Frontenac County Council – March 16

Jeff Green | Mar 23, 2016

K&P Trail update

Trail proponents and the county's economic development department have a goal of completing the K&P Trail as far as Sharbot Lake by Canada Day, 2017, Canada's 150th anniversary.

The trail is now complete from the bottom of the county at Orser Road, just east of Road 38, all the way to Tichborne. However, to complete the last eight kilometres of trail will be more complicated than the first 50 or so were.

While the section of trail that is now complete was (almost) entirely owned by the county after they purchased it from Bell Canada, who acquired it from Canadian Pacific, the section now being looked at was sold off to private owners. There are 22 land owners who own sections of the former K&P rail line, some who own a few metres and some three or more kilometres.

Marcel Giroux and Wayne Robinson, who both have decades of history in the Tibchborne to Sharbot Lake corridor, have volunteered to meet with landowners and negotiate agreements.

In her report to County Council, Anne Marie Young notes that Robinson and Giroux “feel every person will want some kind of consideration/ compensation for the value of the trail they own.”

She said that a draft appraisal report has been completed to determine fair market value to establish a figure that can be used as a basis for negotiation. “Expropriation is also an option if need be,” she noted, and added that a meeting has been held with the county’s solicitor to determine a plan if that becomes necessary.”

For his part, Marcel Giroux is optimistic that amicable arrangements can be made with most of the landowners, but accommodations, not only of the financial kind, will need to be made.

“There are some places where houses have been built over the trail, or septic beds are on or near the trail, so we will need to find alternate routes,” said Giroux, in a telephone interview after the Council meeting

Giroux added that the most of the landowners who have been approached have been either supportive or at least neutral towards the idea of allowing a trail to go through their land.

He said that as negotiations continue, those pieces that have been secured will be completed to the high standard of the rest of the trail.

“We want to create some more momentum if we can,” he said.

There is an initiative aimed at consolidating the K&P trail north from Sharbot Lake through Central and North Frontenac into Lanark and Renfrew. A meeting was held in January with officials from the other counties, and further meetings are planned.

Upgrades to county offices

A report on necessary and desired upgrades to the county offices, which are located in what is called the “Old House”, was presented to Council. The “Old House” was originally constructed in 1919 by Colonel William H Fair, and is attached to the Fairmount Home and the offices of Frontenac Paramedic Services.

The report says there is ample floor space in the building for the current and future space needs of county staff. However, since it is a house and not an office building, much of the space is wasted and there is a lack of privacy in many of the offices, which are located in converted bedrooms, family rooms, etc.

Of the 13 issues of concern raised in the report, the most immediate has to do with washroom facilities and accessibility issues, which need to be addressed in order to comply with the Health and Safety and Accessibility acts. Other than that, the issues are more those of efficiency and costs of operating an older building.

Staff put forward eight wide-ranging options for Council to consider, from doing nothing, to decommissioning the building and constructing new offices, possibly within Frontenac County.

Council favoured the middle of the range, asking staff to come back with costing for option 4, “renovate for washroom accessibility and improved reception and improved productivity” and option 6, “Old House conversion to new use and addition to accommodate accessibility and productivity needs.”