reference to anonymous feedback should not be included in the summary.
Bottom Line: The Summary Report does not meet its mandated purpose, and it is unacceptable to exclude the feedback and contributions from the two largest Wentworth community organizations, it is also unacceptable to not make mention of the 270 petitions from LLPOA/APLL, and it is unacceptable to include references from anonymous individuals in the summary. Before publishing or making the Summary Report available to the WITRD, all contributors should be offered the protection of anonymity – if anonymous content is included in the summary, appendix and verbal testimony.
2. The Summary Report fails to put into context the widespread public concern that resulted in the hiring of a consulting firm to help the council manage the unexpected volume of letters, emails, etc. As the mayor said on a number of occasions, when asked why they had not replied to the residents’ letters within a reasonable delay, he indicated that it was because the staff and councilors had been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of concerns and inquiries expressed by the community.
Note: At several of the public meeting held in 2019 the Mayor promised that the early letters and phone calls received expressing concern and opposition to the WITRI concept would be included in the overall assessment of community support. It appears only some letters and comments submitted via the FAQ portal of the Wentworth website have been included – regular mail and email directed to Wentworth and Councilors have been excluded.
Bottom Line: It is unacceptable that the context outlined above was not included in the summary. Reference to the widespread expression of concern from the Wentworth community and the unmanageable volume of calls and email inquiries, resulting in the hiring of a communications consulting firm must be noted in the summary.
3. The Summary Report also fails to make mention of the significant visual indication of community concerns represented by hundreds of red signs installed on the streets and waterfront of private residences of Lac Louisa, Wentworth and bordering communities.
Note: The Mayor was recorded at a recent meeting stating “You would have to live under a rock to not know about the Red Sign Campaign” (…. in opposition). ]
Bottom Line: Reference to the hundreds of red signs in opposition to golf and large scale development, as well as red signs urging increased protection of the heronry, must be included in the summary.
In summary, the LLPOA/APLL respectfully asks that the June 23, 2019 Summary Report be considered a DRAFT or preliminary report, and if it is shared with the Wentworth community that DRAFT watermarks be clearly visible on each page of a PDF format document.
Please confirm in writing or via email to the LLPOA/APLL, how Wentworth plans to proceed to address the concerns outlined above.
Over 80 people attended our latest information meeting at the Wentworth Community Centre. ?They were brought up to date on the WITRI opposition. Many brought home brand new hand painted red signs to adorn their properties. Good questions were asked. Petitions were signed and contributions to the legal fund were made too. ?Wentworth Council was invited, but neither the Mayor, nor any of the Councillors responded to the invitation, nor were in attendance. ?Andr? Cliche, a councillor from Wentworth North accepted our invitation and spoke at the meeting. The new presentation will be appearing on the website soon
This meeting was very well attended by the residents of Wentworth. It began at 5:00 PM instead of the usual starting time of 7:00 PM, to allow for two power-point presentations: one on the promoter?s agreement by-law project (2019-005) and the other was about the review process for any large scale property development. It was announced that the municipality is taking steps to elevate the protection status of the heronry to the provincial level. Due to the large volume of questions posed by residents, mostly regarding the WITRI development, the meeting ran on past 9:30 PM.
The Red Sign Campaign got off to a great start Saturday, May 4th in the LLSC parking lot.
We are making more. Let us know if you would like one. A municipal bylaw prohibits the posting of signs on trees. We ask that you mount them on posts.
On December 20, 2018, the township of Wentworth issued a press release indicating the interest of Australian investors to purchase and develop an important tract of land bordering Lake Louisa to the north for recreational tourism purposes.
Spanning over 1500 acres, a two billion dollar, five village, five hotel, spa, golf course and retirement complex has been proposed to be built over 20 years by the newly created Wentworth Integrated Tourism Resort Inc.
Of utmost importance to the citizens of Wentworth is the preservation of the health of Lake Louisa and the potential disruption to the fragile balance of nature that allows both our lake and the surrounding environment to thrive.
In an effort to maintain transparency and address the questions and concerns of its citizens, the council held an open information session on February 24, 2019. Despite the harsh, inclement weather of that day, interest in the development was so great that the Rec Centre was overfilled, with citizens taking all available space within the centre.
Despite the promoter’s readiness to develop the project with the council and respect and address the concerns of our citizens and the potential economic windfall to our municipality, reaction to the presentation was mixed.
Our members have expressed that, although many aspects of the promoter?s proposal could potentially benefit them by encouraging further development in the area and providing much needed corporate tax dollars and other proposed advantages, concerns about how the negative effects of such an immense project could have on the environment surrounding the lake were significant. Primarily, concerns about how construction would affect the watershed area inherent in this tract of land, on the health of the lake, as well as human waste disposal, the potential use of pesticides and fertilizers and increased traffic via roads that were not conceived to accommodate this level of activity.
The LLPOA has drafted the following letter in response.
March 20, 2019
To the Wentworth Mayor and Council Members,
On behalf of the Lake Louisa Property Owners Association, I am writing to express our alarm about the presentation at the Wentworth Community Centre on February 24th.
We recognize the potential economic benefit for the area if the Wentworth Integrated Tourism Resort Inc. (WITRI) proposal goes ahead, however we fear the probability of irreversible environmental damage to our lake.
There are 816 residential properties in Wentworth now, over 450 of those are around Lake Louisa. They have a reasonable expectation that their municipal government will represent their best interests and will do everything within its power to protect the reason they are here. That reason is Lake Louisa itself.
Our residents have worked hard to protect our lake. They are proud of how clean it is. They make use of the information on ecological practices provided to them by the LLPOA, and abide by the protective bylaws put in place by the municipality. They understand the delicate balance between human activity and the health of the lake must be maintained, which would be impossible with a development of the size proposed.We appreciate that some modifications have been made to the plan to make it more agreeable to the community, such as forgoing the use of the Lake Louisa North Road and any direct access to the lake which may be available to the WITRI, however, these changes would not alleviate the threat to the lake water itself.
By their own admission, the WITRI and its affiliated group will be testing a concept created for use in other environments and climates. As was discussed in the presentation, their project in our municipality would be the first of other developments they hope to build in North America. We are not at all convinced that the construction of a 5 village development and a golf course in a prohibitive terrain could be realized without significant environmental damage. Moreover, it is common knowledge that the negative environmental impact of a golf course is enormous, especially since its placement is directly within our watershed. This is of great concern to our residents, judging from the pulse of the attendees, LLPOA members and residents on the lake.
On behalf of our members, we urge you to use all mechanisms at your disposal, to either block this plan in its present form, or to shape it into a project that will not threaten the health of Lake Louisa. We would be happy to work with you to develop strategies that will minimize any impact on the health of the lake, our flora and our fauna.Mary-Anne Armstrong
President Lake Louisa Property Owners Association
At this point in time, the LLPOA has committed to keeping a watchful eye on this proposal. We encourage you to share your comments either directly with us at llpoa@lac-louisa.ca or with the city council, with a copy to the LLPOA. It is also important to register to receive updates from the township of Wentworth.
