As the Township of Lake of Bays continues to tackle its 2023 expenditures to further reduce a tax increase sitting at an estimated 9.5 per cent, attention turned to the Ridout seniors building located on Muskoka Road 117.
Scott MacKinnon, Township Superintendent of Parks and Facilities, told council at one of its special meetings held on March 7 to discuss the budget, that the building is not currently being utilized.
He said even before COVID the number of users were dropping and told council the building has sat empty all winter. Recommendations regarding the building are expected to come forward as part of the Townshp’s parks study. “The building is old, we know anybody that’s been in it, knows, even though we’ve made remediation, it’s still full of mice…”
Lake of Bays Mayor Terry Glover asked whether it had been a mobile trailer. MacKinnon said he’s not sure what it was but it is on a foundation. “It was the old Ridout municipal office. The Ridout municipal office was upstairs and the seniors were downstairs at one time, the shuffleboard floors are still there but it just seems that nobody is using the building. So even at a time when the Dorset Community Centre is closed and we have this space available to the community of Dorset, nobody is using it.”
Glover asked if the municipality has ever done an appraisal on the land or the building and was told it had not.
Councillor George Anderson asked why the draft budget was showing an estimated $27,000 for the building. “That is for all of the maintenance – so the water testing, the grass, the snow, the staff time. It also encompasses the soffit and facia around the building, they’re starting to fall off. There’s been some snow removal issues. We’ve had the roof in [the budget] a number of times and we keep postponing it waiting for the capital assessment review to be done but at this point in time it doesn’t seem realistic to put any money into something that isn’t being used,” said MacKinnon.
Anderson said he had a problem with keeping that building going. “I would just like to support other initiatives that are being used rightly by the Township people and that is something like the [Health] Hub. And I also think that there’s a future in linking the seniors to the Algonquin Highlands Community Centre sometime when it’s up and running again. I think there’s a possibility there and it sort of brings the town together as a town so we can help the liaison with… some kind of relationship there down the road,” he said, adding that the dollars to maintain the seniors building could be much better allocated to initiatives that are being used well by the community.
Councillor Bob Lacroix wanted to know if the president of the club had been notified. MacKinnon said that depends on council’s decision.
Councillor Nancy Tapley said moving the seniors into the town itself rather than Muskoka Road 117 makes more sense.
Anderson wanted to know if the building could be secured and shut down until recommendations from the review moved forward. “Yes, we can do that. This building’s done… it’s bad money going after good. Scott’s made every effort to try to find out if there’s anybody using the building. It hasn’t been used since last fall and it was us who used it. It doesn’t matter what day you go in there, you’re going to find two, three, four problems – the floor, the basement, the walls, the water. It’s just outlived its life cycle and the mice have made it home. You’re never gonna get it back,” Township CAO Bryan Brown told council.
Council agreed to close the building and asked staff to return with options for how to do that.
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
I need a place to live it would be a roof over My head am leaving in a old camper trailer and it’s cold
This has come up before. The seniors were told before this was always a place they had and was nothing Township of Lake of Bays could do the lease was set up that way. Whether a building is being used or not it is supposed to be kept up. Letting it run down only causes things to get worse common sense tell you that but seems not many people have that anymore. As for mice welcome to Muskoka we have mice old or new homes have them this is nothing new get over it set some damn traps. Fix the building and maybe the mice would not find ways in if it were looked after properly.