Thursday had two complete changes of weather. It started out sunny at 7AM with a bit of an easterly wind. Around 9AM a line of thunderstorms passed by a bit to the north, but it did pour rain for a few minutes. By 11AM that cleared out and it returned to 100% sunny with a light westerly breeze. Temp hovered right around the 60F mark. The forecast for Friday and Saturday has deteriorated a bit with Friday now forecast to have a 60% chance of rain. Saturday could be a washout with all day rain and temps back down to the low 50s. Sunday should be quite nice.
Please be respectful where you drive at the marina. The grass areas and some of the roadways are still quite soft.
This is starting to sound like an annual broken record. Avoid downtown Madoc for now. It looks like they are doing infrastructure replacement all the way up the main street. If you are north-bound, turn left at the skate park and then right on Rollins. If you are south bound suggest taking Hwy 7 west to Atkinson Rd. south. Take St. Lawrence street back toward Madoc, then turn right on Rollins. Turn left on Seymour back to Hwy 62 south of town. If you get too close to downtown and get stuck in the official detour you might be awhile. (and I would not want to try towing a boat through it.)
Mayor Carson and Councilor Mackillican provided an update on the legal proceedings with the developer of Limerick Estates. They have waded through all the red tape and proper procedures and have served the Developer with a notice that has two choices: 1. They can file for an OLT hearing regarding the status of their subdivision agreement. The deadline to file that is May 5th. 2. If the Developer has not filed for an OLT hearing, then they have until September 30 to complete ALL of the remaining conditions of subdivision. Failure to do that by September 30 will cause Hastings County to then permanently cancel the subdivision agreement.
In other news from Council, the tax increase this year is 4.14% It was closer to 7% last year. Much of the savings to hold down the increase came from insurance savings with the 2025 policy very close in price to the 2024 policy. Insurance rates had been skyrocketing in recent years. Staff also does a great job of accomplishing a lot with very little. Wish other levels of government were as efficient.
A very nice newer water access cottage will be going on the market this spring. About 150 feet of shoreline. 3/4 acre. Gray water septic. Composting toilet. Shoreline boathouse for easy storage of water toys. In the north-east corner of the lake. Cottage has been lovingly cared for through the years. The rules preclude me from posting a price, but I can tell you they are motivated and are thinking in a very fair range. I can put you in touch with the seller directly.
A second cottager has asked me to mention their cottage for sale also. It is by the islands. Water access. 106 feet of very nice shoreline. It is also newer (relatively) and has been extremely well maintained. Sits on about 2/3 acre. The owner for the last generation is a capable do-it-yourself guy. Has a very nice bunkie and a newer 20 X 20 floating dock. Once again it is not permissible for me to quote a price, but I know that it is very competitive with similar sales over the past few years.
The municipality will have a public information session on Invasive Species at the May 21st council meeting. 12:30 at the Community Center on Hwy 620. Note this is rescheduled from April 23.
The Rogers 5G tower on Sutton Rd. is operational. The Rogers / FOCA special pricing plan 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.
The St. Ola Station general store now has fuel sales. They have all grades and pay at the pump. We were without a local gas station for just over two years after Trudys closed. Two thumbs up to the owners for managing their way through a mountain of red tape. Please support them and buy your fuel locally. The store is located on the south-east corner of St. Ola Road and Hwy. 62. For trail users, they are just a few feet off the Hastings Heritage Trail at MM 102.
The municipality is on summer burning rules. Daytime burning is no longer allowed until November 1. No permits were issued last year. Campfires less than 3 feet by 3 feet are allowed from 7PM to 7AM. There have been exceptions for campfires in organized campgrounds in the past. I will check with the fire chief and see what the plans for permits and campgrounds are this year.
Half load restrictions on the dirt roads are in effect from now until roughly May 15th. The exact end date will be determined as spring progresses. Be sure to verify load restrictions before ordering any materials or deliveries by truck to the lake in the spring. (RONA, Home Depot, Leons Furniture, etc.)
The dump is on winter hours. It is open Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and holiday Mondays from 11AM to 4:30PM. It changes to summer hours on May 1.
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.
