Dear Editor:
There is a very obvious and fair solution to the conflict and cost surrounding the paving of Concession Road 4 in Wellington North.
Three local gravel pits are hauling tonnage along a three-kilometre strip of road, one of these pits owned by the township.
If the cost of paving and road-base construction were to be divided into three equal parts, with the township and the other two pits each paying one third, it then becomes an affordable and appropriate use of taxpayer dollars (the pits themselves are the producers of the material needed to upgrade the road to pavement).
The need is more than evident. The question of paving this 3km strip has been a contentious issue before council and an ongoing, urgent request by residents of the road for eight years. Negotiations partially achieved. Costs have risen and so has the traffic, without reaching effective solutions.
I have occasion to use this road frequently. There is not only multiple-purpose traffic (industrial trucks, commercial vehicles, cars, buggies and bicycles), there is a Mennonite grade school, Marigold Meadows, on Sideroad 3, just slightly west of the junction of Sideroad 3/Concession 4.
Discussions in council in different years have ensued. Studies and analysis also cost taxpayer dollars and time.
As reported, councillor Lisa Hern has expressed concerns about not offering “equality” to other Wellington North roads.
“Other roads” are not providing a haulage route for three local pits.
Traffic truck counts in both directions have been taken on different occasions, with a recent count in March, 2023 of 210 and 256 vehicles in a 24-hour period. Objections arose that this was not an accurate estimate of use. Gravel is hauled as required or requested and also by schedule. So, of course the tonnage is not identical each day, however it is the business in question and it’s rarely hauled on just one day of the month.
The remaining two pits that use Sideroad 4 North as a haulage route could and should view a shared cost of road improvement (other than maintenance), as the cost of doing business. That’s approximately one kilometer each.
A private entrepreneurial business does not have the right to negatively impact the lives, health and endeavours of other citizens.
Bronwen Stanley-Jones,
Orangeville