Cottage owners and officials with the Grand River Conservation Authority are hopeful the township will provide funding to help install fire number signs for about 375 cottages around Conestogo Lake.
“The number signs would add peace of mind to our membership as well as the township, knowing that they are assisting and protecting their taxpayers,” Wayne Gowing, president of the Conestogo Lake Cottagers’ Association, said in a recent letter to the township.
Michael Bradley, property manager with the GRCA, explained 375 of the 399 cottage lots are without a fire number sign.
“Currently, only the cottage lots that fall in the former Township of Peel have these signs, which were supplied by [that township] in the 1990s,” Bradley said a report to the township.
At a cost of $27 per sign, Bradley explained the total cost would be $10,125 and the GRCA would be willing to cover the cost to install the signs if the township agreed to purchase them.
“The cottage lot program … benefits the Township of Mapleton through tax revenues for the cottage lot lands and through the positive impacts that the cottage lot tenants bring to the local economy,” Bradley explained.
Said Gowing, “The cost for the number signs is not overwhelming.
“I do not want to announce before our membership at our [annual general meeting] in early June, that the Township of Mapleton could not find the money to protect and safeguard its seasonal residents.”
Mayor John Green acknowledged last week there may be some responsibility for the township in supplying the signs.
He suggested, with the support of council, that a recommendation come from staff on how to proceed and what is involved.
“I think we need to do something there,” said councillor Dennis Craven.
