South Frontenac Committee of the Whole

Wilma Kenny | Mar 17, 2021

South Frontenac Committee of the Whole met on March 9 on audio broadcast via Facebook, followed by a closed session.

Heritage Committee Update

Planner Anna Geladi reviewed the Heritage Act, as it pertains to designating heritage resources, including buildings, cultural landscapes and archeological resources.

The Township’s Heritage Committee is building an inventory of historically and culturally significant properties, currently focussing on local schools and churches. They are also undertaking a designation pilot project, focussing on a limestone house in Harrowsmith, at the request of its owner, Brad Barbeau. Some of the benefits of heritage designation include access to grants, tax rebates and a plaque for the property.

Most of Council’s concerns centred around the freedom of a property owner to refuse to have his home or other buildings “designated”. Geladi assured them that even though a structure might be listed as being of historical interest, it would not be “designated” without the owner’s complete agreement.

Request for Lane name change

“This may look innocent enough, but it could lead to a lot of problems,” said Mayor Vandewal; “this person has asked many times, and it could open the floodgates. We don’t want to set a precedent”. A request from Lou Bilovski to have the name of Neil Lane changed to Thomas Lane was turned down by Council.

Unhappy with MPP Hillier

Councillor Sleeth proposed a motion to request the Provincial Government to remove Randy Hillier as our MPP, due to his flagrantly opposing the restrictions around Covid. The CAO said that although this sort of request would not be considered by the provincial government, Council could choose to register their disapproval.