In the fall of 2011, Parks Canada and the Cabin Association sent all cabin owners a survey asking for opinions and thoughts on issues of importance to our area. The survey dealt with issues such as: leases as opposed to camping permits, provision of water and sewer services, cabin design and footprint, lot sizes, back lanes, cook shacks and placement of garbage bins . While it would have been nice if all 525 cabin owners had answered the questions, Parks Canada and the Board were very happy to receive 307 survey returns out of the 525 survey’s sent out. This is a good sample of our area. Attached is a summary of the responses received.
Leases VS Permits: 61% in favour of Leases
Want least expensive option: 53% in favour of least expensive
Water & Sewer in Cabins VS Washrooms: 56% want water & sewer
installed in cabins
Water & Sewer in Cabins and as exists: 21% want water & sewer
both in cabin and as exists
3 or 4 Building Plans: 70% want 3 or 4 plans
Lot sizes: 53% want to increase lot sizes
Remove Back Lanes: 49% do not want to remove back lanes ???
Cook Shacks to remain as is: 80% want them to remain as is
Cook Shacks to remain/garbage bins and wood to go: 6% say
yes to removing bins and wood
Cook Shacks & wood bins to be removed: 70% say no to
removing cook shacks and wood bins
Remove bins from back lanes: 57% say no to removing bins
from back lanes
Locate bins on green space: 55% say no to locating bins on green
space
Burial Lines: 62% want us to investigate cost of burial lines
Levy or Mortgage: Undecided
As it became apparent to the Board that each of these issues raised passionate responses from cabin owners In addition, it was readily apparent that not all cabin owners are passionate about every issue, but every cabin owner is passionate about at least one of the issues. In our considerations and discussions of the survey results, the Board heard a proposal from Parks Canada which presented a win-win scenario for all cabin owners while compromising a bit on everyone’s position.
The results of the survey indicated that 56% of cabin owners wanted water and sewer to their cabins and 21% were in favour of a dual system. The Board recognizes that you cannot simply add the 56% and the 21% and say that 77% of cabin owner were in favour of water and sewer to cabins, but it is an indication that a significant number of cabin owners want water and sewer services. Conversely there are still cabin owners, who wish to retain the public facilities. In order to accommodate both sides of this issue the Board of the CLCA passed the following motion on January 14, 2012.
Based on the results of the survey and in light of the fact that Parks Canada has indicated that we will keep the washrooms and shower building for as long as required, we, the board, recommend that the park proceed with the installation of water and sewer to the individual cabins
The motion is a recommendation for the Park to move forward with water and sewer to individual cabins while keeping the washroom and shower building for as long as required. The Park has not agreed that they can or will proceed with anything at this time. There are a tremendous number of details to be finalized and agreed upon (by Parks Canada and the cabin area) before any shovels hit the ground.
That is what the Board has done in response to survey results we accommodated both sides of the water and sewer debate and are proceeding with digging out the information we will need to move forward and deal with the future of our area. The motion does not force any cabin owner to add a bathroom, or expand their cabin, it is not an all-or-nothing motion, it calls for a dual system at no extra cost to renovate for cabin owners.
This motion satisfies the wishes of those cabin owners who do not want to move to individual water and sewer in individual cabins, while also satisfying the wishes of those individuals who want to have water and sewer in the cabins. We will have both systems. In addition, for some of our cabin owners who are finding managing their time at the lake difficult due to issues with the bathroom, this will solve that problem, while for other individuals who wish to preserve the public facilities, the motion satisfies their wishes. To the Board this represents a win-win situation.
