MINNICOCK LAKE CHARTER
AND RESTRICTIVE COVENANT
As a welcoming and supportive community, we will co-operate with good will and tolerance to sustain one another and the ecological health and serenity of Minnicock Lake. As stewards, we will respect and preserve this unique and beautiful natural heritage, building on the legacy of the original developers of this lake, whose foresight we acknowledge with gratitude. We commit that we will:
1. Live in harmony with and protect Minnicock Lake’s wildlife.
2. Practise responsible forest management by maintaining natural shoreline growth, encouraging regeneration, being thoughtfully selective when culling, limbing rather than cutting whenever possible, and actively planting where appropriate.
3. Preserve the wilderness appearance of Minnicock Lake by encouraging and maintaining indigenous ground-cover, and, while acknowledging the advisability of planting grasses on septic fields, prohibiting seeded or sodded `city-type’ lawns.
4. Further preserve the wilderness appearance of Minnicock Lake by ensuring that all residences are stained to blend in with the natural environment; that out-buildings or additional structures are as inconspicuous as possible, and that no paint be applied other than for the trimming of doors and windows.
5. Use ecologically-approved, biodegradable products wherever possible; encourage composting, and discourage the use of fertilizers.
6. Minimize motorized watercraft activity and noise by agreeing to use motors no larger than six horsepower, and by agreeing to a Lake-wide maximum speed limit of ten kilometres per hour and the encouragement of electric or four-stroke (low emission) motors, canoes, sailboats, paddle and rowboats.
7. Carefully monitor, maintain and regularly pump out septic systems and ensure that drainage pits are located so as to minimize run-off toward the lake.
8. Discourage future over-building on Minnicock Lake by retaining the goal, per lot, of a minimum lake frontage of two hundred feet and one residence plus out-buildings (thereby continuing the standard of existing oversized Lake lots established in the original Covenant).
9. Respect one another’s right to privacy and quiet enjoyment of Minnicock Lake.
10. Take responsibility for safeguarding the security of this lake community.
11. Value the islands as unique features of Minnicock Lake and protect them from fire and other environmental hazards.
12. Strongly urge all guests and renters to abide by this Charter.
13. Deal with issues directly and with good humour, looking for solutions and depersonalizing problems.
COVENANT
1. No residences on the Lands shall be stained so as to clash with the colours or hues of our natural environment, and no out-buildings or additional structures shall be conspicuous. No paint shall be applied to buildings other than for the trimming of doors and windows.
2. The Lands’ indigenous ground-cover shall be encouraged and maintained and, with the exception of necessary planted grasses on septic fields, no seeded or sodded city-type lawns shall be planted on the Lands.
3. In order to practise responsible forest management for the benefit of the Parties of the First Part, the Parties of the Second Part shall not interfere with natural shoreline growth, shall minimize culling, shall limb rather than cut wherever possible, shall actively plant where appropriate, and shall encourage regeneration.
4. No water craft motors in excess of ten [or six *] horsepower shall be operated on Minnicock Lake or be brought onto the Lands. [* some properties have a 6 hp limit, some have a 10 hp limit]
5. The owners of the Lands shall not breach relevant legislation in monitoring, maintaining and regularly pumping out all classes of septic systems.
