February 19th, 2019

It’s been a little over a month since our last communication and there’s a lot to report about efforts to rebuild the Senior Lounge in its existing location. Things are moving along well and quickly.

Here’s a rundown of the key information, notable learnings and goings on since our last update:

Robert Charest continues to be the point person with the three key stakeholders for approval of our re-build project: the Town of North Hatley, and the provincial Ministries of the Environment and Forests, Fauna and Parks, respectively.

The Town’s Planning and Heritage Committee (“CCUP” in French) is a key decision-making body and meets monthly to review and recommend projects for approval by Town council.

Further to direction from the Town, the Club sought and obtained an opinion from the engineering firm of St-Georges Structures & Civil attesting to the integrity of the foundation of the Senior Lounge for re-build purposes. Receiving such assurance has been critical to the Town’s support of the Club’s desire to rebuild on the same footprint.

Further to a recommendation from the Ministry of Forests, Fauna and Parks, the Club retained the services of an environmental consulting firm, Englobe Corp., to meet the requirements of the Ministry of the Environment for completion of a detailed biological assessment report.

The Club’s Design & Build committee has met several times and prepared an initial set of technical drawings of the new Senior Lounge in light of feedback from the Town, the Board and Club members (received via nhcrebuild@gmail.com).

The drawings were approved by the Board of Directors at an emergency meeting on February 8th. The drawings were submitted to the Town’s Building Inspector and will be presented at the CCUP meeting on Wednesday, February 20th.

If all goes well, the CCUP will make its preliminary recommendations and the Club will be invited to submit detailed plans for the March meeting of the CCUP, with a view to obtaining final Town approval at a subsequent council meeting.

The Club is in the process of finalizing an agreement for the services of a local architect to draw up the construction-grade, detailed plans. These will be required for the Town’s permit process and to enable the Club to solicit high quality quotes from contractors submitting responses to our upcoming RFP (Request for Proposals) for the construction work.

With the support of representatives from the Town and the Ministry of Forests, Fauna and Parks, the Club is in the process of applying to the Town for a permit to demolish the existing Senior Lounge structure over the next few weeks. The plan is to demolish the structure while the ground and the lake is frozen, to minimize environmental damage.

Once we receive comments on the drawings from the Town (via the CCUP) and have the detailed architect’s plans in hand, the Board intends to communicate its recommendation to Club members.

We extend our sincere thanks to all members of the rebuild committees (particularly James Macgillivray), the Board of Directors (including Phil Côté, Lex Gallagher and Melissa Provencher who have formed our Summer 2019 Contingency Planning Committee) and all who sent photos of the Senior Lounge to help meet the requirements of the Ministry of the Environment. We also thank all those who have offered to help in various ways. Rest assured that your support is most appreciated and you will likely hear from us over the coming weeks and months. There is a role for everyone to play!

As you can see, it “takes a village” to move something like this forward and we fortunately don’t lack for villagers of goodwill and good intentions.

We’ll continue to keep you posted of key developments and milestones.

Best regards,

Joff Elkas, Vice-President
For the Board of Directors

p.s. Suggestions, comments and/or questions? Email nhcrebuild@gmail.com or Brian Patterson directly at managernhclub@bell.net.

Senior Lounge Update 14.01.19

Dear NHC members, We hope this update finds everyone well-rested and geared up for a great 2019 after a happy holiday season. North Hatley has been as pretty as ever lately thanks to that always magical combination of fresh snow, the lake and sunshine. We’re pleased to report some good news in respect of the Senior Lounge.  

First, just prior to Christmas, our insurance company came through with its settlement offer. It was in the ballpark of what we were expecting and the amount will help us to move the rebuild process along with more certainty and direction. Second, on Friday, January 11^th, President Robert Charest and John Hay (of our Design & Build committee) had another meeting with the Town of North Hatley. It was very encouraging. The Town has now advised that we may be able to rebuild the Senior Lounge on the same footprint after all, provided we obtain an engineer’s report attesting that the foundation is solid and certain approvals from the provincial Ministry of Forests, Fauna and Parks. That said, we’re cautiously optimistic we can clear these hurdles.  

Needless to say, this was very welcome news – particularly since the Town would otherwise require a “set-back” of 10 meters from the high water mark to meet its requirements for new constructions on the lake. The more we learn about and study this “set-back option” and its related restrictions, the more we realize its limitations. 

Since the fire struck, the Town has shown itself to be a good partner and now appears openly supportive of our efforts to rebuild on the same footprint.  We’re very grateful for this and appreciate the efforts of all Club members who’ve worked so hard over the years to foster such a good relationship with the Town of North Hatley.  

Over the next few weeks, Robert Charest and the Club’s Design & Build committee will be busy with next steps, including meeting with contractors and preparing plans to submit to the Town in time for the monthly meetings of the Town Planning and Heritage Committee. We’ll continue to keep you posted of key developments and milestones. 

Best regards,Joff Elkas, Vice-PresidentFor the Board of Directors  p.s. Suggestions, comments and/or questions? 

Email nhcrebuild@gmail.com or Brian Patterson directly at managernhclub@bell.net.