Speaking of Wildlife!

Come participate in a brand new family event on Muldrew, this July 6^th, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., at Memorial Pines. This will be a one-hour interactive presentation, featuring 5-6 native Ontario, wildlife ambassadors and a wildlife interpreter. Featured animals might include porcupine, hawk, bobcat, turtle, skunk, goose, owl, snake, and others, and you will learn about each individual animal, its species, adaptations and habitat.

Many of you will remember the Muskoka Wildlife Centre on Highway 11, south of Gravenhurst, which closed in 2013. That’s when some of the Centre’s long-time staff established Speaking of Wildlife, a successor sanctuary for animals that cannot survive in the wild. Their goal is to deliver up-close encounters with Ontario wildlife and to provide a lasting experience that is enlightening, inspiring and entertaining.

Be sure to save the date!

On Sunday, June 30 we will celebrate Canada Day with a fireworks display.  We will get started at dusk (9:45 p.m.).  The display will be let off from a raft in the big bay by Peck's Landing.  Come by boat, and enjoy the show.  

Canoe Lessons will be offered July 22 to 25 (the week before the Regatta) for children 5 to 12.  Please check the Dock Drop for details, or contact secretary@muldrewlakes.ca. 

Only Board Members Jim Shenkman and Ari Huber were against submitting the Lake Plan without first having a membership vote to obtain a majority mandate to submit the Lake Plan. They recommended that a membership vote be held in late summer when cottagers are available and can receive full information beforehand.

The following are the remaining Board members who have apparently and very surprisingly agreed to NOT honour the commitment to the membership to have a vote on the critical matter of significantly reducing their existing property rights:

John Goshulak      President          president@muldrewlakes.ca

Eric Roher             Vice President   vicepresident@muldrewlakes.ca

Barbe Vandevalk   Secretary        secretary@muldrewlakes.ca

Cindy Fenwick      Treasurer        treasurer@muldrewlakes.ca

Ted Alley                Past President  nominating@muldrewlakes.ca

Other members:  John Aiken, Shoshana Green, Deb Marcellus, Rocco Mazzon, Ted Nixon, John Ouzounis, JoAnna Westlake

All cottage owners are encouraged to hold the Board to their word and express their views to the executive and where possible to the remaining board members. 

The Lake Plan consists of non-binding recommendations and there is no requirement in the MLCA's Constitution that a vote be held. The MLCA has engaged in lengthy public consultation and has provided ample opportunity for feedback on its application. Further, there will be opportunities to comment after the Lake Plan is sent to the Town of Gravenhurst as part of their public consultation process before any final decision is made in respect of the amendments to the Official Plan and Zoning By-Laws. 

The membership of the MLCA will NOT be given the opportunity to vote on the the proposed Lake Plan prior to its submission to amend the Town of Gravenhurst's Official Plan and Zoning By-Laws The first proposed Lake Plan was negatively received by many cottage owners. The MLCA dropped its plan, following heated discussions at a meeting in August, 2022, of submitting the Lake Plan to the Town in September without first having a membership vote.

In an email to members on November 7, 2022, the MLCA committed to having a vote on a revised Lake Plan to obtain majority support before submitting it to the Town. Non members of the MLCA were encouraged to join so they could have a vote and many did so. The MLCA kept its word and ballots were distributed this past summer. A membership meeting was held in August, 2023 with strong opposition expressed. The membership vote was to be held on September 13, 2023 but was not held citing procedural issues. It was doubtful that the Lake Plan sections on cottage expansion and rebuild size limits would have been approved.

The Board and Lake Plan Committee have communicated that they now will submit the Lake Plan to the Town without having a membership vote to obtain majority support for the Lake Plan. Really!! The proposed limitations on cottage expansion size and rebuild size continues to be a drastic reduction from those provided for under the current long standing By-Laws. The proposals will also most probably cause a significant loss in market value and particularly for cottage owners closer to the lake.

I encourage cottage owners to demand that a vote be held by contacting the MLCA through the secretary ( secretary@muldrewlakes.ca )

The MCLA is proposing much reduced cottage size limits on expansions or rebuilds under 30 metres from the lake. Members should consider voting NO to ballot question 6 on this topic if:

a) You do not support the proposed drastic reduction in your current property rights to expand or rebuild to meet current and future family size needs and you want to preserve your property value.

AND/OR

b) You do not believe that half your fellow cottage owners on Muldrew Lakes, who are not members of the MLCA, should have their existing long standing property rights drastically reduced without having a vote.

The proposed maximum sizes vary with distance from the lake and are in gross square feet ( includes 2^nd floor) The By-Laws use lot coverage. The cottage footprint cannot exceed 13% of the lot area defined as from the shoreline to 60 metres back. You can add a second floor to the allowed footprint.

A sample of the comparisons using maximum gross square footage allowed for both cases is as follows:

The proposed maximum  of 1600 gross square feet for 11 metres from the lake represents a 58% reduction in the current entitlement for a 150 foot shoreline frontage, 69% for 200 feet and 75% for 250 feet.

The proposed maximum of 2500 gross square feet for 20 metres from the lake represents a 35% reduction in current entitlement for a shoreline of 150 feet, 51%% for 200 feet and 61% for 250 feet.

For the sake of transparency and full disclosure the MLCA should produce a table so cottage owners can clearly understand what their cottage size entitlement rights are today versus the proposals. This information should be emailed to members immediately as proxy votes are being cast..

Vaughn Hibbits

1751 North Muldrew Lake

Presumably the high water level dislodged this marker.   It was  floating by Bass Island, North Muldrew late June 30th.    It is a bouy from a rectangular recyclable jug with a rope and anchor attached. 

Call Brian Phillips, 778 833 2649 to arrange for pick up.

Our cottage, garage and property at 232 Beck Road off of Haleway Drive (across from Dew Drop Island) was robbed between June 16th and June 21st.  They took a significant number of items including a 2021 Mercury  9..9 outboard motor taken from the tin boat on the dock, an ezloader double axel boat trailer and a Polaris Seedoo and trailer.  They emptied the garage of multiple recreational items (lily pad life, jackets, water skiis, wakeboards etc), gardening, maintenace and construction tools  - so they must have had a truck/cube van and 2 vehicles to the trailers.  Please contact Nancy Hogue at 905 955-7342 if you have any information.  We are so shocked that this could happen on our lake.