Robert Fisher
Staff Reporter
PEMBROKE – Robert Howe wrote to the County of Renfrew and Township of Madawaska Valley about a, largely, disused rest area on Highway 62 between Barry’s Bay and Combermere. County staff included the letter in the agenda package for the Committee of the Whole, Operations meeting of Sept. 24.
Howe wrote that the site was, “an attractive and popular location for travellers and local residents alike to walk the dog, enjoy a picnic, comfort stop or simply a period of respite from driving in a beautiful setting,” along Kamaniskeg Lake. The site, Howe states, was identified by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) with signage as a rest stop.
Howe’s letter states that the province transferred responsibility for the highway to the county in 2000, however, did not transfer ownership of the rest site. He wrote that approaches were made to both the township and the county and that neither would maintain the site.
“Twenty-five years later, the site can only be described as a disgrace,” his letter states. The stone fireplaces are in bad condition and some of the roads through the area are “almost impassable.” Signs noting the site as a rest area still stand.
Howe cites the incongruence between the area being increasingly attractive to tourists and there being no place for people to stop on their drive for a picnic or stretch their legs.
“The current state of the site … should be an embarrassment,” to the township, the county and the local MPP.
The Operations Committee accepted the letter as information only without discussion.
robert@thevalleygazette.ca
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