For many high school students, the past few years have been some of the most difficult of their academic careers. Haliburton Highlands Secondary School (HHSS) students were recognized for their hard work and classroom achievements at an Oct. 7 awards ceremony for the first time since before COVID-19 began.

“Having the highest mark in a course is a very commendable attribute. But with hard work, being respectful and helping others around you, you can be considered for many of these awards,” said awards committee chairperson Melissa Stephens.

Principal Chris Boulay told students to “be proud of the work you’ve accomplished and for those who did not receive, know that you too could be receiving awards next year for the hard work you put in this year.”

He finished with a look to the future.

“I challenge you to set your sights even higher. You can do this, I’m proud of you.”

Dozens of Highlanders and local businesses donated awards.

“To our many award donors… thank you for believing in our youth and contributing to this celebration” Boulay said.

“Committed to empowering your community.”

That’s the newly-defined tagline of the Haliburton County Public Library, approved by the library board Oct. 12 and part of the library’s new strategic plan, which has been in the works for over a year. It will guide the service throughout the next five years, determining what is offered and more.

It’s set to be launched publicly late this year, including a new mission statement and actionable steps the library service will take to achieve its goals.

“A lot of work went into this and a lot of people need to be thanked for the hard work,” said CEO Chris Stephenson.

The plan is formed through interviews with staff, stakeholders and members of the public. Dozens of pages of statistics about library use helped determine, “what aspects of the library matter to our patrons and community members, and we better understood the demographics that use and enjoy our services and programs.”

That’s translated into five strategic objectives: communicating the library’s value as a community hub and safe gathering space; building and maintaining bridges to new and existing partners and patrons; advocating for the library and connecting with the community in a strategic way; developing staff careers and working to strengthen the library internally; and establishing consistency in services across all branches and exceeding expectations.

These objectives are all linked to tangible action items.

For instance, to advocate for the library, the service will begin “pop-up” programs to answer a need for more visibility and geographic flexibility.

“I’ve been involved with lots of strategic plans in my time,” said board member David O’Brien. “This document is smooth, to the point, effective and understandable about what we’re trying to do as an organization. Well done.”

Stephenson insisted the strategy will be visible throughout the HCPL.

“It shouldn’t be consigned to a binder on a dusty shelf somewhere, it’s a living document,” he said. “It should reflect the people who read it…that’s the next step, to launch it to the public.”

Work to repair a portion of Hwy. 118 in Haliburton won’t be complete until fall 2023, according to Ministry of Transportation (MTO) officials.

The project, which began in July, is focused on restabilizing the roadway in front of the Gardens of Haliburton residence. MTO spokesperson Dakota Brasier said work is progressing and will continue throughout winter.

“Hwy. 118 from Carnarvon to Haliburton is currently being rehabilitated. This work includes pavement rehabilitation and slope stabilization and improvements to intersections, drainage and guiderail,” Brasier said in an email. “Slope stabilization is currently underway in the Head Lake area.”

There was some concern locally when workers contracted to complete the job removed trees and installed a temporary roadway between Hwy. 118 and the Head Lake shoreline. Brasier said workers needed to create a safe access way to the slope to install a benched rock slope, which she said will ensure the future viability of the road.

“This was all necessary to stabilize the highway. The benching will become a permanent part of the final slope stabilization. The stabilized slope is constructed of rock fill, which will control erosion,” she said.

The temporary roadway will be removed once construction is complete. Brasier said trees will not be replanted in the area.

There will also be a new permanent 1.5-metre-wide extended curb installed along the highway, connecting to an existing pedestrian walkway that runs up Hwy. 118 and around to Maple Avenue.

Dysart et al deputy mayor Pat Kennedy held talks with MTO officials Oct. 14, enquiring about MTO leaving a stone thoroughfare they’ve installed along the shores of Head Lake in place.

“I think it would be really nice to have a bit of a boardwalk there around the lake,” Kennedy said. “You couldn’t walk on it right now, something else would have to be done for it to be usable. It would be a project Dysart would have to take on, something for a future council to consider… but there would be grants available [from the federal and provincial governments] that could fund the project.”

He’d like to see that strip eventually connect to the rest of Dysart’s trail system surrounding Head Lake.

Hwy. 35 construction

Anyone who has travelled south along Hwy. 35 over the past two years has had to contend with extensive roadworks at Miners Bay and Moore Falls. According to Brasier, both of those projects will be completed this year.

“The work at Miners Bay includes rehabilitation and replacement of an existing concrete culvert, together with accompanying retaining walls. The entirety of the culvert length was waterproofed and existing guiderail was replaced. New pedestrian handrails were installed on the retaining walls and permanent erosion protection is included on the downstream slopes of the creek,” she said.

Miners Bay Road, closed on one end to Hwy. 35 for the duration of the project, has been open since early September.

Construction along the bridge at Moore Falls has been extensive, and includes deck and bearing replacements, waterproofing, paving of the new bridge decks and installation of a new sidewalk, barrier walls and guiderail. Work has been ongoing since 2020.

Dorset cottager Peter Willmott and other neighbours of short-term rentals (STR) in the region will be watching County council Oct. 26 as talk of regulations return.

CAO Mike Rutter told The Highlander it is staff and consultant, J.R. Richards and Associates’, plan to have a final report on next Wednesday’s council agenda.

Willmott said there are seven short-term rentals on his road of 12 properties, including one next door impacting his quality of life.

He had planned to retire to Algonquin Highlands but has limited his stays in Dorset with the arrival of a next door, commercial short-term rental that can accept 10-12 guests. He said they are dealing with cars in a shared driveway, noise, lack of knowledge about fire bans and water safety, and a general dearth of cottage etiquette. He added an essentially transient population is coming for a weekend or week and not contributing to the fabric of the community.

“We have modified our cottage usage from Victoria Day until Labour Day to avoid all these hassles,” Willmott said.

The cottager, who went to college for urban planning and worked in the real estate industry for 40 years, is also worried about the impact of short-term rentals on the Highlands housing market. “It is driving up prices, which limits opportunities for local people living and working in the community, to find housing.”

Lake of Bays bylaw two years in the making

To date, he is happy the County is considering regulating the industry but thinks designating certain areas for short-term rentals, via zoning bylaws and official plans, is important. He thinks there has to be a clear definition of what a short-term rental is. He can live with a person leasing three to four weeks a year but if full-time, said they should be treated like hotels and motels, and be taxed accordingly.

“If I put a hotdog cart at the end of my driveway and started selling hotdogs, the municipality would come right away and say ‘you’re not allowed to do that commercially’ and shut me down. Meanwhile, my neighbour is running a commercial short-term rental with no regard to that,” he said.

“While the County has stepped in and started this process, there’s fine tuning to do.”

Work to date

During an Aug. 10 council meeting, the consultants recommended a phased approach to regulating, beginning with registration. They said it would provide a snapshot of the situation in the County and municipal enhancement required to implement a bylaw. They added between registering and licensing, the County and its municipalities would have time to review capacities and update applicable municipal bylaws.

The consultants looked into what a number of towns and cities are doing, including Bracebridge, Trent Lakes, Lambton Shores and Fort Erie. They also talked to Airbnb, the Haliburton Kawartha Lakes Housing Corporation, Environment Haliburton! and representatives of the local cottage rental and maintenance industry, as well as economic development and tourism. About 1,500 people responded to a survey.

Most councillors expressed interest in a phased approach, beginning with registration then licensing. Coun. Brent Devolin said he thought Lake of Bays, “has done a wonderful job. I’m ready to copy and paste what they have and tweak it so it’s relevant to our area.”

Lake of Bays regulates STRs through a bylaw, and they’re permitted in various zones identified in the zoning bylaw. The township issues three classes of STR license, based on the number of STRs operated by the same owner, total number of nights rented per year, minimum number of consecutive nights of stay, and maximum number of occupants per STR.

Licensing fees there range from $250 to $750. Occupancy allows for two people per sleeping area and one parking space per guest room.

County council discussed two people per bedroom, to ensure septic capacity. They also leaned towards one parking space per bedroom with a parking management plan.

With accessory and dwelling units, such as people renting out bunkies and garage lofts, council felt they needed more time to investigate.

When it comes to enforcement, council would like STR owners to designate someone to be on call 24/7 for issues. They so far like the idea of demerit points and fines.

To date, councillors have said “no” to shortterm rentals having to be zoned. Council said they’d license all STRs and not grandfather any.

Lake of Bays model

Lake of Bays director of building and bylaw services, Stephen Watson, said their bylaw has been two years in the making.

They hired a third-party contractor, Granicus, to help them locate advertisements for STRs in their area. He said there are more than 200. Granicus then sent letters to owners about registration and licensing.

Lake of Bays also hired a short-term rental co-ordinator. Watson said that person deals with licensing applications, answers general questions and does site visits, so bylaw staff do not have to.

When it comes to complaints, he said people can email, text or phone Granicus 24 hours a day. The company gets in touch with the person deemed contactable for the property under licensing.

“If it’s a noise complaint, Granicus will contact that person in one hour and say ‘we received a noise complaint at your short-term rental at this address. Can you please address it’.” He said the issue is usually resolved at that point with no need for bylaw.

The Dwight-based director said the cost so far is reasonable, with Granicus charging just over $15,000 annually, including a 24-hour hotline, and the co-ordinator costs under $100,000.

Watson added he’s more than happy to share Lake of Bays’ formula with the County of Haliburton.

“If they want, they can call us. We don’t like to advertise our oops (mistake). We can tell them where we think we could have done better.” He said they’ve had seven municipalities reach out to them to date.

“I think we’ve done a pretty good job.”