The Council heard a motion to inform the locals of Beatty’s trail, Gervais ROad, and Crystal Lane that the Township of Whitewater Region will not assume the roads into the municipal netweork until they meet municipal standards, and to do research of any information on the title that would affect potential future assumption.
The motion read that the Council:
Inform the road assumption requesters from Beatty's Trail, Gervais Road/Sinkhole Trail and Crystal Lane that the Township of Whitewater Region will not assume these private roads into the road network until such time the roads are brought up to municipal standards at the benefitting landowners' cost; further, that they can proceed to a Local Improvement Charges petition should they wish to do so;
Prepare updated municipal standards, policies and by-laws by the end of 2021 to address the use of unopened road allowances and the road assumption process; and
Research if proper easements or agreements exist on title for the private roads mentioned in this report to ensure continued access.“The property owners must pay to bring them up to standards.” CAO Trembley said. “I feel that that’s very important to articulate to residents of private roads.”
The Roads were involved in a tree-cutting dispute earlier in the year in which the local cottage-owners disputed alleged damage to the roads due to cutting by other landowners.
“The Township only assumes roads when they meet the municipal standards, and all the work is pre-done,” Trembley said.
He said their report was to clarify that the Township was not required to maintain any road that wasn’t assumed into the road network, and met the minimum requirements to do so.
Councillor Nicholson asked how they would proceed in assuming a road without full local support, which CAO Trembley said it required 2/3rds support and that it must represent over fifty percent of the assessment cost.
Councillor Jackson said she was not in favour of the research if they were not assuming the roads. “If they haven’t done their due diligence, why are we doing this and at what cost?”
CAO Trembley said that it was mostly due to work already done to determine that there was nothing on title, and it was due to Beatty’s Trail and efforts to check it regarding the previous cutting issue.
“I’m really not prepared to spend any money on this.” Jackson said, to which Trembley suggested that they drop the third clause.
The mover and seconder agreed, and the motion was carried with the first two.
