Miner Lake Building Permit Update
On May 5, a delegation from a small road association, the Miner Lake Lane Association, brought a Power Point presentation to South Frontenac Council that they had also sent to the township planning department.
The Power Point outlined how, in the view of presenter James Rettie, the building proposed by the owner of a lot at 469 Miner Lake Lane, should not be granted a building permit. Rettie explained, based on some of the marketing materials from the locally based property owners, the building that was going up will not be a seasonal dwelling, but will be a full time short-term rental property. Therefore, Rettie argued, instead of issuing a building permit, the applicant should be referred to the planning department to apply for the property to be rezoned as a commercial before being allowed to take out a building permit.
At the time, Council referred the matter back to Staff.
A couple of weeks later, Christine Woods, Senior Planner for South Frontenac, informed James Rettie, and copied the Frontenac News, that the “building proposed for 469 Miner Lake Lane complies with the Zoning By-law.”
Woods added that “the proposed building design is that of a single detached dwelling, but my understanding is that it would be used as a seasonal dwelling. Both are allowed in the RLSW zone on the property.”
To a separate but related question about the proposed building appearing to be a 3-storey structure, Woods replied that, “the building height would also comply with the zone. The RLSW zone allows a house to be up to 11 metres tall. This would be equivalent to a two or three storey building depending on the roof pitch – think of a two-storey house with a walkout basement to visualise.”
The News has sought comment on the matter from both James Rettie and the owners of Enhabit.ca, and contacted one of the owners, Michael Wilson.
Wilson did not want to comment on the building permit application without talking to his business partner, but wanted to clarify that the two existing properties operated under the Enhabit.ca website, as well as the Miner Lake property, are owned by them.
The two existing properties, Black Oak Lodge, which has a capacity of 14 visitors and is located on a 50-acre property overlooking Canoe Lake, and The Frontenac, with a capacity of 10 and located on a 2-acre property with 700 feet of waterfront, on 13 Island Lake, have operated for several years without incident. He said they operate as locally-based businesses, and support local employment and the South Frontenac economy.
