MuskokaONline.com News - #GOTLOCAL

Huntsville Council approved a $30,000 budget variance for building restoration at Muskoka Heritage Place (MHP), in the September 23, 2024, meeting.

According to the summary report, staff recommended the variance from the 2024 Budget for the reconstruction of one of the MHP’s historical building called the Sugar Shack due to excessive deterioration.

Staff indicated that the additional costs are a result of the building deteriorating more rapidly than what the engineer anticipated in the 2022 site inspection anticipated and is now recommending that the building be torn down and rebuilt.

The report indicates, “Efforts will be made to salvage as much material as possible and rebuild the structure closer to the village.”

Staff said that the closer proximity to the village will allow for “more visibility and untapped potential for programming.”

According to the report, the additional cost will bring the project to a total of $76,000, taken from the MHP – Hartley Bequest Reserve, from the estate of the late Katherine Anne Hartley.

It adds that a bequest of $162,962 was made to the MHP in 2023 “to advance MPH’s mission and mandate.”

The report continues that Hartley was a former schoolteacher and librarian who frequented the MHP with her students, “and felt it was important to give back to those institutions to continue to teach children and to foster life-long learning.”

The building restoration is one of seven projects in the works for MHP in the 2024 Capital Plan. Other projects include a porch replacement for Spencer’s Inn, ceiling upgrades in the Museum, open-air structure and sawmill reconstruction. And accessible doors and steam engine refurbishment will be subject to external funding, indicates the report.

It adds that the restoration of the Sugar Shack is scheduled to be completed this fall.

Councillor, Jason FitzGerald, expressed that he hopes that building practices will be followed more readily moving forward to prevent deterioration.