Latest / North Shore News / October 7th, 2025

Transcript

October 7th, 2025 · North Shore News

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  Welcome to North Shore News and Interviews on
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  Amherst Island Radio. Each week we keep you updated
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  on newsworthy events, happenings and conversations
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  that we've had with people in the local community
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  and beyond. Loyalist Township is once again partnering
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  with the Odessa Agricultural Society to bring
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  Halloween fun to families at the fourth annual
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  Trunk or Treat and Crafts event. On Sunday, October
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  26th, from 1pm to 4pm at the Odessa Fairgrounds,
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  located at 231 Main Street, Odessa, there will
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  be an afternoon of free, family -friendly festivities.
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  Local businesses and organizations will be showcasing
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  their creativity with decorated vehicles of all
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  shapes and sizes. Children are invited to trick
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  -or -treat from trunk to trunk in a safe, accessible
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  and spook -free outdoor environment. This event
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  takes place rain or shine. Inside, the Odessa
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  Agricultural Society will be hosting a variety
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  of festive activities including Halloween -themed
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  games, crafts, and a cash canteen. Loyalist Township
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  noted they're proud to collaborate with the Lennox
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  and Addington Joint Accessibility Advisory Committee
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  and Treat Accessibility to ensure the event is
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  inclusive and welcoming for everybody. For more
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  information, visit loyalist .ca slash trunk or
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  treat. For Amherst Island Radio and the Local
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  Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans. This is
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  North Shore News. On Monday, October 20th from
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  1 to 3 p .m., Loyalist Township will be celebrating
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  the grand opening of the new Downey Wenjack Fund
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  legacy space at the W .J. Henderson Community
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  Centre. Following this ceremony, the legacy space
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  will be open to the public. This space is part
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  of a national program created by the Gord Downey
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  and Shawnee Wenjack Fund. These spaces are designed
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  to be safe, welcoming spaces where people can
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  learn about Indigenous cultures, reflect on shared
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  journeys, and take part in meaningful conversations
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  about reconciliation. The opening celebration
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  will include a ribbon cutting, welcoming remarks
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  from local leaders and representatives of the
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  fund, as well as guided tours of the new space.
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  Visitors will have the chance to see exhibits
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  featuring indigenous art, artifacts, storytelling,
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  and a local school project. There will also be
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  a cultural performance and opportunities to speak
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  with indigenous elders, Township staff, and members
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  of the Downey Wenjack Fund. In July 2024, the
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  Township signed a five -year agreement with the
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  Downey Wenjack Fund to create this legacy space.
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  This space will offer ongoing opportunities for
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  residents to participate in workshops, cultural
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  activities, and public education. For Amherst
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  Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative,
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  I'm Ted Evans. This is North Shore News. Westbridge
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  Renewable Energy has recognized there's still
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  work to be done in gaining public support for
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  their proposed solar farm in Loyalist Township.
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  The company has committed to undertake Indigenous
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  and community engagement activities and incorporate
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  the feedback as the project moves forward. Chief
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  Operating Officer for the company and Vice President
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  of Switzerville Solar, Margaret McKenna, explains
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  where they're at with the project. During consultation,
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  we've heard positive, we've heard negative, and
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  we've heard constructive. We believe most of
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  that can be incorporated, mitigated, or overcome
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  in future planning and design. There is work
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  to be done still. and we acknowledge that. We
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  believe that the project will have a positive
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  impact on the community and the township as a
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  whole, while also contributing clean, emission
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  -free energy to support Ontario's future. While
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  still showing support for the project, Council
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  is making sure the company does their due diligence.
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  Development Services Manager with the Township,
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  Andrea Furness, details some of the environmental
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  work that will need to be done. As part of a
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  planning application, we would require an environmental
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  impact assessment on that property. There is
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  environmental protection lands going through
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  the property, traversing the property through
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  the water course. So that would be a requirement
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  where they would have to dress everything on
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  species at risk habitat, wildlife habitat. All
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  of that would have to be looked at by an ecologist.
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  And the Township uses a third party peer reviewer
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  to evaluate that as well. determine if there's
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  impacts and to help form how any development
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  can occur on the site without negatively impacting
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  any natural heritage features and their ecological
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  functions. There are some concerns. The proponent
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  recognized that there is homework yet to be done
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  and I think there's a recognition that council
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  wants to ensure that that homework. Is it done?
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  Council passed a resolution in support of the
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  company at their latest meeting to help with
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  the company's bid for federal funding. At an
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  August 25th open house regarding the project,
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  there were various concerns from residents in
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  regards to communication, groundwater and the
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  potential to destroy wildlife habitat. Councillor
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  Paul Proderick speaks about the importance of
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  public engagement and moving towards clean energy
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  options in the future. We've been down this road
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  before and I think Back early in our term of
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  council, we asked staff to develop a policy in
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  terms of engagement, and they followed that rather
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  extensively. You know, clean energy, in my judgment,
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  that's the direction we should be taking. It
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  fits into our climate action plan. Councillor
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  Lorna Willis sympathized with those voicing concerns,
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  but spoke about the importance of moving forward
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  as well. I do know what it's like to live within
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  a project space. Although, you know, I am supporting
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  the motion because I do agree that we do have
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  to do our part to move forward with green energy
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  in the township. The proposed project would be
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  located on approximately 800 acres of private
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  land near Switzerville and would be capable of
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  supplying energy to 20 ,000 homes. The target
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  operation date is May 2030. For Amherst Island
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  Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm
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  Ted Evans. This is North Shore News. A clean
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  energy company looking to build an energy storage
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  center in Loyalist promised the project would
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  bring 670 direct construction jobs and 40 permanent
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  jobs to the area. HydroStore presented their
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  plans for creating the Quinte Energy Storage
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  Center to Loyalist Township Council. The proposed
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  site is on a portion of an already existing industrial
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  aggregate site near the intersection of County
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  Road 22 and Townline Road. Staff with the company
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  noted that each phase of the project will provide
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  over $1 .4 billion in economic benefits to Ontario,
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  including the boost in local jobs. The company
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  will also be making long -term direct contributions
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  to the township and county through a community
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  benefits fund. Vice President of Business Development
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  with HydroStore, Shahir Aziz, explains the project
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  and why they chose the area. The Quinty Energy
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  Storage Centre is a energy storage project that
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  we have been working on for the past couple years
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  in Lennox and Addington County. The reason why
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  we are so attracted to this location is that
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  we want to be adjacent to the Lennox Transformer
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  Station, which is a critical transformer station
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  in the province of Ontario. It allows for power
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  to transfer east towards Ottawa, as well as transferring
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  power west towards Toronto. when needed. Aziz
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  speaks about the jobs the project looks to bring
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  to the area. We are a long -term infrastructure
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  project. What that means is that we actually
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  need to be constructed on site and on the ground,
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  which is really good for boosting local economy
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  as well as regional economy. Our project will
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  create approximately 670 full -time construction
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  jobs, as well as 40 jobs once it's actually operating.
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  And what's really exciting about these jobs is
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  that these job opportunities once operating are
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  not you know jobs that need to come away from.
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  take away from any industry, but rather repurposing
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  jobs that come out of the fossil fuel generation
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  space. We're going to be driving local benefits
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  to both the local Indigenous communities as well
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  as working with your Township to see what opportunities
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  for our project to really work and contribute
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  to the community. We've been working on two sites
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  in this area. With one of the sites we'd like
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  to call Quinty East, the location of the site,
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  proposed site, is on the northern end of an existing
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  quarry located on an industrial aggregate site
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  in Loyalist. We have been able to screen the
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  site from a desktop environmental screening perspective
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  as well as conduct studies to understand the
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  interconnection capacity and start to move ahead
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  with some of the feasibility and development
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  of the site. We have also partnered with the
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  Mohawks of the Bay of Quinty who are our First
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  Nation Indigenous partners for the project. and
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  are supporting us on our journey ahead. Aziz
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  details the technology that Hydrostore uses.
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  Our technology is one of the lowest cost long
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  duration energy storage technologies available
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  today and it operates emissions free. What else
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  is also really unique about our technology is
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  that it has a 50 year plus operating life without
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  any degradation. That's really helpful because
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  it means that we aren't repeatedly refurbishing
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  our storage project and instead it operates like
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  any other, you could compare it to a pump storage
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  plant which is online for 50, 100 years and doesn't
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  require any major replacement. Aziz details Hydrostore's
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  process for generating electricity. The way our
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  technology works is that you take electricity
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  from the grid when power is cheap or in excess.
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  You use that to compress air underground into
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  an underground cavern. During that process, as
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  you are compressing air, we actually take heat
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  and we store it into a thermal management system
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  that heat is being generated when you're compressing
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  air underground. Once the system is fully charged,
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  the air pushes all the water out of the cavern
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  and holds in steady state. When you then need
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  to generate electricity, you flip a valve, the
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  water pushes the air out, The air goes up our
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  well and through our turbine generating electricity.
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  One of the primary engineers with HydroStor Lucas
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  Texan explains how the company builds its caverns
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  and notes the rock formations in the area. We
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  site our caverns specifically to be in very impermeable
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  rock formations that are not suitable for hosting
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  water. It's one of our siting criteria. The rock
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  that is in this area is excellent for that case.
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  It has very low hydraulic permeability once you're
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  below the karst formation, below that limestone
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  and into the Canadian Shield, which is where
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  we would target to build our caverns. Our construction
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  shafts, which will travel from the surface down
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  to our cavern construction horizon, are cased
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  with the steel casing to ensure there's no interaction
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  between our a -case process and the groundwater.
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  speaks more about how the project will benefit
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  the province, country and local economy as well.
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  We're also going to be generating approximately
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  1 .4 billion in support of Canada's GDP and also
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  once operating about 31 million dollars per year
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  in GDP. We've also been started engagement with
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  Loyalist's Town Planning team who have guided
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  us towards your requirements for community engagement
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  and a pathway towards municipal support resolution.
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  And so we will be engaging following Loyalist's
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  requirements and doing our best efforts to engage
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  with the community and proceeding ahead with
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  that as we look to move forward. For Amherst
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  Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative,
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  I'm Ted Evans. This is North Shore News. All
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  sides have backed down and agreed to work together
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  after the town of Greater Napanee was warned
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  about potential legal action from the county.
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  Lennox and Addington originally requested that
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  the town cease distributing its encampment protocol
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  map that identified public property including
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  county lands. Greater Napanee council confirmed
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  a letter they received September 9th from the
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  county states that Lennox and Addington does
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  not intend to pursue any further legal remedy
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  to the disputes that existed. The letter also
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  noted that the county would pass its own bylaw
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  regarding the matter at hand. CAO of Greater
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  Napanee Matthew Grant explains the timeline of
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  events. I'm pleased to say that we're now at
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  a place where I kind of wish we had started,
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  but we did receive correspondence from the County
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  of Lennox and Addington. It is their intention
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  to pursue their own bylaw. We did send a letter
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  to the County of Lennox and Addington following
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  our last meeting. We offer to assist them in
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  their bylaw. I'm happy to share that we've already
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  made that offer to the chief administrative officer
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  of the county, as well as the head administrative
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  head of Pellis. And we sent a note to the county
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  of Lennox and Addington as they are identified
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  by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs as the service
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  manager accountable for service delivery. And
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  we also sent a note to Pellis and the mayor sent
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  one to the Pellis chair. as the operational service
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  provider. Grant explains the latest recommendation
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  he made to Council, which they approved at their
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  meeting. I'm recommending that we offer use of
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  our facilities in the community and that Council
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  authorize staff to waive any fees that we might
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  charge so that when they engage in consultation,
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  as we engage in consultation, that they can do
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  so with whatever facilities at our disposal that
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  they feel will fit their plan. Grant details
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  how staff are moving forward. Council and staff
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  look forward to putting this unfortunate incident
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  behind us. And, you know, I know that, you know,
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  staff are very much looking forward to proceeding
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  forward with our partners, with mutual respect
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  and mutual support. With that in mind, we are
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  pleased to assist with any upcoming consultations,
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  by -law development or activities with the Summit.
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  any of the ongoing efforts of the provincially
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  funded and mandated organizations responsible
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  for housing and homelessness. Mayor Terry Richardson
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  notes the importance of working together while
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  trying to help unhoused individuals and families.
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  We've got to move on from this. We have to work
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  together to try and resolve a multifaceted problem
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  that exists in every municipality. in this country
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  and probably in this continent. So if we don't,
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  we're going to continue to spin our wheels and
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  the people that we're supposed to be representing
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  are not going to be represented. For Amherst
• 14:35
  Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative,
• 14:38
  I'm Ted Evans. This is North Shore News. This
• 14:43
  has been North Shore News and Interviews. If
• 14:46
  you have an idea for a story or want to create
• 14:49
  stories for the show, consider joining our 100
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