2010/11 Winter Storage Options

#1 - Choose Your Storage Location

Indoor Storage

ALL NEW PREMIUM STORAGE OPTION

#3 - You have the total basic cost of Winter Storage

#4 - Optional Services You May Be Interested In

Storage of Other Items

For our existing customers, you should find that the net change from these storage rates is within $20 of what you paid last year, when our rates were $33/ft and $37/ft for outboards and inboard/outboards, respectively. Our goal with this change is not to raise our rates for Covered Storage, but to simplify the rate calculation. In fact, pontoon boats and deck boats will notice a significant savings, as both were previously assessed the $37/ft inboard/outboard boat rate.

If you have any questions on this new rate structure, please contact Rob to discuss them.

Expansion Coming!

The demand for winter storage on Kawagama Lake is exceeding the supply, and Old Mill Marina is planning to build a fully enclosed and insulated indoor winter storage facility - the first of its kind east of Highway 11, to the best of our knowledge. We are in the midst of rezoning 12 acres of land at 1569 Russell Landing Road. Located just a couple of hundred meters west of the marina, this property will allow us to grow and expand within the commercial area long established on Kawagama Lake.

We are providing periodic updates here of our efforts to rezone this property. Please read through the information below, and feel free to contact us if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

June 17, 2010 - Township of Algonquin Highlands council voted unanimously to approve the zoning necessary to allow this winter storage expansion, as well as to approve the site plan submitted previously. We anticipate breaking ground in early July, with the structure going up in August. The first boats should be going into the building for winter storage prior to the end of September!

May 6, 2010 - Township of Algonquin Highlands Public Meeting on the Zoning Application took place, and council decided to defer approval of our zoning request until we could prepare a site plan and enter into a site plan control agreement with the township. Moving to site plan control will help to place additional restrictions on the building locations on the property, allowing council to more closely control growth. While a bit of a burden, we did agree to this request from council, and hope that it helps to appease some of the concerns in the neighbourhood about long-term growth on the property. We have engaged a planning consultant and hope to have a site plan to council shortly. We are still on track to have the new building up this fall, and will continue to provide periodic updates on our website.  Thanks to our many customers and friends (and a few people we don't know) around Kawagama who wrote to council on our behalf supporting our zoning efforts. Submissions to council were close to even between letters or emails in support or in opposition to the zoning request!

April 16, 2010 - While our rezoning application is moving ahead, we have run into some opposition from a few neighbours. Our neighbours have not given us the courtesy of a meeting or email to discuss their concerns, so we are unsure on what basis our rezoning is being opposed. For those interested, we have posted a number of documents as PDF files that you can read if you want to learn more about this project.  These documents include:

• A letter we distributed to as many neighbours as we could on Thanksgiving weekend, 2009

• The letter we sent to the township along with our rezoning application

• The planning report written by the township's planner

• Copy of an email we asked the KLCA to forward to our neighbours, offering to meet with them to discuss this project.

In fairness, we are posting some of the information our neighbours have sent out to the lake also. If the the scrap yard picture hasn't already been emailed to you, be sure to look at it - this one borders on being libellous!

• Scrap yard picture and wild claims!

• Letter distributed by Mr. Hugh Reynolds to everyone for whom he could find an address

• Follow up letter distributed by Mr. Hugh Reynolds Please be sure to read about how he and his group have refused to sit down and talk to us. We've now offered five times to meet with Mr. Reynolds to discuss concerns and to look to see if there are any changes to the project, but he has yet to bring any of his concerns to us.

• Mike Baum - A Danger To Kawagama email rant.  Please be sure to read through this one. And to question the motives of a real estate agent in sending this out to a mass, anonymous email group.

• Minden Times Article of April 14, 2010

• Minden Times Letter to Editor of April 21, 2010, clarifying two quotes attributed to Rob Walisser in the April 14, 2010 article

• County Voice Article of April 14, 2010

• "Our Marina Crisis" Article in May 2010 Issue of Cottage Life Magazine - a very interesting article that is very appropriate for everyone on Kawagama to read in light of the major expansion plans underway at both Old Mill and Mountain Trout House. If you prefer, we have also posted a PDF version of this file, entitle Marina Crisis.

• "Marinas Report" Prepared for Township of Muskoka Lakes, with a good review of the changing nature of marinas and the growing importance of winter storage facilities. Some very specific references to off site, non-waterfront property being far more appropriate for winter storage than waterfront property.

If you have any questions about this project or our rezoning, please contact Rob by email or phone at 766-2214.

The ON WATER ADVANTAGE!

We are located on the water. This requires a significant investment in waterfront property, but results in significant improvements in the level of service we can offer our customers. As you research winter storage options, keep the following points in mind:

1. On water locations allow us to respond immediately in the event of a breakdown on the lake. This is beneficial not only for your family’s enjoyment of the boat, but in some cases, their safety.

2. On water locations increase our hours of operation and accessibility. No land locked location would be open 7 days a week. You are at the cottage and boating seven days a week, so we are open for you.

3. On water locations allow us to offer 6 days a week of mechanical service. We have a fully functional service department, including licensed technicians, working every day except Sundays.

4. On water locations make us more answerable to you. You see us every time you come in for ice cream, fill up with fuel, and buy a paper. We are developing a long-term relationship with you, and we strive to always operate with the your best interests in mind.

5. On water locations enable us to perform more accurate service on your boat. Diagnostics are done under real operating conditions, on the water with factory trained technicians.

6. On water locations allow for easier boat management for you. We have many of our customers who simply trust us with keys to their boat, cottage and boat house to take care of their boat for them. With one phone call they can have their boat serviced, winterized, stored, accessories installed, and new toys dropped at their dock, and never have to worry about trailering their own boat again.

Currently our primary location is on Kawagama Lake. We are in the midst of expanding onto Lake of Bays also, with our new docks located at 1090 Main Street, across from the Fiery Grill. We look forward to developing this On Water Location over the next few years, to better service our Lake of Bays customers.