Laura Methot is president of the Greater Molega Lake Lot Owners Association. (Rick Conrad)

Region of Queens councillors dumped proposed changes to garbage collection on Tuesday after residents packed the public gallery to protest the proposals.

More than 40 property owners from the region’s cottage country showed up at council’s regular meeting on Tuesday, concerned that the municipality was trying to download responsibility for illegal dumping onto volunteer-run residents’ groups.

More than 5,700 properties in Queens County are connected to roads that aren’t maintained by the municipality or the province. Most of these roads are in the areas of Molega, Ponhook and Annis lakes. Private lot owner groups collect fees from residents to maintain those roads.

People who live on public roads in Queens County usually get regular roadside garbage collection. Those on private roads, however, have to take their waste to a central location, known as grey box sites. From there, the municipality picks it up.

But under proposed changes discussed at Tuesday’s council meeting, responsibility for the maintenance and cleanup of those grey box sites would shift from the municipality to non-profit property owner groups.

Laura Methot, president of the Greater Molega Lake Lot Owners Association, which represents more than 1,200 property owners, told councillors on Tuesday that the proposed changes won’t address the longstanding problems of people dumping their trash illegally at the grey box sites.

“It is absolutely absurd to think that private road associations, managed by volunteer boards, would be able to solve the illegal dumping problem and unsightly premises that the region has not been able to tackle for years,” Laura Methot, president of the Greater Molega Lake Lot Owners Association, told councillors.

“Worse still, this bylaw update, if passed, would result in diverting resources, both time and money, away from our primary mandate, which is keeping our roads safe and passable in good condition.”

The Molega Lake area alone covers more than 1,200 hectares and 52 kilometres of roadway. It’s the largest recreational development in Atlantic Canada, though many people live in the area year-round.

Residents say they contribute disproportionately to the region’s tax base, while getting far fewer services than most other areas.

“The proposed amendments entrench this imbalance rather than resolving it,” Methot said.

Former regional councillor David Brown, who lives in Labelle, said that nobody would volunteer for lot owner groups if they were also now expected to clean up the grey box sites.

He said that at the lot owners annual general meeting in June, Mayor Scott Christian promised more collaboration and consultation.

“That didn’t happen,” Brown told councillors.

“
What we find is this is not a discussion, it’s not presented to us as options, but it’s a downloading of responsibility. It’s over 40 private law owners associations, and they’re volunteer associations.

“This bylaw, if passed, will be the end of all residential landowners associations. Nobody’s going to go out there and volunteer for a board and pick up garbage. It’s not going to happen. So as those lawowners associations disband because they can’t get volunteers, the roads won’t be maintained, Property values are going to go down.”

About 40 property owners showed up at Tuesday’s regional council meeting to protest proposed changes to garbage collection. (Rick Conrad)

After hearing from residents, councillors voted unanimously against the proposed amendments. And they voted instead to have councillors and staff consult with the lot owners groups about potential changes in garbage collection.

Christian said after the meeting that council heard the community loud and clear.

“There was a real, strong reaction from the community. Emails came flying in. Telephone messages came flying in to all members of council,” Christian said after the meeting. 

“We’re trying to get to a place, though, where we’re as transparent and open in the way that we do business as possible. … So I think we got it right and I think that it’s a tricky issue, though. It continues to be this persistent issue, but I’m hopeful that we can find good, creative solutions through broad-based engagement with everybody who’s impacted out there. 
Sit down, do some creative brainstorming, and figure out maybe we can pilot this solution, pilot that solution, see what works, you know, and then go from there.”

Methot of the Molega Lake lot owners group said after the meeting that she believes Christian and the rest of council are committed to working with residents. 

“I am very pleased with how it turned out, and particularly with the confirmation and recommitment of the mayor and council to working collaboratively with our association and with the broader community. It was a very positive outcome for us.”

Christian said the engagement sessions are already in the works. He said he hopes that the community consultations will result in a solution to the garbage problem that residents can live with.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Members of the Greater Molega Lake Lot Owners Association want changes to a proposed private road levy bylaw. (Rick Conrad)

A property owners group in Queens County’s growing cottage country hopes regional council can pass a new bylaw by the fall that would make it easier to collect fees to maintain private roads.

Representatives from the Greater Molega Lake Lot Owners Association appealed to councillors at their regular meeting on Tuesday to make a few changes to the region’s proposed bylaw on private road maintenance charges.

The bylaw has been in the works since 2019.

More than 5,700 properties in Queens County are connected to roads that aren’t maintained by the municipality or the province. Most of these roads are in the areas of Molega, Ponhook and Annis lakes.

The association invoices property owners an annual fee for that maintenance, using manually generated lists. It charges property owners annual fees of $408.25 for developed land and $149.50 for vacant land. Those amounts include HST.

Under the new bylaw, the region would collect the fees on annual municipal tax bills, and then remit those to the association.

Dwayne Primeau is president of the Molega lot owners group.

“Optimistically, when this bylaw has passed and hopefully when we adopt it, what will happen is the region will issue a tax invoice that includes a road maintenance levy. And that would essentially be the same fee that is collected at one time and then remitted from the Region of Queens to the association to support us in delivering the service to the citizens. ”

The group represents 1,233 property owners, covering more than 1,200 hectares or 3,000 acres. It’s the largest recreational development in Atlantic Canada. Many people now live in the area full-time.

The association is responsible for maintaining 52 kilometres of roadway, including 10 km of provincially owned K class roads, 13 boat launches and three bridges.

But treasurer Bruce MacInnis told councillors that about 20 per cent of land owners don’t pay their fees.

“And it is quite an expensive process because we’re duplicating effectively what they do here (at the region),” he said in an interview after the meeting.

“There’s a lot of people we just have difficulty finding because we have to maintain mailing lists and the information’s not always easy to find. So that takes a lot of time as well. And we’re volunteers.”

As part of the proposed bylaw, the region would keep about five per cent of the fees they collect to pay for administrative costs. The association estimates that would cut about $15,000 from what it gets from the levy. It wants that lowered to two to three per cent.

The group said a lower percentage would allow it to hire a manager to oversee its work in maintaining the private roads.

The bylaw would also require agreements with lot owners associations to be renewed every year. The group wants that changed to every five years, with renewal based on meeting certain criteria.

Primeau said after the meeting that he’s cautiously optimistic the bylaw will be adopted before the group begins sending out invoices in November.

“The message we’re trying to relate today is that our members and our board are are in support of and in need of this assistance to continue to maintain and manage the infrastructure, supporting this growing part of the region.

“We would really love to see this be in place and ready for us to adopt prior to November of 2025, which is when we typically would follow our manual process to invoice for the coming year’s fees.”

Councillors had suspended first reading of the bylaw in January so that they could become more familiar with it. It’s unknown when council will bring it back.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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(Submitted)

By Rick Conrad

Region of Queens councillors want a long-term fix to garbage pileups in Queens County cottage country.

District 6 Coun. David Brown says it’s a huge problem. He asked staff for recommendations on how to resolve it.

He said the 40 so-called “grey box” sites on private roads throughout the county consume half of the region’s garbage collection budget. Brown said the problem is more pronounced this time of year because the region picks up the garbage once a week, compared to three times a week in summer.

“Our population has outgrown the garbage box system,” he said. 

“We’ve Band-Aided the system together and done a great job. But we’re victims of our own success by having a very popular area that people want to come to. We have a lot of people coming with garbage.

“It’s not completely a region problem, it’s a people problem. … There are people that are just too lazy to put the garbage in the boxes.”

Brown said some people truck in waste from other places when they arrive at their properties for the weekend.

He said the municipality doesn’t have the staff resources to police these areas. And while they’ve posted cameras, the problem persists.

“We need staff to look at this and come back with possible solutions for a long-term fix for this,” he told councillors.

Garbage piled up at one of the ‘grey box’ sites in Queens County. (Submitted)

Mayor Darlene Norman said the Molega Lake and Labelle areas have had the region’s highest housing growth of both full-time and seasonal residents.

And those properties represent a large chunk of tax revenue for the municipality. But they tend to be on private roads, so garbage collection is only at designated places on public roads.

“It is a huge problem. And people in Labelle and Molega area, some people are paying $10,000 property tax out there for no services. It is an issue that has to be dealt with.” 

She acknowledges it may cost the municipality more, but she said cottage owners and homeowners in those areas deserve better.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Photo Ed Halverson

Region of Queens council were on the road at the fire hall in Port Medway for their latest meeting.

Council gave the go ahead on a plan to build a “Lost at Sea Memorial” in Fort Point Park.

Councillors offered broad support for the project but took note of staff recommendations to avoid underground infrastructure on the site and to place the monument without disturbing existing trees.

Following a discussion, a motion will come before council at a future meeting to spend up to $12,000 for leadership training to provide better coordination between the five fire departments and the municipality.*

The training comes at the request of the five department chiefs and the money will be spent on a facilitator to provide the training.

A request has also been extended from the Emergencies Measures officer to neighbouring municipalities to enter into a mutual aid agreement in the event of severe storms or other large-scale emergencies.

Queens currently has an agreement in place with Shelburne and would like to include the municipalities in Lunenburg County as well.

The second quarter budget update shows deed transfers are already above budgeted expectations.

It appears land sales, particularly in the Molega Lake area are driving the increase.

The municipality is spending more for waste collection as fuel surcharges are averaging $8,000 – $10,000 more per month due to the high price at the pumps.

Mayor Darlene Norman added an item to the agenda requesting council permission to send a letter to the province voicing opposition to any expansion of fish farms in Queens.

Norman is concerned untreated fecal matter from farms will pollute the shallow bays in which they are located damaging the environment and negatively impacting other industries, most notably, the lobster fishery.

“I would sincerely hope that the provincial government recognizes and somehow finds a way to simply state, this province is not a suitable place, in our coastal bays, to be growing salmon”

Finally, council approved a motion that came from in-camera to sell four small parcels of land to the Queens Care Society around the Lawrence and Brunswick Street area of Liverpool.

The aim is to use the use the land to provide affordable, co-op housing.

The plan will come to a public hearing at the council meeting on November 22.

Council will hold their next meeting back in council chambers at 9:00am November 8.

* A previous version of the story indicated council had approved spending $12,000 for leadership training of the fire chiefs. The story has been edited to reflect a discussion was had and the motion will come before council at a future meeting.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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