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Huntsville councillors direct municipal staff to pause application to ban motorized boats on Clark Lake

At its December General Committee meeting, Huntsville councillors agreed with municipal staff’s recommendation not to move forward with an Environmental Assessment as requested by Transport Canada.

The request was made as part of the Town’s application for a Vessel Operation Restriction Regulation (VORR), which, if approved, would have banned motorized boats on Clark Lake. The request to submit the application was made by residents on the lake.

“This conversation has been going on for a while, and we were waiting on the reply from Transport Canada with the result of our application, so that was part of the piece that took a bit of time,” Colleen MacDonald, Operations Manager for the Town, told councillors. “They’re not approving the application; they’re asking for more information in the form of [an] Environmental Assessment to prove that potentially the use of gasoline-powered engines and higher speeds on Clark Lake would have a negative impact in the future.”

MacDonald said the municipality would have to procure the expertise to conduct the assessment. “It would require significant more staff time, etc., not just from myself but potentially from our corporate information folks.”

MacDonald also said that for such a localized area, the public meeting held by staff on the issue was well attended. “So that was all considered and put into the application,” she added. “I feel like we’ve done our due diligence in seeking the public input as well as presenting it rationally and fairly… at this point, the recommendation is that we not move forward with procuring for Environmental Assessment.”

Huntsville Mayor Nancy Alcock said she was under the understanding that the lake association representing the residents was “thinking of raising the money to pay for the Environmental Assessment and that it would have to go through the Town in order to carry it out.” She asked if there were any discussions around that concept. MacDonald said there were discussions but nothing concrete. Alcock wanted to know if the group “somehow miraculously come up with $8,000 to support the Environmental Assessment, it probably wouldn’t be too late to carry it out at that time. Would it? Or does this completely close the file, and we’d have to start over again?”

MacDonald said she could indicate to Transport Canada that instead of withdrawing the application, the municipality would prefer to pause it. Alcock noted that given the amount of work that has gone into the application by all parties, she would support pausing it rather than withdrawing it.

In the end, the committee agreed not to pursue an Environmental Assessment. It also directed staff to pause the application rather than withdraw it should the group of residents seeking the VORR be able to come up with the money to fund the assessment.

You can find the staff report HERE (pdf).

Related

Municipal staff moving forward with formal consultation to ban gas-powered motorboats on Clark Lake

Council hears from those who oppose attempts to ban gas-powered motorboats on Clark Lake

Clark Lake residents seek a ban on gas-powered motorboats

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6 Comments

  1. C. Martin says:

    To the former campground owner: get your facts straight. There were never 10+ motorized boats on the lake. It is MUCH too small: only 1 km long (just barely) W-E and not quite 600m wide N-S. It has been a NON-motorized lake as a “handshake agreement” for quite some time now, but yes, electric motors are allowed as they don’t cause wakes and shoreline erosion the way gas-powered boats/sea-doos/jet skis do. I agree with the post about the noise. One goes to these tucked away areas to get away from noise; hard to do that if a little piece of paradise is polluted (literally) with gas-powered motors. This is just the town not wanting to spend the time or $ on this, yet residents would like this put in place to ensure future generations can still enjoy this peaceful lake (as properties change hands). It really is a shame and I hope $ can be raised or the town miraculously changes their mind.

  2. Lorri McColgan says:

    Being the former campground owner, there were 10 gas motors on the lake .
    Environmental study was done back around 2001 when the issue was brought forward to my husband. it was found then that there were no issues to the shoreline or wildlife.
    The lake is already regulated to the size of motor and speed. Anyone with a boater license should know this .

  3. Verda-Jane Hudel says:

    Excellent start to ban motorized boats on numerous Muskoka Lakes. This should have been done years ago.

  4. Bob Braan says:

    I’m assuming the ban still allows quiet, clean, inexpensive to operate, electric motors on the lake. Battery prices have plunged in the last few years and will continue to drop. Electric is the future. Some high speed electric boats don’t produce shore eroding wakes as well. Search Candela C-8 for one example. Currently very expensive but prices will drop as the tech becomes more common.

  5. Don Andrychuk says:

    I have a waterfront trailer in the campground. The lake is much too small for motorized watercraft. Aside from any environmental issues common sense should prevail.

  6. Terry graham says:

    Do you really need an environmental assessment to tell you that motor boats negatively effect any lake envrionment? Gas and oil in the lake is inevitable. So is increased erosion of the shoreline. And destruction of habitat for shore nesting birds is also a given. Also introduction of invasive species is a big risk. Then there is the noise that goes along with any type of motor boat. Clark Lake looks pretty small so any boats will have big impacts.