SF Council - Speed Limit Debated

The redevelopment of the southern section of Road 38 is essentially complete with the exception of the culvert/bridge replacement at Murvale Road, where the bottom had not been found, at least as of the end of last week.

As part of the redevelopment process, bringing the speed of the roadway within provincial guidelines was looked at by the public, staff and the engineering consultant on the project, Greer Galloway. Greer Galloway has recommended that a new speed zone of 60 kilometres per hour be introduced 1.2 kilometres south of Kingston Road, extending to to 200 metres south of Kingston Road, where the current speed limit of 50km per hour kicks in, for the section of Road 38 that passes through Harrowsmith.

Manager of Capital Projects and Engineering Troy Dunlop, said that the current transition from an 80km zone to a 50km zone is not consistent with provincial guidelines which cap the speed limit decrease on an arterial road at 20km/hour. He also said that the location of the current drop from 80km/hr to 50km/hour is only 100 metres from the spot where the Cataraqui Trail, a walking/biking trail crosses Road 38, which is not ideal.

Councillor Doug Morey made the comment, which was reiterated both by Councillor Pegrum and other members of council, that Road 38 is the most heavily travelled arterial road in the township, and a 1km long 60 km/hr zone is a big change.

“If the ministry limits the speed decrease to 20km, why couldn’t it go down to 70km for that one kilometre stretch, and then go to 50m” he said.

“It is my understanding that the 1km stretch is a recommendation from the Ministry of Transportation, not a firm guideline,” said Councillor Steve Pegrum.

Ron Vandewal said that while most drivers know they can drive 10-15 kilometres over the speed limit with no consequences, any driver whose job requires them to follow the speed limit will be impacted by a slow speed on a major road.

“I don’t like voting for speed reduction on our major roads. These roads are designed to move people, and this makes it harder to do that. I note that Central Frontenac got rid of a 60 zone in Godfrey, where there is a general store and the junction with Westport Road, because they decided it wasn’t necessary,” he said.

Councillor Ray Leonard moved that the proposal be deferred and that Greer Galloway be consulted again about a 70km zone in that stretch, and the possibility of a less than 1km stretch. The motion to defer was approved by Council.

Waste site fees Loughborough site.

The Loughborough waste site is very near to capacity. An application to the Ministry of the Environment to extend the site in order to create new capacity is still pending, and there is no way of knowing when the matter will be settled. The site is set to become a transfer station this month. If the Ministry approves the expansion, it will become a full-fledged waste site again, but if not, it will be a permanent waste transfer facility.

Among the changes resulting at the site are that all material will now be offloaded by residents into roll off bins, bulky wood and lumber will no longer be accommodated, and clean lumber that was processed into a tub grinder at the site, will no longer be used. Single or double axle dump trucks and large commercial trailers will no longer be able to dump at the site, and fibreglass boats that were previously accepted at the site will no longer be accepted.

Among the resulting changes to the fee schedule for the site are the removal of the charges for loads that are no longer available, and a minimum dumping charge of $20, which is a policy that is in place at the Portland waste site near Verona.

Fees for large bulky items are $20, and small items such as chairs, sinks, and toilets are included in the minimum $20 fee per vehicle.

Construction metal is $30 per half ton load, half ton truck loads are $30, one ton loads are $50, 8 foot and under utility trailers are $30, and 8-12 foot trailers will cost $75.

The fee schedule came before Council in August and has been circulated publicly, and was brought back to this meeting for formal adoption.

The only comment on the adoption resolution came from Mayor Ron Vandewal who reiterated a general point he has made in the past.

“I said it before and Mr. Bolton {Director of Public Services, Kyle Bolton} has heard me say it before, I don’t think we are putting enough value on waste, and we are going to come up with a schedule for all our landfills later on, when we review all the charges, because it is way more valuable than we are giving it credit for, and when our waste capacity is gone, we are going to pay so much more,“ he said.

Lake Ecosystem Grant Approvals

Only three proposals were brought forward for Council consideration under the Lake Ecosystem grant program.

Of the three, two were easy for Council to support, but there were questions about the third, a request for $10,000 from the Queen’s University Biological Station (QUBS) for “four new high-quality microscopes for the aquatic lab at the Elbow Lake Environmental Education Centre,” which is located on Elbow Lake near Perth Road Village.

In the application, QUBS said that if purchases are approved they will “expand access to microscopes so that community groups and visiting local school groups can engage directly with science by investigating their local freshwater environments, and make meaningful discoveries at Elbow Lake.” QUBS is also promising to provide free public events featuring their researchers in the spring and summer of 2026.

While the project itself is not particularly controversial, the applicant is.

“I’m not always warm and fuzzy about granting a big organisation like Queen’s money," said Mayor Vandewal, "but they say they are going to use it to teach students all of this stuff.”

He asked whether the equipment can be moved. The microscopes are not portable, however.

“They could take samples to that lab, if that is what we ask for,” he said.

The other grants up for approval included $9,500 for a study on Garter Lake, and at capacity Trout Lake to, “determine any legacy issues of major watershed disturbance such as logging and beaver dam breaks.” Once the study is complete, the lake association will share the results with other lake associations, especially those with lake trout.

The third grant is $2,000 to the Wolfe Lake Association to create a stand alone website for the fishleadfree campaign that the Association has been running for a number of years, a program with a wide reach in the surrounding region in South and Central Frontenac, Westport and the Township of Rideau Lakes.

When it came to a vote, Councillor Leonard asked for a separate vote to be held for each of the project proposals. All three were approved, but three ‘no’ votes were recorded for the QUBS microscope purchase.

The Lake Ecosystem Grant Program has a $30,000 budget for 2025, and the sum total of the three programs was only $21,500.

Watersheds Canada Grant

Watersheds Canada has been associated with South Frontenac for over 20 years, and in 2024, it received a lake eco-systems grant from the township to carry out 10 shoreline restorations on properties throughout the township, with the intent of restoring 500 metres of shoreline and 1200 square metres of riparian habitat. The agency is making an application to the Green Municipal Fund at this time, which would enable it to restore 25,000 square metres of riparian habitat in four municipalities, one of which is South Frontenac.

The request to the township was for a letter of support for the application, which would not require any township funding or staff time if it is approved.

Council voted to support the project.

Year end financials

Capital projects had a surplus of almost $1 million in 2024, from projects that were under budget or not completed, and that money was moved into the capital budget reserve fund for 2025.

The operating budget however, came in over budget by 1.5%, $424,000 and that amount is being covered off by dipping into the townships’ working fund reserve.

Kyle Bolton said that the main overages were “drainage, maintenance and hot mix patching and dust suppression and waste collection, contracted services, materials and labour costs.”

“Insurance was 15% higher than budgeted as well,” said Chief Administrative Officer Louise Frangito.