The Municipality of West Nipissing has listed Scout’s Island for sale, but some residents are hoping council has a change of heart. The island, located above the dam in Sturgeon Falls is a stone’s throw from shore, and one resident along that shore has created a petition to sink the sale.
Chantale Lavallee-Ouellette is against the sale because, quite frankly, she looks at the island daily and likes it just the way it is. If sold, there’s no saying what could be built there (it’s zoned residential), or the owner could remove all the trees. Lavallee-Ouellette does not want to roll the dice and urges the municipality to rethink selling the island.
However, the island has been listed, and the municipality is taking bids as you read these lines. The opening bid was set at $175,000.
See: West Nipissing lists ‘Scout’s Island’ for sale
Still, Lavallee-Ouellette has faith that her petition will matter, and perhaps achieve its intended effect. As of today, 308 people have signed in support of keeping the island in municipal hands.
“We see wildlife all summer in our backyard,” Lavallee-Ouellette noted, and she worries the island’s natural environment will change for the worse once in the hands of private owners. Currently, the land is essentially vacant and unused. There’s a run-down building on the site that used to be used by the local scout troop – hence the island’s name – but that troop called it quits almost 10 years ago.
The municipality has no use for it – hence the sale – and council detailed how it would be too expensive to try to turn it into a park. The town would have to install all types of safety measures to bring the liability down and council felt it was just not worth the cost.
Lavallee-Ouellette agreed with that, as she doesn’t want it converted to an official park either. She simply wants it left alone and for the town to leave it as a nice piece of land. Plus, she worried that if made into a park, the town would “probably fence it all off with a big ugly black fence like they did at the dam.”
“We live in town,” Lavallee-Ouellette said, “but it’s like we live in nature because of that island, and it feels like that’s all going to change if they build there.”
Lavallee-Ouellette is worried the municipality is starting a trend of restricting the public from the community’s more natural spots. “Sturgeon Falls is surrounded by water,” she emphasized, “yet access to these natural resources is increasingly restricted.” She noted Minnehaha Bay – “Millions were spent on development, yet it is fenced off to the public.”
She also noted that the Legion’s property near the dam – “a 125+-year-old gathering place and fishing spot for locals, now fenced off and poorly maintained. Overgrown brush and trees obscure our view of the river.”
Now, Lavallee-Ouellette also has concerns about the new bridge planned for the town, “What will happen to our precious little lookout? Are we going to lose that too?”
Essentially, Lavallee-Ouellette wants to maintain the status quo when it comes to Scout’s Island, which for her means leaving it alone and as is. She plans to present her petition to council at an upcoming meeting, and if you’d like to sign, you can find that at change.org. Search for ‘Save Scout’s Island.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
