Clay Bank - Madawaska River - Update

[Relic]

Its all windows dressing...... Restaurant, pavillion, improved docking and parking, sports fields,playgrounds, festivals...blah, blah, blah.

The developer has indicated they would invest UP TO 875gs, take 200 right of the top, factor in the costs of all the assessments and surveys, septic, roads, washrooms, hydro, well's.....and your left with nothing for all the "amenities"

So they have "paved a little paradise", 20 Rv's show up for two years. the township gets a small cut of the Parks income annually. In the end this whole idea is a lose, lose for the current residents and taxpayers.


Thanks to all those who have taken the time to sign. Much appreciated.

Jonathan

[MLR]

Its all windows dressing...... Restaurant, pavillion, improved docking and parking, sports fields,playgrounds, festivals...blah, blah, blah.

The developer has indicated they would invest UP TO 875gs, take 200 right of the top, factor in the costs of all the assessments and surveys, septic, roads, washrooms, hydro, well's.....and your left with nothing for all the "amenities"

So they have "paved a little paradise", 20 Rv's show up for two years. the township gets a small cut of the Parks income annually. In the end this whole idea is a lose, lose for the current residents and taxpayers.


Thanks to all those who have taken the time to sign. Much appreciated.

Jonathan

The developer has also indicated that the boat launch will continue to be accessible to the public and hopes that those who use the launch will consider renting RV sites.

There is zero investment required from the township, the township gets 200 G in development fee, and a percentage of annual revenue. Help me understand how revenue without investment is a lose / lose for the residents and taxpayers when the developer is taking all of the risk.

In a lot of situations, municipalities require developer's to obtain a bond for the value of the project. If for what ever reason the developer stops, or does not complete, the township takes the bond money and will have the project completed by someone else. This mitigates the risk to the municipality greatly.

The worst that can happen is the developer goes broke and the township has a serviced RV Park that they can lease out to the next dreamer, or they can try to run it themselves.

[bradford2]

I can see it being lose lose for the neighbours if they don't want it there. But that's about it really. And that can happen in any residence on the planet if you suddenly have a bad neighbour.

I read some of the comments on the facebook thread and shake my head. For example increased policing lol. Or that no money will be spent by the visitors in town.

Maybe I'm biased since I have a trailer in a park on a lake. But I have yet to even see the police. And we and all our trailer neighbours spend thousands in the closest town every year. Not to mention the campground itself spends a lot of money locally and employs several people.

So I don't know, aside from increased boat traffic on the lake I'm just not seeing all these other downsides.

[mikemicropterus]

I signed and have my reservations at the trailer park...lol....no my reservations come from fishing that river/lake since 1986.....first time I saw a big walleye and first time for big muskie.......the increase from then till now is very noticeable.....I remember days when you were the only on the water.....now put 100 more people within close access to the area and it will not take long to see the impact it will have on water quality.....and that will impact the fishing......pleasure boaters don't care except if the traffic gets too much...this is not a large nor long area.......it only flows according to regulation.......it is not a stable body of water.....and it can't be looked at in those terms......Good debate and very good points.......but one voice is needed to stop this and all this posting won't do much.......the media needs to see the negatives and the MNR has now been advised if they didn't already know.......now this spring we all need to go find a blandings turtle and move it to there early so it can be found and reported.....lol......environmental retaliation......seriously email your mpp and your mp and any municipal official you can find or maybe someone can find links to send emails to....this is only going to create revenues for the ones in charge to give themselves higher salaries..........once the shovel goes into the ground it will take 50 years to undo this....go to Mississippi lake and look at the big dock full of bird crap....that's was progress brought to you by.????? ...is it worth it??????

[fishboch]

I am wondering why the area musky clubs haven't jumped on this yet.

Their membership alone could put this petition over the top.

Not sure if this petition will do any good or if this is already a done deal but I will do whatever I can to help stop this.

This is not a large fishery and the increased boat traffic along with pollution and noise will affect this area enormously.

All of us here are all about saving fisheries for future generations, here's your chance to save one in your own backyard.

[Doug]

I am wondering why the area musky clubs haven't jumped on this yet.

Their membership alone could put this petition over the top.

Not sure if this petition will do any good or if this is already a done deal but I will do whatever I can to help stop this.

This is not a large fishery and the increased boat traffic along with pollution and noise will affect this area enormously.

All of us here are all about saving fisheries for future generations, here's your chance to save one in your own backyard.

It appears that one musky club HAS signed on:


Ken Taggart NEPEAN, ONTARIO, CANADA


This is the prettiest little river in the area. The beauty is in how little development it has seen. As chairman of the Ottawa Chapter of Muskies Canada I represent over 100 concerned individuals and users of this waterway. Our organization is very concerned about this development and the effect it will have on the fragile ecosystem of this waterway. Please do not allow this proposal to develop this area to proceed.

Sincerely

Ken Taggart

Chapter Chairman

Muskies Canada Ottawa

www.muskiescanada.ca

[almontefisher]

So not that I disagree with everyone on the petition as I would like to see this great area stay peaceful but all this talk about increase boat traffic etc is happening everywhere without needing an RV park etc to draw in the circus crowd. People are more likley to have a fishing boat, ATV, travel trailer skidoo in their driveway or barn even more so than an RRSP, RESP or other things that one should have in place before personal pleasure. We all will die at some point but how many of us think about protecting our family with life insurance or how our next generation will deal with the debt we leave behind when we pass on. We are a people of debt and we buy what we want when we want it. This was not a practice many years ago when lakes and rivers were less busy because people could not access them as easy. Also if you don't want increased boat traffic in this area then fixing up the launch the way they did is mistake #1. Why make such an easy and nice place to go launch a boat if you don't want increased traffic. How many of you guys said no please don't make this launch an easy and safe place to get my boat in the water??

Now having said that I do agree that selling of a natural park in our area is sad to see but when life requests this stuff someone will profit off of it! Deep down inside maybe the musky clubs should run and own the park. If you go to the current developer and say to them that you can make them a 20% profit on the land I am sure they would jump at it. If you can't afford it then someon else will and you just need to deal with what happens with it. Also keep in mind petitions work about 10% of the time so do you waste your breathe signing petitions and typing on web sites or do you get off your butts and show your support at the place of issue??

[MLR]

Losing a community park over a small short term capital gain?
$ 200,000 is nothing when considering what's being sold and again the locals
end up with a big pile of nothing. Profit sharing? An RV park of that size
will never bring in enough capital to really benefit the local municipality.

For those with their eyes open.....let's keep on trying to protect what little
nature/natural areas/parks we have left.

Capital vs Community,,,,,,I think we know what is more important.

.......So a Community Park gets sold or leased to a developer who says the plan is
to build an RV PARK " TO BENEFIT THE LOCALS" ......five to eight years down the
road and the RV PARK isn't making enough profit. The existing management/owners
close the park and resell to "another developer" who has a plan to build condos.
The natural integrity of the land at this point has degraded enough that the
argument for protection is no longer valid.
Now the land is really private and only condo owners have paid access to the water.
This practice is wide spread by developers who know the real value of the land they
are buying. It is nothing for a developer to spend over a $ 1,000,000 knowing that the
real development which was planned before the " RV PARK" will come back ten to twenty
fold when the condos go up.

Those that have their eyes open would see that nothing is being sold, so your idea that there is a secret agenda to build a condo tower is nothing other than frivolous fear mongering. The land is simply not being sold.

You make reference that this a wide spread problem by developers. I am open minded, so I ask that you provide specific examples of where developers have bamboozled municipalities into selling them (not leasing) parkland to build water front condo towers. Provide the examples where publicly owned parks have been sold or given to developers and you will have swayed my opinion.

What would you say if this spring the township took the environmental concerns of the petitioners serious and the result was closing the boat launch entirely in an effort to restore the natural integrity of the man made lake?

[MLR]

Now having said that I do agree that selling of a natural park in our area is sad to see

The land is not being sold

[almontefisher]

Now having said that I do agree that selling of a natural park in our area is sad to see

The land is not being sold

So if the land is not sold then how is this possibly happening?? So is this a myth that has been blown up or has the land been lease?? No one can just come in and say hey I am building an RV park on this land that is not mine! So call it sold or leased it is the same in the end.

But I agree with every point you have made BP mike!!

[MLR]

Now having said that I do agree that selling of a natural park in our area is sad to see

The land is not being sold

So if the land is not sold then how is this possibly happening?? So is this a myth that has been blown up or has the land been lease?? No one can just come in and say hey I am building an RV park on this land that is not mine! So call it sold or leased it is the same in the end.

But I agree with every point you have made BP mike!!

A guy has approached the council with a plan to create a RV Park if they will agree to a 30 year lease.

Sold or leaded is not the same in the end. Sold = township no longer owning the land , leasing = revenue for 30 years and still owning the land at the end of the lease term.

[fishboch]

Regardless if it's sold or leased, you now have 5 - 600 extra people camped onlong the shorline hitting this fishery all week and all weekend long whereas currently people only come for the day except for the few cottages along the shoreline.

How long do you think this fishery will survive ?

According to this is sounds like it's pretty much a done deal.

http://www.insideottawavalley.com/news- ... this-year/

I guess I'm just getting old because I see empty fields as a good thing.

[almontefisher]

Regardless if it's sold or leased, you now have 5 - 600 extra people camped onlong the shorline hitting this fishery all week and all weekend long whereas currently people only come for the day except for the few cottages along the shoreline.

How long do you think this fishery will survive ?

According to this is sounds like it's pretty much a done deal.

http://www.insideottawavalley.com/news- ... this-year/

I guess I'm just getting old because I see empty fields as a good thing.

I agree that we need to keep what land we have as is but I think the fact that everyone is missing is by improving the launch they have already set the wheels in motion to help with increased boat traffic. In all my years of fishing there I never saw a car pull in towing a boat but now I see them parked there all the time. Also keep in mind that this great body of water didnt even exist 60 years ago or so...we made it and do you know what all the residents said back then...No way can we flood our land like that for the use of hydro electricity. Well 60 years later that no turned into a great area to enjoy fishing so do we continue to throw stones at something that may or may not happen or do we see what the future holds?? It is like Smitty's posts..you never know what gold can be gleaned from it or is it all just pyrite!

[MLR]

Regardless if it's sold or leased, you now have 5 - 600 extra people camped onlong the shorline hitting this fishery all week and all weekend long whereas currently people only come for the day except for the few cottages along the shoreline.

How long do you think this fishery will survive ?

There are lots of lakes in eastern Ontario that have campgrounds.

Do you seriously believe that fishing pressure will increase by 3000 people worth of fishing effort per week as a direct result of the RV Park. I don't, and don't think it will even come close to that. As word gets out that there is a great launch into a great fishery less than an hours drive from Ottawa, RV Park or not, the people will come. I never even knew that Clay Banks existed until someone posted its location a few years ago on Fish-Hawk.

As Almonte Fisher has said, nobody said a word when the municipality improved the launch to make it easier for the people already using that section of river.

[Relic]

I read some of the comments on the facebook thread and shake my head. For example increased policing lol. Or that no money will be spent by the visitors in town.

I agree about the policing portion...nonsense. And I agree about money being spent in town....that's the problem. The Town of Arnprior and the Township of McNab Braeside are two separate entities. Therefore the township makes zero in tourism dollars other than whatever cash comes directly from the profit sharing of the RV park. If its empty they get absolutely nothing!!

I ask you Brad, is your park as clean and tidy as you would like it? As it was BEFORE there was RV's all over it?

Also if you don't want increased boat traffic in this area then fixing up the launch the way they did is mistake #1. Why make such an easy and nice place to go launch a boat if you don't want increased traffic. How many of you guys said no please don't make this launch an easy and safe place to get my boat in the water??

Umm, every single local I know, and I am certainly opposed to it but it was donated by the Local Fish and Game club. The township does not maintain that launch yet they charge to use it.

Many have mentioned the launch being kept public, and that may be true in the short, maybe not in the long. Or the park isn't making enough cash show they jack the launch fee, or they gate it and you can only use it between 6am and 9pm. Or the residents of the park complain about outsiders using "their" launch, "their" parking, "their" roads and "their" washrooms...poof no more public access.

Anyone who regularly uses this water knows that a vast increase in traffic and fishing pressure could have some seriously detrimental effects to the river and fish stock, along with the park land itself.

I am not sure this council really thinks things through, any one who has seen or used the new launch at Red Pine could attest. Its the one you cant use until July 15th Why can't you use it until July 15th? Because they built in a corner of a bay, that was sand....because it faces the prevailing winds, because of this brilliant idea they have to dig it out every year