A Message from Nancy-Jo…
Environmental Rep on the Cottage Lot Commission
As I sit here on the deck of our new cottage on Dunlop Lake and look out over our beautiful waterfront towards the far shore I marvel at what has been accomplished out here over the past 3 years.
155 new cottage lots have been sold on Dunlop Lake. Ours is at the far end of the lake on the North Shore water access only. To get to it we travel the length of the lake by boat. We are thus able to regularly monitor the progress of lot preparation and building taking place. I am so pleased to see how the majority of new lot owners are developing their waterfront properties.
The MNR has sold pristine Crown land to the City of Elliot Lake to be developed and sold in order to foster economic development for the area. The City formed a Commission to manage the project. It is an indication of the importance placed by both the MNR and the City on environmentally sound development that one commission member must be a person involved in the environmental community. I am that person.
I have been on the Commission from it’s beginning in 2002. We struggled at first to formulate an enforceable by-law outlining what could and could not be cleared in the 15 metre zone back from the shoreline. We were not successful. The MNR and Department of Fisheries had definite policies for development in their areas of jurisdiction along the shoreline and in the adjacent water. So we decided to prepare a comprehensive package of good environmental practice information which has been presented to every new lot owner. Our hope is that everyone will read the material and voluntarily fall in line with our commitment to maintain healthy shorelines. It seems at this point that most have.
As I sit and contemplate the opposite shore there comes across the water a continual hum of activity. 
The last 3 kilometers of the Dunlop Shores Road are being built. What an awesome responsibility building that road has been. It had to follow along the back lot lines of the properties and that has taken us to weird and wonderful places. Two major blast sites and two major water crossings have been well executed and have passed environmental inspection with flying colours. That speaks well for the care taken by our engineers and road builders to develop in environmentally sound ways.
Many of Ontario’s more established Cottage Country areas are struggling to restore health to their lakes and shorelines. We have been gifted with healthy lakes and shorelines from the beginning. We on the Commission are constantly aware of the responsibility given us to develop wisely and environmentally soundly. The continued success of cottage lot development and the permission to move on to new lakes depends greatly on how well we preserve and protect what we already have on both Dunlop and Quirke Lakes.
From the deck of my cottage my gratitude goes out to all my fellow cottagers for helping to maintain the pristine nature of our surroundings. We have far to go and I hope that the good examples set by most of us will carry over to all future development on the lakes.