Ed Pearce has sent off a letter to his fellow councillors to be considered at Monday's Elliot Lake City Council meeting.
As Chair of the Elliot Lake Residential Development Commission, Pearce wants to clear the air on the proposed Esten Lake subdivision and any others that could be possible for inner city lakes.
Regarding questions about Esten Lake water quality Pearce wrote, "Reference was made to blue-green algae on Esten, which I had not heard before."
He wrote that a check with staff showed that has not happened in the past 20 years and the phosphorus levels remained relatively low even after heavy rains.
"The landfill creek does empty into Esten but further to the west than where we are currently planning," Pearce continued. "It has also been part of our monitoring program. During near drought conditions the phosphorus values do rise significantly but there is hardly any flow of water. We have discussed this with our Water Scientist, and she says the amount of contaminant coming from here compared to the volume of water in Esten is negligible.
"As for sulphur/sulphides in the water, the only place that this is happening is from drilled wells on Dunlop (Lake). There is a layer of rock that the deep wells go through that is releasing these compounds. The problem is how the wells were drilled and encased. It has nothing to do with any lake waters.
"The only reason we have had some push back from MNRF for lots with septic systems on Esten were the oxygen levels. They are currently running less than 4 percent below a level where they would allow cottages. The phosphorus levels in Esten lake are currently within the same range as all of the other lakes in the area."
As to choosing Esten Lake as the next inner city city Lake for lot sales, Pearce explained, "When considering the expansion of the cottage lot program, Esten lake was one of the prime candidates. A full Natural Heritage Assessment (NHA) was completed as well as phase one archaeological work. Very little will be required to update the NHA to comply with the City Official Plan (OP).
Pearce went on to observe that the proposed road for the lakefront lots has had preliminary engineering work done. The proposal for 23 lake front lots should be considered stage one as an extension of the road to the border of city owned property could gain 16 more lots. The project was split into two, stages to keep initial costs at a minimum.
In consideration of other inner city lakes, Slipper Lake is considered a lake trout lake. It was taken off the list of septic using homes due to the high loading of phosphorous from urban run off. Full services would allow homes on the lake.
The city only owns about 1/3 of the land around Slipper. Some 36 lots have been identified as having potential to be developed and services are approximately 970 metres from the lake. The north side of the lead-in road is wetland and a section of the south side of the lead-in road is too steep to develop leaving only 8 to 10 lots that could be developed to offset the cost of running services to the lake.
Angel (First) and Chrystal (Second) Lakes were not considered for cottages with septic systems because those lakes did not meet the MNRF minimum lake size requirements.
The north shore of Angel Lake is very steep and in close proximity to Axmith Ave. and Frame Crescent so developing a road and lots within the area would be a challenge.
Nordic Lake is designated as lake trout lake. Pearce wrote previous leadership for the cottage lot project would not consider lots on the lake.
"We are proposing residences about 1/2 kilometre from the landfill site. Bears do not follow roads and they travel many kilometres in a day foraging for food. As long as the residents follow bear wise practices the curious ones will not find anything and give up," Pearce concluded, regarding a possible bear problem for the Esten Lake area.
His submission is up for consideration at Monday night's virtual Council meeting. It will be live streamed on the the city website at 7 p.m.