{"id":6968,"date":"2015-09-28T14:09:06","date_gmt":"2015-09-28T18:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/?p=6968"},"modified":"2015-09-30T09:14:12","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T13:14:12","slug":"the-municipality-can-stop-this-proposed-project-in-four-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/?p=6968","title":{"rendered":"The municipality <b>can<\/b> stop this proposed project \u2013 in just three steps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What we learned in the <em>Wizard of Oz<\/em>, from Glinda, the Good Witch of the South &#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>Dorothy<\/strong>: <em>Oh, will you help me? Can you help me?<\/em><br \/> <strong>Glinda<\/strong>: <em>You don&#8217;t need to be helped any longer. You&#8217;ve always had the power to go back to Kansas.<\/em><br \/> <strong>Dorothy<\/strong>: <em>I have?<\/em><br \/> <strong>Scarecrow<\/strong>: <em>Then why didn&#8217;t you tell her before?<\/em><br \/> <strong>Glinda<\/strong>: <em>She wouldn&#8217;t have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>And we now know that the District Municipality of Muskoka and Township of Muskoka Lakes <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">do<\/span> have the power<\/strong> to stop construction of the proposed hydro-electric generating station at the Bala falls. No need for ruby slippers or to <em>&#8220;tap your heels together three times&#8221;<\/em>, just follow these <strong>three no-cost steps<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The <strong>Township of Muskoka Lakes cease their lease negotiations with the proponent<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>The proponent has requested a multi-year lease for the; Township&#8217;s Portage Landing, south half of Don&#8217;s Bakery Parking Lot, and use of the north half of the Precambrian Shield parking lot (the relevant property locations are <a href=\"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/PropertyOwnershipOutlines,20150918.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">shown here<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>This would ensure that the Heritage Attributes of Portage Landing continue to be protected by the Ontario Heritage Act and that the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.muskokalakes.ca\/node\/123\" target=\"_blank\">Township&#8217;s By-law 2013-52<\/a> would not be contravened.<\/li>\n<li>Also, as required by the area&#8217;s businesses, the Township&#8217;s parking lots would continue to be available.<\/li>\n<li>The Township should not be negotiating with a party that has legal action against them.<br \/> \u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>District Municipality of Muskoka not permit their riverbed under their bridge to be used by construction vehicles excavating for non-District purposes<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>This will ensure the bridge is not damaged as the District&#8217;s Muskoka Road 169 bridge over the Bala north channel is 50 years old and due for rehabilitation in a few years. This bridge is crucial infrastrucure as the detour is 50 km, so any damage to the bridge would severely impact; emergency vehicle response, business deliveries, local commerce, and visitors.<br \/> \u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>District Municipality of Muskoka not permit the proponent to widen the shoulder<\/strong> of Muskoka Road 169.\n<ul>\n<li>This would keep pedestrians safe, as the proponent&#8217;s shoulder widening; would result in a 10&#8242;-high retaining wall, and for years would not permit pedestrians travel on the west side of Muskoka Road 169.<\/li>\n<li>While the proponent has previously requested this widening, they have not met the District&#8217;s conditions, including; providing a Heritage Impact Assessment, providing a Letter of Credit and proof of insurance coverage, and providing detailed engineering drawings of the work planned.<br \/>\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/span><br \/> The proponent&#8217;s proposed project would:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Be extremely dangerous to visitors and the municipality must do what it can to reduce its liability.<\/li>\n<li>Threaten the District&#8217;s bridge.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The District and Township don&#8217;t even have to click their heels together three times and don&#8217;t need to spend any money, they <strong>can and only need to say no<\/strong> to the proponent&#8217;s requests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What we learned in the Wizard of Oz, from Glinda, the Good Witch of the South &#8230; Dorothy: Oh, will you help me? Can you help me? Glinda: You don&#8217;t need to be helped any longer. You&#8217;ve always had the power to go back to Kansas. Dorothy: I have? Scarecrow: Then why didn&#8217;t you tell <a href='https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/?p=6968' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-background","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6968"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7049,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968\/revisions\/7049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethebalafalls.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}