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By Jeff Green

John Kemp is fed up, and doesn’t mind telling everyone and anyone about it. Even his local council.

Kemp, who lives on Otter Lake with his wife Tracey Mallen, spoke to the News on Monday in advance of making a presentation to South Frontenac Council on Tuesday evening (June 6).

He moved to Otter Lake about ten years ago to join Tracey at the home where she has lived since 2005.

Over the past dozen years, the couple have been living next to short term renters. For the first ten years, it was the property to the east of theirs on the lake that was rented out. The property was rented out through the VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) web service.

“During that time, everything and everything happened to us from next door, short of having our life threatened,” he said.

Damage was done to their property on several occasions, he said. One time, they went to where there was a woman sitting on their dock.

“When we told her that it was not the dock that came with the rental property, she said ‘I like this dock better and turned away’.

Another time they came home to find their dock totally under water, and their neighbour on the other side told them that a group of renters had been horsing around on the dock while they were gone.

“Finally, the guy on the west side of us, who had built their home themselves, couldn’t take it any more and they sold their property,” said Kemp.

from the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Central Frontenac Township also put on a total fire ban on Monday, and at noon on Tuesday, South Frontenac Township upgraded the Level 1 Fire Ban that had been in place since Friday (June 2), to a total fire ban.

Crews from townships in Renfrew County are also responding.

“We are hoping the fire can be contained and will not head our way, but we are certainly keeping an eye on it,” said Cory Klatt, “there are a lot of trees down from last year’s Derecho that could get involved if a wildfire came our way. We urge people to follow the burn ban.”

According to a CBC report, the fire was reported shortly after 5:30 pm on Sunday and had spread to 50 hectares as of noon on Monday.

Fire Chief Korhonen said the fire was moving at a rate of about 3 metres per minute on Sunday Night but that rate had slowed by Monday morning.

An evacuation order affecting Black Mountain Estates, Little Bay Lane, Snider's Tent and Trailer Park and Aird’s Lake Road, in the Griffith area, went in place on Monday.

The hamlets of Denbigh/Vennachar in Addington Highlands, and Griffith in Greater Madawaska are about equidistant from the fire, and Plevna in North Frontenac is the closest population centre in North Frontenac.

On Tuesday morning, while the skies worsened over much of Frontenac County, the news from Centennial Lake had improved, with suggestions that the fire had been kept to a steady or shrinking radius.

The weather forecast remained grim, however, calling for sun and smoke for the next 48 hours. There was a chance of rain in the forecast, but only 30% into Tuesday evening, and the next forecasted rain does not come until Friday.

Environment Canada has also put out an air quality warning for Eastern Ontario.

“Smoke plumes from local forest fires as well as forest

If they had held on, things might be different for Kemp and Mallen now.

The property to the east sold as well, to a family who live there on a full-time basis and have become close neighbours.

The owner of the property to the west, however, sold it in the fall of 2022, realising a substantial profit through the COVID housing boom.

Soon after the sale, Kemp went to meet his new neighbour.

“I approached and said welcome to the neighborhood, and said there are great neighbours on the lake and if he needed anything he could just ask. He asked me if I was from Toronto. I said no, I’m from here. He just turned around and walked away. I haven’t seen him again.”

Since then, the property, which is a three-bedroom house, formerly built and occupied by a family of four, has been listed on AirBnB as a waterfront destination for up to 12 people.

John Kemp’s presentation to South Frontenac Council outlined a series of incidents and reports to the OPP, the township, and AirBnB, starting on November 5, 2022. In the first incident, the couple were in Kingston and received a text from a neighbour asking if they were having a party because of the noise coming from their end of the lake.

When they got home, they heard some very loud yelling coming from all over the property, saw 9 cars, 4 dogs, and an unknown number of people.

On November 27, they came home to find firewood had fires in Quebec have resulted in deteriorated air quality. Poor air quality may persist through most of this week. Air quality and visibility due to wildfire smoke can fluctuate over short distances and can vary considerably from hour to hour,” Environment Canada said.

An air quality advisory remained in place in the region into Wednesday.. ■ been stolen, which they reported to Frontenac Bylaw Enforcement and the OPP.

On December 5th, they encountered hooded people on their property with flashlights, which they reported as well.

Incidents have followed since then. They had made reports to AirBnB on at least 15 occasions over what is listed on the AirBnb site, including pictures of their dock, as if it was part of the rental property, and about the fact that the house can not safely hold 12 people, to no avail.

He also noted that there have been fireworks outside of approved times, fires during burn bans, property damage

By Jeff Green

Craig Middleton, a first time council member on Central Frontenac Council representing Ward 3 (Oso), tendered his resignation from council last week.

According to Central Frontenac Chief Administrative Officer Cathy MacMunn, Middleton’s resignation came into effect on Monday, May 29.

In a subsequent phone interview, Mayor Frances Smith said that Middleton sent a letter by email to the township on that day.

“Basically, what he said was that it turned out that council is not for him,” Smith said. Middleton has a long history of community involvement. Most recently, he was integrally involved in the installation of a concrete pad for the rink in Sharbot Lake, as part of a large volunteer effort to get the rink built in time for the winter of 2022/23.

Middleton was elected in the municipal election last fall in Oso district, along with another new councillor, Susan Irwin.

Susan Irwin received the most votes in the ward, 413, followed by Middleton with 400, Duncan McGregor finished 3rd with 268 votes, and Bill MacDonald was 4th with 239 votes.

Central Frontenac Council met on Wednesday, May 31, in a previously arranged, special in camera meeting, to discuss items covered by solicitor-client privilege, and at that meeting they also accepted Middleton’s resignation, and discussed how to fill his position.

The municipal act provides for a number of options to fill a council vacancy, including an election.

Mayor Smith said that the cost of a byelection is substantial, and “the residents already went through an election last fall and would not appreciate having another vote.”

CAO Cathy MacMunn prepared a report outlining all of Council’s options, and Council opted for offering the position to the candidate who finished third in Oso District, Duncan McGregor.

MacMunn said that she would call McGregor that very evening, to offer the position and some time to decide if he was willing to serve on council for the next 3.5 years. If he turns down the offer, MacMunn said she will offer up the position to Bill MacDonald, who finished in 4th place.

“What happens if both of them say no,” asked Councillor Nicki Gowdy.

“Then we will have another discussion at council,” said Smith.

Council next meets on June 13, and will be prepared to welcome the new member at that time.

The News reached out to Duncan McGregor via email on Monday to see if he has decided to join council or not, but we had not heard back as of press time on Tuesday. ■