Pontiac council report - congratulations to fire department
Mo Laidlaw
Over 20 residents attended the September 9, 2006 council meeting.
Black Bay drainage
Mayor Eddie McCann, responding to a question on drainage plans from Madeleine Carpentier, mentioned that he had met several people from Black Bay and they’re happy with the proposals to reduce pollution on the beach. Plans of watercourses and drainage are held at the MRC offices in Chelsea, and may be seen there.
Bruno Alary wanted to let the public know that farmers are not polluters. Creeks must be fenced from farm animals, and levels of phosphates and potassium are checked. He suggested that some drainage problems originate when houses are built on odd corners of farms. The ground level is raised, altering drainage in the surrounding area.
Paving and ditches
Paul Boudreault and Michel Séguin had questions about Pères Dominicains road, involving work that needs to be carried out before paving. Mr McCann said that Fondex Shermont are the contracted engineers for paving, and they will make sure that culverts are installed and shoulders repaired where required before paving. The corner with postboxes and school bus stop will be improved, with a better place for cars to park.
Sylvie Carpentier complained that following work, a ditch on Marquis is worse than before, water sits in puddles and doesn’t drain. Director-general Sylvain Bertrand suggested that two owners had lowered their culverts, but Mme Carpentier replied that the problem is not associated with these two culverts.
Hilliard Fahey complained that about four years ago a culvert carrying a stream across Mountain road was replaced by one along Mountain road, redirecting the stream into another branch of the watercourse, which then flows in a large culvert under Mountain road. A letter from his surveyor states that the culvert along the road is on Fahey’s land. The redirection of water has caused erosion of the banks and problems with the fence. Mr Fahey asked the municipality to remove the culvert connecting the two streams. (Mr Fahey brought this to council in June and July 2003, as well as September 2005. At that time Mayor Bruce Campbell said that the municipality’s surveyor stated that the culvert and fence were on the road allowance, which is municipal property.)
Snowplowing contracts
Four-year snowplowing contracts were approved for two sectors of the municipality: R.H. Nugent $399,571 for sector F, and Robert Erwin $477,230 for sector G.
Building and zoning
Building permits for work estimated at $1.2 million were issued in August. Five of the 44 permits issued were for new residences.
Jean-Claude Carisse asked whether there is a deadline for building work to be completed when a permit is issued. Normally a permit is issued for one year and may be renewed for one year. Carisse objects to eyesores such as residences standing for years without proper siding or roofing.
Council were divided on a motion to invite tenders for an extension to the Town Hall for the town planning department. It passed 4 votes to 3 with Mayor McCann voting to break the tie, in the absence of Councillor McKenny.
A new residential zone?
A resolution was approved by all except councillor Amyotte, to ask the CPTAQ to exclude Bill Twolan’s land between highway 148 and the river, north of Elm (about 15 ha) from the agricultural zone because it has low potential for farming and the municipality needs more lots for house construction, not constrained by ravines or wetland. The resolution also asks for support from the MRC des Collines, and for the MRC to modify the regional master plan (schéma) to allow residences. Numerous requests to build houses on this land have been refused by the CPTAQ because it is zoned farmland. According to Mr Twolan, exclusion from the farm zone is a formality, which he expects to take four or five years.
Fire department
The Pontiac fire department teams came 3rd and 7th out of 7 teams in the exercises at Shawville Fair and were congratulated by council. Three new volunteer firefighters have been hired: Kenny Souster, Pascal Latreille, and Michelle Davis. There were four calls to the fire department in August including two false alarms, and 20 interventions by animal control.
Other business
Starting on October 13th, the new hours at the dump on Wolf Lake road (ch Lac des Loups) will be 8 am to 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday, closed Monday to Friday.
Since there were no offers for the Ford Econoline 1988, David Scully will recover parts that can be used to repair another municipal vehicle and dispose of the rest.
Bills for $54,714 and fixed expenses of $258,649 for August, were approved.