Annual Construction Slowdown Comes Early This Year Says CBO

Craig Bakay | Sep 25, 2024

Construction activity always begins to slow in the fall but this year that slowdown is coming early, Chief Building Official David Twiddy told Addington Highlands Council at its regular meeting Sept. 17 in Denbigh.

“Construction is slowing earlier than normal (and) it’s a trend being noticed across all municipalities,” Twiddy said. “I’ve talked to other CBOs and construction is more or less grinding to a halt.

“Nevertheless, we’ve had an interesting and constructive year.”

He said they’ve issued 90 building permits, 16 for new homes, along with 33 septic permits. Typically, they have 40-50 septic permits per year, he said.

He said work at the Denbigh rink is going well and it’s in a position to receive a new surface now.

“Many thanks to the volunteers and Township staff that worked tirelessly to make this happen,” he said.

And, he said water leakage at the Addington Highlands Community Centre seems to have been resolved.

“The culprit was a plugged drain line leading to the north ditch area,” he said. “That and all the rain we’ve had.

“Luckily, we didn’t need a new roof.”

But, it’s Twiddy’s position as bylaw enforcement officer that has him talking to himself.

“Chickens!” he said. “I’ve had a lot of feedback about chickens with people saying ‘we can keep chickens but we can’t keep a rooster’

“No! You can’t keep a rooster or chickens in a hamlet or any other kind of residential area . . . you have to be rural.”

He said you have to be in a rural zone to keep any kind of livestock.

“I’ve got 80 chickens running around a yard inundating a neighbourhood,” he said. “I did say at a Council meeting we had to get rid of roosters but that was just a starting point.

“I want all chickens gone, thank you very much.”

CAO/Clerk-Treasurer Christine Reed said the Township is just about ready to post a questionnaire to hopefully find out what the community wants vis a vis backyard chickens.

“I’ve got most of the questions compiled,” she said. “I’ve got the preamble compiled.

“I’m hoping to have it online by next week.”

Doctor Recruitment

Coun. Ken Hook brought back a motion to support North Frontenac’s request to the Province to compensate municipalities for the money they spend to bring doctors to the area but as bringing back a motion that’s already passed requires a two-thirds majority to pass, ‘no’ votes from Reeve Henry Hogg and Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch defeated the motion.

Hook said “we all noticed at the joint councils meeting there were some people upset that we didn’t support their motion.

“Perhaps the motion was purposefully vague but I believe it sends a strong signal that this is a provincial responsibility, not a municipal one.

“We’ve been forking over money for several years.”

“I really struggled as to how you would do this (compensate municipalities for money spent on doctor recruitment,” said Fritsch.

“We purchased the medical centre as an incentive for doctors, that’s about a million dollars right there,” said Reeve Henry Hogg. “I’d rather they adequately funded the health care system.

“That would be a much better initiative.”

Trunk or Treat

Council approved the 7th annual Trunk or Treat event for the evening of Oct. 31 in Flinton.

Fireworks

Council deferred a request from the Lions Club of Land O’Lakes to use Tracy Park and to enlist the services of the fire department to discharge fireworks after the Christmas Parade on Nov. 23.

Lions Club President Red Emond said in a letter to Council that the evening parade has proven more popular than a daytime one and they wanted to add fireworks.

However Fire Chief Casey Cuddy said he had concerns about whether they intended to use commercial fireworks or family fireworks as well as liability insurance questions and he didn’t want to say yes until those concerns were answered.

“The other question is how far do we go with this,” Cuddy said. “In the previous year, they came to us at the last minute and requested we do fireworks.

“At some point, we’re going to have to decide how many of these we’re going to do in a year.”

“I never really thought of fireworks at Christmas to tell you the truth,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.