The cottage association, LWRA is a member of a provincial organization named "Safe, Quiet Lakes." That organization has sent out a link for a survey on how we enjoy the lake, and what affects that enjoyment. I took the survey on Thursday and it is quite well done. There is now a link to the survey on the links page of this website. (first link at the top of the list) Please browse over to it and take the survey. The data collected will be important in their lobbying efforts with both provincial and federal officials.
The construction along Hwy 62 is underway. Looks like they are starting at the south end. Pavement was being removed from the northbound lanes near Ivanhoe and again near the Crookston Rd. turn with LONG delays. I will be taking the 14 to Stirling and Marmora then across the 7 for the rest of this summer. If you are coming from the east, I recommend the 41 to the 7.
The construction in Madoc is making progress with St. Lawrence St. east now open for one block. Mostly OK to proceed through town until they start to re-pave one of these days.
Attended municipal Council on June 16th. They had their annual presentation of the audit. It was a "clean" audit with nothing to note. Delinquent taxes have been reduced to 9% overall. That is better than provincial guidance. The municipality is almost debt free with only one relatively small loan being paid for one of the pieces of road equipment. There is an accounting change as to how building permit money is now accrued. Even though the fee is paid up front, the municipality does not recognize the income until the incremental inspections are completed. (Think of it in terms of the CBO earns the money as he does each inspection) Not too much else. There will be a Fire Permit by-law and policy brought forward at the July council meeting. It will be nice to have a permit process in place once again. Council will discuss increasing the road calcium (dust preventative) budget for 2026. Every bit budgeted for this year is already allocated to accomplish what they have. There was discussion of moving the dump hours to be one hour earlier, possibly on Saturday, or on all days, but nothing is going to change for 2025. Council decided not to get involved in the Bill 5 fray that some municipalities are doing. The folks trying to get funding for pickleball courts at the Community Center have now been unsuccessful three times. Staff will proceed with a limited face-lift of the LCC now with our own funds that were set aside for this purpose. Next meeting is July 21.
The Rogers 5G tower on Sutton Rd. is operational. The Rogers / FOCA special pricing plan for internet service is $60 per month this year. (unless you have a Rogers phone in which case it remains $50 per month) Even at the $60 price it is the best internet service for us on the lake. Once you are an LWRA member, we can provide you with a link to the "Rogers Preferred Program" webpage. It appears they throttle the 5G connection to 50MBps down, and 15MBps up. That is plenty of bandwidth for any single-family use. I have tested the connection and can stream three videos simultaneously on three separate devices with no buffering on any of them.
The municipality is on summer burning rules. Daytime burning is not allowed until November 1. (see exceptions below) No permits were issued last year. Campfires less than 3 feet by 3 feet are allowed from 7PM to 7AM.
Now, to answer some more technical questions about daytime fires. I am fairly adept at reading Ontario "O.reg" legalese but will insert the disclaimer here that this is MY interpretation of what was provided by the "Fire Prevention Officer" for the municipality. O.Reg. 207/96 sections 8.1 through 8.4 say that during the day:
You can use a commercially sold camp stove during the day that uses a liquid or gas fuel as long as that stove can be turned off by a control valve.
You can have a charcoal fire in a BBQ designed for charcoal while using only commercially available charcoal, AND, you are within 100 meters of your permanent dwelling.
You can have a charcoal fire in a BBQ designed for charcoal while using only commercially available charcoal, AND, you are in a commercially operated campground with permission from the campground owner/operator.
You can have a wood fire in a commercially available wood burning stove or oven as long as the stove is 5 meters from any combustible material, the area under the stove is bare rock, the stove encloses the fire on all 4 sides, and the stove is within 100 meters of your dwelling.
You can have a campfire in a commercial campground in an above ground grate that is permanently affixed to the ground and cannot be moved and is clear of any combustible material by 3 meters in all directions including vertically (no overhanging branches) and you have permission from the campground owner/operator.
You can have a daytime campfire that is less than 1 meter in diameter and 1 meter high as long as it is on bare rock and at least one meter from all flammable material.
This last section (taken from O.Reg. 207/96 Section 8.5 paragraphs 1 through 4) seems to say that as long as you build a small fire on bare rock, you can have a daytime campfire at a wilderness campsite. Remember, all of these exceptions are for daytime burning when a total "fire ban" is NOT in effect.
The dump is on summer hours. It is open Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and holiday Mondays from 11AM to 6:00PM. It changes back to winter hours on September 1.
The province is looking to make some modernization changes to the hunting and fishing license process. When you wade through the boilerplate, all it really does is introduce an app and allow for you to carry various permits and licenses digitally. For more info follow this link: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-9441
The 2025 fishing regulations are available on the Ontario.ca website. The Limerick chain of lakes remains at the very south end of fisheries zone 15. Pages 104 to 114 of the regulations book. Bass season opens June 28, 2025, and closes November 30. Lake trout season opened January 1 and closes September 30. The Limerick chain of lakes has a "slot size" for lake trout that MUST be returned to the lake if caught. It is roughly 16 to 22 inches. It is also a "one line" lake when ice fishing.
