Ah_resort

Jeff Green | Oct 18, 2007

New Life For Addington Higlands Resort Planby Jeff Green

It’s been about 6 years since a provincial “jump team” visited townships in the Land O’ Lakes. The team recommended that the northern parts of Lennox and Addington and Frontenac County would greatly benefit if a high-end resort were built to augment the tourist economy.

This led the County of Frontenac to propose the Frontenac Centre Project, which has never progressed past the preliminary development stage.

Addington Highlands Township, however, developed plans for either an eco-lodge or a golf resort into an investment brochure that was marketed through an investment agency two years ago. Although there was interest at the time from at least one potential investor, the missing link was finding a suitable piece of land.

No private landowner came forward, and members of the AHEAD (Addington Highlands Economic Advisors for Development) committee went so far as to pay a visit to the Pikwakanagan First Nation at Golden Lake to see if an arrangement could be made for development on Crown land within the Algonquin Land Claim.

In consultation with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the township has now found a 71 acre piece of Crown land on Sheldrake Lake in the Quinte Watershed, outside of the Algonquin Land Claim territory, that is being made available for development.

A request for proposal (RFP) has been posted on the Lennox and Addington County website (http://www.lennoxandaddington.com/addingtonhighlandsrfp.pdf)

The township is open to a variety of proposals for the land. “We are looking for your plans-- your vision-- to develop this unique opportunity. This may include but are not limited to: a nature lodge, an inn, an eco lodge, a year round commercial resort or lodge, or other similar proposal” says the RFP.

The land is being made available through a land-use permit that will need to be negotiated with the ministry, and if and when a resort is built, the land may be sold to the developer.

The land is accessed from Highway 41 through a 10 km public road, followed by a 6.5 km forest access road, and is not serviced by Hydro.

It is however, located a short hike from one of the bays on Skootamatta Lake, and this has at least one cottage owner on Skoottamatta Lake worried about the implications of development.

James Oborne has expressed his concerns in a series of emails to the Skoottamatta Cottage Association as well as to Reeve Henry Hogg.

He is concerned about Environmental Assessments for the projects being done in the winter, when seasonal residents are not available, and he wonders how a project like this can be proposed on Sheldrake Lake, which is quite shallow. It has a mean depth of 1.4 metres, and a maximum depth of 4.6 metres.

“Frankly, I don't see how they can be stopped and this may just be a ‘back door’ onto Skoottamatta,” he wrote in one of his messages.

The RFP has a closing date of November 16.