Highlands East is backing a project headed by cottage associations to improve Glamor Lake Park.
The Glamor Lake and Little Glamor Lake cottagers’ associations presented to Highlands East council May 14.
The associations seek to start an approximately $20,000 project to remediate the shorelines, manage trees and prevent unauthorized parking.
Council voted unanimously to support the plan in principle.
Little Glamor Lake Cottagers’ Association president Steve Cosentino said the area has many issues the associations hope to fix.
“We have serious degradation there, decreased quality of the water,” Cosentino said. “We got trees that are ageing out, they need to be taken down and replaced. We got erosion issues.”
The project will include the enhancement of the natural shoreline buffers, with 18 different spaces identified for work.
The associations hope to add things like river stones to help secure the shorelines.
Environmental consultant Paul Heaven said the associations also want to accommodate current activities, such as by adding larger boulders for people fishing to stand on.
“We don’t want to try to block traffic or stop the way thing’s work,” Heaven said. “What we try to do is look at the different issues associated with the different parts of the shoreline and come up with a mitigation plan.”
The associations are also looking to add more natural buffers to stop people from parking outside designated parking areas.
“This isn’t all about cottagers and the cottage association, this is for everybody,” Cosentino said.
As the park is municipal property, the associations needs the municipality to apply for the necessary permits from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to begin work. Council voted to direct staff to do so.
Coun. Cam McKenzie complimented the associations for keeping in mind how people are using the park.
“You took into consideration the present uses you want to maintain and in some cases, you are going to enhance them,” he said. “There was really no negative impact on current uses.”
Cosentino said he estimated the cost could be significantly reduced by volunteer work and using municipal material and equipment.
Highlands East council made no financial commitment to the project.
Coun. Suzanne Partridge said staff should examine the plan to identify what parts could be done in-house by municipal staff.
Cosentino said the project stands to benefit everyone who uses the park, including fulltime residents.
“This isn’t all about cottagers and the cottage association, this is for everybody,” he said.
