Many readers have been wondering about the clearcutting taking place on Hwy. 60.
Huntsville Deputy Mayor Dan Armour has been getting some of those very same questions. He told Huntsville’s General Committee on June 26 that the clearcutting is related to Hydro One updating its infrastructure in order to power the new Fairven nursing home as well as the site where Freshco is moving to on Hanes Road.
“They’re going half way up the hill past the rock cut and then they’re going to cut across to Shaw Crescent, then from there they’re going to go Freshco and the new fairven,” explained Armour.
He told Huntsville Doppler that the municipality has been getting so much flak over the clearcutting in that area, that municipal staff reached out to the relevant agencies to find out what was going on. “Because they’re blaming us again as the Town for ripping down the trees for whatever reason,” said Armour. “Stop slamming us, like we’re doing the best we can.”
He said he’s trying to get the Town’s transportation committee to investigate the possibility of putting a trail in that area which could connect with the Trans Canada Trail that runs by the ambulance station on Hanes Road.
He said the idea will be discussed at the committee.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox so you don’t miss anything!
Click here to support local news
Mr. Gordon. I totally agree with your comment. Knowledge is powerful perhaps that is why citizens are not informed.
Hello there Mr. Beacock. You have a right to your opinion of course even if you hope to stir the pot. Wind and ice storms are part of the environment and if so chosen the wind and storms will pick the places to be destroyed. Would it matter if trees were cut or not – it happens anyway. So armchair criticism you say – I have a right to criticize and not from an armchair. Don’t know who you are and don’t care – keep lounging in YOUR armchair.
Had the Town been out in front of this with a good communication piece before the work was completed I suspect there would have been far less flak from the public.
I hope the new home for the elderly has A/C. I hope Hydro One cuts a good right of way so the next time we have ice and wind storms the trees dont hit the power lines! Keep up the great work there council, and ya a lot of arm chair criticism here by some!
I suppose Hydro knows where all it’s electrons are and where they are going but is there not a big power line crossing Hanes road virtually on the doorstep of this new development. This line runs down to the sub station where Center Street hits West road across from BDO. They are big poles, extra lines might fit under the existing and virtually no trees would have needed to be cut at all?
Just curious.
How dare those old folks at Fairvern expect to have electricity? Upgrading infrastructure to provide better service and delivery? The horror, the horror.
You are doggone right Mr. Deputy Mayor people are upset and angry – it isn’t just the clear cutting along Hwy 60 that people are giving you so called “flak” you are receiving it’s the continuing cutting of trees and clearing of land without information to the public. Visitors to Huntsville and Muskoka come here to escape the dense population and the rat race of the cities. The landscape and the space are something people are attracted to. Before long we will be a “suburb” of Toronto and Barrie. I was born, raised and worked here – talk to an individual who the same as I is a true “Huntsvillian” and you may get an earful. You and council have become autocratic – do what YOU want and to heck what the population thinks. Huntsville is being destroyed by condominiums and subdivisions and yet the homeless folks here are struggling to survive. Instead of catering to the rich and famous perhaps you need to focus on those who have” NOTHING” and attend to their needs of a roof over their head! Also low rental housing you are constructing is NOT low rental. Most can still not afford your LOW RENTAL HOUSING.
“Because they’re blaming us again as the Town for ripping down the trees for whatever reason,” said Armour. “Stop slamming us, like we’re doing the best we can.”
You can’t blame people.
Huntsville ripped out trees and grass in Kent Park and spent $400K!! replacing them with a barren, sweltering, tombstone eyesore.
That mistake is still not corrected.
Absolutely NOT the best that could be done.
Residents suggestions were all ignored.
https://doppleronline.ca/huntsville/councillor-responds-to-criticism-of-kent-park-redesign/
The town also allows every single tree to be removed from new developments instead of leaving 5% and working around them. Even trees along the road where you can’t build anything anyway.
Mature trees make the homes more valuable and use less a/c so more energy efficient. And quieter.
Nope.
Clear cutting it is.
Fields of housing baking in the sun sucking back many kWhs with noisy a/c.
Toronto protects their trees better than Muskoka.