Bobcaygeon residents frustrated by Trent Lakes subdivision rollout
A new subdivision being built in Trent Lakes has some Bobcaygeon residents feeling concerned.
Al Junkin lives in Bobcaygeon and the new subdivision will be built right across from him. He says his neighbourhood received letters at the beginning of September saying there would be a public information meeting about the proposed subdivision being built at 168 County Rd. that would consist of 58 new homes.
The houses, being built by Jeffery Homes, are advertised as “modern farmhouses” built on one to two acre lots, and pictures on their website show many with swimming pools, multiple bedrooms and bathrooms.
One of the major concerns Junkin, and his neighbours, have is how these homes will access water. “Who’s going to guarantee our water supply once they start building,” he said. These new homes are set to be built with wells, but there are worries that with summers continuing to get hotter, it’s not a viable option to develop more houses in that area.
There were also concerns about how the meeting was conducted. Letters only have to be sent to homes within a certain number of meters to the site. “That’s ridiculous, because it affects everybody around here with wells,” Junkin said.
Kawartha Lakes Weekly spoke to three other residents who voiced the same concerns as Junkin but did not want to go on the record.
“They never even gave us a picture of the subdivision until after the meeting,” Junkin said. Attendees had to wait in the parking lot after to be given printouts. As well residents had complaints about how far away the screens were, making it hard for attendees to see clearly at the meeting.
Terry Lambshead, mayor of Trent Lakes assures residents that all questions will be answered. “All questions that were asked at the public meeting will be answered by either the proponents planner or Trent Lakes planners at the next public meeting,” he said.
Lambshead also said that this project has been in the works for a couple of years and acknowledges the concerns residents have. “Some shallow wells are going to dry but that seems to be the drought type summer and nothing to do with this development,” he said.
Junkin had heard talk of the subdivision a couple years ago. “I was surprised because the first proposal was 26 lots. That was a couple years ago, and then all of a sudden it became 58 and nobody told us about that.”
“I just feel that they’re pushing this thing pretty hard,” Junkin said.
Another public meeting will be held at a later date.
Jeffery Homes did not respond to interview requests
Al Junkins is right. Bobcaygeon had water restrictions this past summer. Water levels were low. How is this going to affect other residents?
Transparency? Look up IPC Order MO-4570 and figure out what it has to do with.
How many Trent Lakes Residents are aware that the almost four year tenure of Barbara Waldron as CBO ended earlier this year and that since March 2023 residents are on the hook for more $59,000,000 in damages in Residents of Trent Lakes v The Corporation of The Municipality of Trent Lakes? Or that in November 2023 this Council voted to effectively sever ties with long time Third-Party Counsel Ewart-O’Dwyer, except, they are continuing to retain them on the taxpayers dollar for all of the files that led to enacting Bylaw B2023-096, which, is every one before the Courts with the promise of more on the way.
We live on Ellwood Cres and very concern about the potential problem 58 large homes with swimming pools would have on water supply for neighbors
I live on Moon line and have had to ration my water supply for the past month and a bit. Sometimes only able to do one small load of laundry a couple dishes and I have just enough water to give my kids a bath.
We have had to ration water living on moon line every summer since we moved here 5 years ago. This summer was so bad we’ve had to launder clothes etc at in-laws to save our well. This scares us that it will have major problems for our quality of life.