BlackLakeAssociation.ca

Had the past 18 months not been greatly impacted by the SARS-C0V-2 pandemic, 2021 may well best be known as the “year of the gypsy moth”. The spring and early summer months especially brought varied amounts of impact by these critters on our properties around the lake and across eastern Ontario.

The BLPOA conducted a survey of members on various aspects of this experience, from early awareness to preparations to the amount of defoliation observed and many others. The responses are summarized in a very informative manner and can be accessed here. Thanks to all who participated!

The BLPOA has received our annual water quality data update from the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority. Samples are taken at the same locations around Black Lake so changes may be noticed by comparing historical measurements for the various compounds being tested: E-coli, phosphorous and kjeldal nitrogen.

This information is available at any time from the Lake Issues page, or you can click these links:

• Water Quality Update 2020 (With Trend Lines)
• Water Clarity Data 2003-2020

The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) has a new online tool for showing water levels for different bodies of water within its territory including Black Lake. It is an interactive tool that lets you chose different date ranges that show precipitation as well as the water level during any period of time going back several years.

The link to this site is: https://his.rvca.ca/rvcafwl/charts/PERIODIC_HG/BLACK_PUBLIC_HG.html.

On the heals of the Water Safety Survey, the BLPOA surveyed its members in September on the perceived water quality in Black Lake. We had 74 responses out of 180+ email recipients, and we are pleased to provide the results of this survey in summary form here.

Questions on the survey addressed the importance of water quality, perception of changes to water quality over the past five years, how aware people are about the frequency of water testing done by the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) on our lake, septic systems’ impacts on water quality, and others.

Comments provided by survey participants are anonymously provided, and several possible action items for the BLPOA were generated from these results. The BLPOA thanks you for your participation and the valuable feedback you provided!

The BLPOA Executive conducted a survey of our members concerning Water Safety which closed earlier this month. A total of 101 members responded, and we appreciate the participation of so many of you! We are proud to share with you all a summary of the results of this survey along with comments provided anonymously. You can find this here.

There are some actionable items from your feedback that will be taken under advisement. As such, we thank you all for your incredible feedback!

A new page has been added to this website to provide some useful tips on how to be safe while enjoying water activities on Black Lake. Please do take some time to check it out here. It should be familiar material to most people, but it is good to remind each other as a way to keep everyone safe while having fun.

BLPOA members also received an emailed survey from our president, Cliff Halliwell, on 29 July entitled “BLPOA Survey on Water Safety”. The survey is open through 12 August, so please take a moment by then to complete it. It is a short survey – should take no more than five minutes – and serves to:

1. Give us some baseline information on water safety issues on Black Lake, and
2. Remind boaters and swimmers of some things we may have forgotten about water safety.

You can find the survey here.

This announcement is to commence the 2020 Black Lake Property Owners Association ‘virtual’ Annual General Meeting. If you are not a current member of the BLPOA (e.g., you have not renewed your membership or have never joined), please take this moment to sign up here before proceeding.

This post contains links to several documents that are either for information (a President’s message) or to be voted on (such as minutes from last year).  They are mentioned and linked to below.  All motions have been pre-moved and pre-seconded by Board members.

You will also be voting for the President and the Board of Directors.  Should you wish to be a Director there is space to add your name.  Ditto for the Presidency.

Voting is via a Microsoft 365 Form, which is here.  This is similar to the earlier one on the Recreation Master Plan. 

Please note that you should only vote if you are an owner and a paid member for this year, and to confirm this the form asks for your road address and an attestation that you are a paid-up member.  Note, though, that co-owners (up to two per property) can vote.

The meeting agenda is effectively the form/ballot.  It will not take you long to fill it out.  

First, here is a President’s message updating you on what we accomplished last year.  

Second, here are the draft minutes of the 2019 AGM, which need to be approved on the ballot.  There were two follow-up items.  One was on stocking the lake, covered in the Spring Newsletter (the government won’t do it as we have no public access and doing it on our own would be “redonkulously” expensive) and lake phosphorous capacity assessment, where nothing was done as a follow up.

Third is Bruce Brook’s Treasurer’s Report for 2019.  It is in the Spring 2020 Newsletter, here, which needs to be approved.  Still on finances you will also be asked to approve (1) leaving membership fees at $25 a year, where they have been for years and years, (2) keeping the donation to the volunteer firefighters at $200, and (3) renewing our BLPOA insurance policy (without which we would not be doing buoys and maybe not even have Directors!)

We are also changing our Constitution.  It said we were a corporation, but we never were.  We are also needing to clean up some other language, including dropping the impossible requirement that we contact all the owners who have not provided us with any contact information.  A version with the changes ‘marked up’ is attached here.  The AGM must approve the changes.

In a real AGM we get updates from the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) on a variety of issues, with water quality the most popular.  The best we can do this year is the updated charts on water quality over time on the lake through last year, here.  If you are wondering, they did do some 2020 testing in early July.  

The Tay Valley Township (TVT) Reeve and one or more officials also come to answer questions at in-person AGMs.  Obviously not this year.  If you wish to be updated on TVT you can go to their website, which is chock full of good info.  You can also subscribe to TVT emails, here.  

Then you get to vote for your leadership.  I am running again, which would be my third term as President.  There have been no other declared candidates so far, but there is a write-in spot.

You also get to pick your Board of Directors.  The current Board is standing again and James Anderson has volunteered to be on the Board too.  The vote is for the slate, as we are not at risk of exceeding the maximum allowed number of Directors, but there is space to add a name too.  

That is it.  The voting form will be open for two weeks, though the 26th of July.  

Stay safe and healthy this summer.

Cliff Halliwell, President, BLPOA

Thanks to everyone who filled out our second only BLPOA Survey.  We had 77 responses.  I have now put the results together and they are here, with charts of the responses and a brief statement of what the results showed for each question.

What they did show is that Black Lake owners are widely opposed to having any public canoe/kayak launch on Black Lake.  The primary source of the opposition is concern about local litter and washroom issues, especially important for adjacent property owners.

These results will be sent to TVT for when they further consider the Master Recreation Plan.

That said, TVT did vote to drop any reference to specific lakes, including that to ‘Site 10’ on Black lake, when they approved the final plan.  That does not preclude their considering it later, but suggests they became aware of our opposition.

I think we can count this tool (it is Microsoft Forms, an included part of a subscription to Microsoft 365) as successful for this purpose.  We will be using it more in the coming month or so for virtualizing our AGM, which will not be in-person this year for somewhat obvious reasons.  We still need membership approvals for various things and this is how we will ‘vote’.  So, stay tuned.

And stay safe and health, in mind as well as body

The Spring 2020 BLPOA Newsletter is here, chock full of interesting stuff pertaining to lake issues.  This includes pieces on:

• water level variations,
• maintaining septic systems,
• critter-proof composting,
• our new stock of lake buoys,
• our submission to Tay Valley Township on the Recreation Master Plan and its proposal for a public canoe/kayak launch,
• news on our web site and email system,
• updates on our finances, and
• info on the Tay Valley Township Climate Action Plan.

And, in case you might miss it we have our usual appeals for help in paying your membership fees (which can now be done by e-payment), helping us update our rather spotty owners records, and asking people to subscribe to our emails.

Hope you all stay safe and healthy in this unprecedented year.

The BLPOA Board of Directors developed, approved and submitted comments on the draft Recreation Master Plan, developed jointly with Tay Valley Township and neighbouring municipalities.  This submission can be found here.  The main comment we had was that we were opposed to creating a public canoe/kayak launch, partly out of concerns for adjacent property owners (issues pertaining to parking, litter and toilets), but also from the perspective of there being little such need evident and the up-front and maintenance costs.

The TVT clerk has responded to our submission.  The gist of the response is that any specific investments would be subject to subsequent Council consideration and would consider the views of owners before such decisions.

While it is our hope that COVID-19 stays far away from all who call Black Lake “home”, either seasonally or year-round, this virus has impacted all of our daily lives.  I cannot think of a better place to practice social distancing!  Unfortunately, some who own property here may find 2020 the year (or part-year) they could not come and enjoy our shores and waters.

Due to the closure of the international border with the United States for “non-essential” travel, and until this closure is lifted, American-resident owners are unable to return to Black Lake.  Additionally, even Canadian-resident owners of seasonal homes have been discouraged from heading to their cottages by Tay Valley Township’s Reeve Brian Campbell in order to preserve health care resources and local grocery store supplies for the local year-round residents until this crisis passes.

Additionally, the fire departments of Lanark County declared a total open-air burn ban effective 2 April for an indefinite period of time to avoid placing our firefighters at greater risk or to strain demand for fire services while social distancing is our norm.

With so many of our neighbours anticipated to be absent much of the year, and with the way we all have to change how we interact with the ones who are here, it is our plan to make use of this website, email communications and surveys in lieu of holding an in-person Annual General Meeting this year, as it is unlikely that in 90 days this pandemic will have completely resolved itself and that everyone will feel safe occupying seats in vast numbers and close proximity to each other in Burgess Hall.

Everyone please stay safe and healthy, and we can all hope that this pandemic will end soon.

Thanks all (especially Janet) for the Facebook heads up about the Tay Valley Township (TVT) recreation plan and the notion of having a public boat launch on Black Lake.

It looks like the Facebook reaction is uniformly opposed, for obvious reasons of vehicular and boat traffic.  As a result, BLPOA will be systematically assembling an owners position on this to represent to TVT.

At risk of sounding like a broken record, the one catch is that representing lake owners is hard to claim when maybe one in five is a member of the BLPOA (2019) and when we have contact information for less than half of the (likely 240+) owners, including the official mailing list with only 126 subscribers, including co-owners, so less than half the owners.

Since the official email list is how we can systematically assemble a collective opinion to represent to TVT, including via our preferred method of running one or more Survey Monkey owners polls, we need more people to sign up.

Now, if you received the email on this same topic, you are signed up!  But, if you did not, please use this link to opt in to our email updates.  Also, your neighbours may not be aware of our website, email list or even our organization.  Please spread the word, forward the email or a link to our website, to your neighbours and road association contacts.

Remember, we don’t insist that you join the BLPOA to sign up for the emails, but do prefer to restrict that list to owners, a claim that we cannot make about the Facebook group which likely has lots of friends and family.

I will also shortly being launching an appeal to collect owner contact information, just for BLPOA use.  Stay tuned.

Now, one calming word. I don’t think the Black Lake public boat launch at ‘Site 10’ near Tom’s Rock can happen.  It will need a road, as it is an unopened road allowance. That will be very expensive and the now inevitable Covid-19 recession will make our governments focus on other priorities.  It will need parking and turnaround space. There isn’t any, just the road allowance, much of which would be taken up with the road. The surrounding property is private.

It also has a very steep shoreline, so boat launches will be far too much like in ‘The Dukes of Hazard’ (for those of us old enough to know the cultural reference). I do not think there is any way to trailer a boat in and out there without shoreline alterations.

So, if TVT sees (a) expensive (b) not functional and (c) wide-spread owner/voter opposition it will likely not happen. Your BLPOA Board will work on (c): the systematic opposition.

Cliff Halliwell, President BLPOA

If you are signed up to receive emails from the BLPOA Executive, by now, you have received several of them recently to catch up on various communications and to announce that 2020 is going to be an important year for our organization and for every property owner on Black Lake.    This website will also become quite active for our members to stay informed on pertinent issues that will be addressed throughout the year and specifically at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) this July.

But first, links are being provided to view our newsletter from last summer and the draft minutes from last year’s AGM.

Newsletter – Summer 2019

This edition has the usual material: President’s message, bios of the Directors, material on water levels, finances etc.

In addition, it has a Q&A from Cliff Halliwell on the buoys situation on our lake, and the perennial need for help getting them in and out.  This material came from a document that Cliff has prepared documenting why we put out buoys, where we put them, where we source them, how we deploy them in terms of hardware etc.  This is part of a background effort to document what your lake association does, to pass on to future members of the Board or other volunteers (or, dare I say it, even just remember ourselves!).

It also contains several pieces from Anita Payne on how we can maintain our water quality through appropriate shoreline and property management.  Do not think this is not important: our nutrient loading on the lake is not bad, that is it is below the cut line where we should worry, but typically well above what a ‘pristine’ lake would be.  Shoreline management is especially aimed at reducing nutrient runoff.   Anita also has a piece reminding us that when we fire off fireworks we are disturbing nature with the noise and, likely much more importantly, depositing a residue of not-so-nice chemicals into our lake.

Planning for the Spring 2020 BLPOA Newsletter is now underway.  If there is something you would like to see in it, please let me know.  Much better, if there is something you would like to contribute, please let me know.  More volunteerism will never be unwelcome at the BLPOA.

2019 Annual General Meeting Draft Minutes

Highlights from last year’s AGM are that the Board of Directors has a new Treasurer, Bruce Brooks.  Other than that the Board has stayed the same, with Cliff Halliwell as President.  Financially, we are basically breaking even, partly because our membership is under one in five lake owners.

The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) reported on our water quality and again the message is somewhat mixed.  From the perspective of e-coli, Black Lake is in good shape.  From the perspective of total phosphorous, a metric of nutrient loading in the lake, the values oscillate between good (which would be considered a ‘pristine’ lake and (but still below) problematic levels.  So, we have to be careful.  There is not much ‘headroom’ for additional nutrient loading.  More on that soon.

Tay Valley Township is now allowing ‘bunkies’, albeit subject to setback requirements.

The BLPOA Directors will consider whether to drop the P.O. Box, as it costs us the equivalent of 9 memberships, yet only is used for annual dues by one or two people.  We will look at e-payment options.  Note: We have since done this: dropped the P.O. Box, using one of the Board Members addresses for snail mail (Bill Woodley) and implemented an e-payment option for dues (more on this later).

The issue of buoys was discussed.  Quite a few of the original 20 have now been lost, so we cannot mark all the shoals.  (That said, the big constraint has always been volunteers to get the buoys out in the Spring and back in by the end of the boating season.  More on this later.)  The AGM approved buying new buoys, which will be done over the winter.

These minutes will be up for approval at the July 11, 2020 AGM.

You may be able to vote in Tay Valley’s Election!

Municipal elections will be held in communities like Tay Valley Township across Ontario very soon. If you own, rent or reside at property here on Black Lake, even if you primarily live elsewhere and are only here seasonally, you have met a basic requirement for being eligible to vote in Tay Valley. According to their website, “you can vote in Tay Valley’s municipal election if you are:

• a Canadian Citizen; and
• at least 18 years old; and
• a resident in Tay Valley Township; or
• a non-resident of Tay Valley Township but you or your spouse own or rent property in the Township; and

are not prohibited from voting under any law.”

Who are we electing?

This election will select individuals to the township council positions of Reeve, Deputy Reeve, and one of six Councillor positions for a term of 4 years commencing 1 December 2018. Tay Valley is divided into three wards (Bathurst, Burgess and Sherbrooke – representing townships that existed prior to amalgamation into Tay Valley), and each ward is represented by two Councillors. Black Lake is located in the Burgess Ward (formerly North Burgess Township).

The candidates for Reeve are (in alphabetical order): Brian Campbell, Susan Freeman, and Keith Kerr. Candidates for Deputy Reeve are: Barrie Crampton and Judy Farrell. The candidates for the two Councillor positions for the Burgess Ward are: Doug Barr, Greg Hallam, Beverly Phillips and Mick Wicklum. Voters are permitted to vote only for Councillors in the ward they own or rent property or reside in.

Additionally, owners and residents of residential property may also elect school board trustees. Most eligible voters will be electing trustees to the English language public school board, but depending on voter qualifications, some will cast ballots for the French language public school board (French language rights holders only), or for the English or French language separate school board (people of the Catholic faith only). Your Tay Valley property tax bill’s school tax portion will indicate which board your school tax portion is designated for and will align with the school board for which you will be able to vote.

How do I participate in the election?

If you wish to vote in this election, you must be on the voters’ list. Everyone who is on the voters’ list should receive a Voter Information Letter by early October. This letter will contain a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to be used when casting your ballot. Voting will only be conducted via telephone or Internet-connected device during the period of 15-22 October, 24 hours a day for 8 days. No physical polling location will be open to cast a ballot in person, and there will be no paper ballot option.   Of course, this makes it easier for seasonal residents to vote in Tay Valley’s election, as you do not have to be physically present.

If you are unsure if you are on the voters’ list or do not receive your Voter Information Letter, you can stop by the Municipal office at 217 Harper Road during normal business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm) and check at the voter information desk in the lobby showing proof of identity and qualifying address. If you are not on the voters’ list, you may register at that time. The voter information desk will be open extended hours on Saturday, October 20^th from 9:00am to noon and again on Tuesday, October 22^nd until 8:00pm when polls close.

How can I find out more about the election process?

For additional information, please visit the Tay Valley Township website’s Election page at: http://www.tayvalleytwp.ca/en/municipal-government/elections.asp, and their Information for Voters page at: http://www.tayvalleytwp.ca/en/municipal-government/information-for-voters.asp. The latter link has video demonstrations of voting by telephone or by Internet as well as other useful details about this process.

All-Candidates Meeting will be held Wednesday, September 26th.

A public All-Candidates meeting is scheduled for 7pm on Wednesday, September 26^th at the Glen Tay Public School, 115 Harper Road, presented by CFUW Perth and District Chapter and sponsored by Lake 88. This will be a good opportunity for those who are still at the lake or live close by to decide for whom you will support and vote. This meeting will be moderated by Brian Perkin and will conclude at 9pm, followed by an informal opportunity to meet all the candidates. For more information about this meeting, please contact Sandra Shaw from CFUW at sandras@fifthelement.ca.

I’ve posted the agenda for the 2018 BLPOA summer meeting July 14th – its here.

If the blackflies are out then it must be time for the spring newsletter. The 2018 version is available here.

Here are draft minutes of what happened at our AGM this year.

Here is our agenda for the BLPOA 2017 AGM on July 8th. See you there!

Here are the results and conclusions from the garbage survey we conducted. The results will be communicated at the TVT meeting on June 24th (time permitting) and we can take the matter up again with the TVT rep at our annual meeting July 8th.

Here is a graph of early spring water levels from the last three years. I guess the good news is that the level is going down fast now and you can guess where it will become ‘normal’ again.

The spring newsletter has arrived and is available here.

Susan Moore from the Lennox & Addington Stewardship Council provided the attached information about a presentation on Ticks and Lyme Disease being hosted by the Lennox & Addington Stewardship Council and partners on  Tuesday April 25 at 7 pm in Napanee

Featuring Dr. Andrew Peregrine, clinical parasitologist at U of Guelph.

See attached pdf poster and Word Outline docs.

At this link you can find a Google map with numbered labels indicating the islands in Black Lake. What have you heard them called? What do you think they should be called? Tell me and I’ll update the map with your name and we’ll see if we can get names for all of them! And if I’ve missed any let me know.

People on Black Lake Road have been reporting a Black Bear visiting them the past few nights. He (or she) has been visiting compost bins, garbage and bird feeders. Apparently bears have also been spotted on Star Hill Road and Lakeview Drive this summer.

There is a lot of great information in the link below on how to avoid bear interactions and what to do if you are visited.

https://www.ontario.ca/page/prevent-bear-encounters-bear-wise

Limiting potential attractive food sources is the major to do item :
• keep garbage and compost secure
• don’t feed your pets outside
• don’t put bird feeders outside in summer
• keep your bar-b-q clean

As people have noted on our Facebook page the berry crop is poor this year and this is normally a bear’s major food source. So we can expect continued bear visits in the coming months.

Apart from reporting bears to the ‘Bear Wise’ phone line ( see link above) perhaps folks who see bears or evidence of bears in the coming months can report their sightings on our Facebook page.

As of this year’s July 9th AGM there are three long-serving BLPOA executive members  who will not be standing again for nomination. They are Bob Everett, Greg Hallam and Carol Williams.  A sincere thanks for their service over the past years! If you are interested in getting involved in the executive let myself or any other executive member know. The requirements are not too onerous and typically require attending 2-3 meetings over the course of a year. As Carol has been our newsletter editor the last few years we could really use someone with an interest in coordinating the creation of our spring 2017 newsletter. As well as being our president for many years in a row Bob Everett has been our ‘Buoy master’ so we also need someone to help get the buoys in and out.

Also – a Black Lake trivia question for you. During the early 1990’s dynamite was used at Black Lake to blow up the beaver dam on Black Creek. What was the reason for this?

a) to help keep the lake level low
b) to help pickerel spawn
c) someone really didn’t like beavers
d) all of the above

Submit your answer to me. All winning answers will receive an extra Timbit at the AGM.

Hello Black Lake Property Owners Association members.

Tay Valley Township contacted the Association late last week requesting comment on a difficult rezoning application for a property on Black Lake.  The Staff Report (link) explains the difficulties and the number of exceptions and precedents it would set.  The TVT staff recommendation as well as that of the opinion provided by the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority clearly does not support amending the Zoning Bylaw.  The BLPOA Board has reviewed and discussed the documents provided by TVT and concurs with the recommendation due to the numerous concerns identified in the report as well as the precedents it would set.  Below is the verbatim response we provided to the Township earlier today.  If you would like to attend the meeting or submit a comment of your own, please see the notice regarding the meeting June 7th meeting (link) provided by the Township for further details.

Regards,
Your BLPOA Board of Directors

Hello Kristine,
 
Thank you for sending the Notice and asking the Black Lake Property Owner’s Association for comment.  The Board of Directors has reviewed the Notice and your additional information carefully and discussed this at length, and is in support of the Staff recommendation to Council and the opinion provided by the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority that Zoning By-law 02-021 not be amended based on the precedents this would set regarding both lot coverage and waterfront setback. 
 
We will be forwarding a copy of this statement along with the Notice and Staff Report to all members on our mailing list for their information and to advise them of the date of the meeting.
 
Regards,
BLPOA Board of Directors

The BLPOA Spring newsletter is right here for your reading pleasure.

Black Lake Property Owners Association Annual General Meeting

Saturday July 9th, doors open at 8:30 am , meeting starts at 9:00 am

North Burgess Hall
4174 Narrows Lock Rd.

Your BLPOA participates regularly in the Lake Networking Group to share information among many local lake associations. The LNG has arranged for the Federation of Ontario Cottagers Association (FOCA) to present a free seminar in Perth on August 14th 2016. The title is “Cottage Sharing Agreements Learn how to “Keep the ‘Family’ in the Family Cottage”.

This is free for BLPOA members since we’re part of LNG. Details included in this flyer. Information about pre-registration is on the flyer.