Dear editor:
Once again, the people in the north end of Fort Frances are being lied to by Wahkaihganun Futures Corp., with the blessing of town council and officials of the town.
Town officials approved an incomplete building plan for the last apartments. All elevations in that plan were not followed. Promises to neighbouring residents about being informed of changes to their plan were not followed.
Property elevations were changed! Retention ponds, drainage ditches, etc. were not followed. An elevated road was built that was not in the plan.
A ditch was added, diverting their runoff onto our properties and stopping the natural flow of water to the Eighth Street ditch from our properties as it did in the past.
Tyson Dennis was informed, with no results.
A fence was erected around their property but it was done in an extremely shoddy manner! The boards easily can be kicked off and the fence posts are not anchored. A jog at the back in the fence covers up a large portion of their property that is dangerous to both adults and children.
There also are rotten trees, brush, and garbage. A tree already has blown down, breaking their fence and going onto neighbouring property.
It is getting to be ghetto-like with these buildings being crammed into this one small area. They have retention ponds, ditches, and mud and I have seen very young children playing in them.
A playground was promised by Neil Kabel at a council meeting a number of years ago but, like all his other promises, it was broken.
A ditch was dug behind their houses on York Avenue, thereby removing the very small backyard that they did have. This, I understand by previous meetings, is against the bylaws pertaining to the yard area.
The retention ponds now drain around the entire property to empty on Eighth Street. They were supposed to drain (according to Doug Brown) directly through control pipes onto Eighth Street.
I feel that my concerns about damage to our properties with flooding are being ignored by officials of the town.
Minor infractions by other residents of the town are being enforced. Why are major infractions by Wahkaihganun being ignored? Are there different standards for different people?
Town council, officials of the town, and Wahkaihganun are guilty of outright misinformation. Assurances by Mr. Kabel in front of town council, that each apartment built was to be their last in this development, was always broken.
How can the people in the north end of Fort Frances have any faith in town council and officials when they overlook their extreme misinformation and have a complete disregard of other people’s property?
I assume these concerns will be ignored again as they have in the past.
I truly feel sorry for the children who have to live in these ghetto-like conditions. These young people have nothing to look forward to with Wahkaihganun and town council’s disregard for their welfare.
Shame on both of you.
Signed,
George Bliss
Fort Frances, Ont.
