Letter from the KLCOA President – re Proposed Draft Shoreline Preservation Bylaw

Letter from the KLCOA President – re Proposed Draft Shoreline Preservation Bylaw

I am writing this letter to the KLCOA membership as a result of concerns over recent information and dialog being propagated on social media regarding the Proposed Draft Shoreline Preservation Bylaw.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of mis-quotes and mis-leading information being shared.  I understand that some people are upset and frustrated.  The KLCOA will continue to provide the most up-to-date factual information on our websites and through eblasts.

To clarify, the KLCOA has taken the position of support for the objectives of the DRAFT Shoreline Preservation bylaw. 

The KLCOA board, who are elected by the members to represent the members, voted to give this ‘support in principle’ based on the following:

The KLCOA has advocated for shoreline preservation regulations since the inception of the Lake Plan in 2007 in order to protect the water quality in our lakes. We have been publicly reporting our advocacy for strong shoreline vegetation protection at AGM’s and Spring GM’s and publishing those presentations on our website, in eblasts and newsletters for many years. We have also communicated opportunities for public input on the proposed Shoreline Preservation bylaw over the past year as they were announced by the County of Haliburton. We have received limited negative feedback on the KLCOA advocacy for natural shoreline vegetation protections and in fact have received significant support overall for shoreline protection, water quality protection and septic system inspections.  As a matter of fact, we had a number of members approach us this summer in relation to a few properties being developed on the Lakes with apparent disregard to shoreline protection.  We have also had increased issues with water quality, also reported to the membership throughout the past years including a possible sewage spill and a possible blue-green algae bloom this summer.

Most importantly we have expressed support for a public consultation process and continue to encourage our members to become directly involved.  We have continued to inform our members of the consultation opportunities as they arise.  This document is still in the working phase and the final result will hopefully be acceptable to all parties.  There is a lot of work to be done and now it is up to the public to contribute to the process.  We do recognize that some of our members do not agree and have concerns.  That is why the consultation process is so important and why we encourage our members to voice their viewpoints and concerns through the public process. 

This is a comprehensive DRAFT document that is a work in progress that has the potential of ultimately protecting our shorelines and our water quality.  Everyone in the County will have a different viewpoint on what will affect them and how they feel about the bylaw.   Again, that is why the consultation process is so important.  The County is looking for constructive questions and feedback that will help them continue to develop a solid and meaningful Bylaw.

The KLCOA has published updated information from the County in the last couple of eblasts (repeated below) including access to the ‘document library’ which has the full current draft of the proposed bylaw. I know this is a tough document to wade through. I believe that we should be expecting some Q&A and fact sheets from the County over the next couple of weeks to help interpret and simplify the text in order to get a better understanding of what the document entails and how it may affect you.

The public consultation meeting that was originally scheduled for late February has been moved into March.  We will put out more details when they are available.

I’d also like to take the opportunity to correct a misleading recent Facebook posting regarding the KLCOA bylaw update in September 2017.  This update was made to bring the KLCOA bylaws in line with the proposed new Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act and to update the wording of our KLCOA Purpose Document.  The changes were presented and voted on by members at the 2017 AGM (minutes here and slide deck with details here…both documents can also be found on our website).  I would also like to point out that the slide deck from the 2017 KLCOA AGM includes many of the references that I mentioned above, regarding Shoreline Preservation and Water Quality. 

The KLCOA board always appreciates when members reach out with questions, concerns and constructive feedback directly by email to KLCOAInfo@gmail.com.

I thank everyone for their ongoing support!

Sincerely, Deb Wratschko KLCOA President