The next-door neighbour of newly-established equipment to fight algae in Lake Eugenia is worried about its noise and appearance.
Township staff determined that council didn’t need to be involved because the use was permitted, Deputy Mayor Nielsen said. As a permitted use, there’s no municipal notice process.
Erin Boynton-Seeley wrote a letter and appeared in Open forum saying she supports efforts to improve Lake Eugenia water quality, but had some concerns.
They were never notified of the plans and its position next to their property, and were surprised by people and equipment during installation of the oxygenation unit.
She said she unexpectedly met Doug Hill when he came onto their property during installation, but the only emails she received from the Friends of Lake Eugenia were general fundraising.
The hope is that having more oxygen in the water will discourage the blue-green algae that has occurred in past summers. The algae is not only unsightly but a health threat.
While the Deputy Mayor said, “it seems like
respectfully this situation is a
neighborly dispute and not a council situation,”, he was a minority of one.
Council voted to support a motion by Mayor Paul McQueen to ask for a report back from staff on the process. Coun. Nadia Dubyk said that it would be good for the public and for council to learn about the situation.
Coun. Paul Allen also suggested that a fence that buffers the view of the sea can might help solve the problem.
Council also had received information stating that the expected noise could be comparable to that of ordinary conversation levels.
Since the equipment is not yet operating, there could still be a noise issue, Coun. Dan Wickens pointed out. Further questions revealed that if there was excess noise there could be a complaint and bylaw enforcement would deal with it.
Ms Boynton Seeley stated that Friends of Lake Eugenia were involved with Lake Eugenia Property Owners Association on the building permit application to install the equipment, which is in a SeaCan container. She also quoted a licence agreement as saying that there would be no nuisance created.
She said that as abutting property owners they’ve already had negative impacts.
Ms Boynton-Seeley asked if any other locations had been considered.
The installation used an unopened road allowance, rather than the Lake Eugenia beach parking lot, she said, and asked about who authorised that.
She also honed in on the impacts to neighbours, inquiring what steps were taken to lessen the impact. The location of the installation is about 10 feet from the corner of their property.
Doug Hill had his turn speaking afterwards on the topic.
He said the appearance of the 8×20-foot container is to be improved with paint, now that welding has been done, and said he’d “been through the wringer” in filling out a 60-page building permit application.
He said that the location depended on having power available, allowing pipes to be run to the deepest part of the lake by the dam and being 100 feet away from the lake to meet that restriction.
There were three sites considered and in talks with OPG the present one was considered the best.
The equipment is to be installed in the next few weeks using the beach parking lot, and maintenance access will be by a footpath, he said.
The equipment will run for four or five hours in the mornings, he said. The Friends group will be the operating agency for the facility, he said.
By M.T. Fernandes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on May 28, 2026 at 09:24
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