Council here has learned that a local road that’s never been maintained has actually been owned by the municipality since the 1960s.
Council was briefed on May 3 by CAO Kathryn Ironmonger about a Triton Engineering report on Scott Crescent near Hillsburgh.
Scott Crescent was originally built with three lots and a turning circle in 1958. Two years later another 11 lots were added as the road expanded, but the road is not built to current municipal standards, said the Triton report.
The town received a request from a resident on that street to maintain that section of road. The road has never been maintained by town staff but it turns out the municipality has owned the road since the 1960s.
“The town most definitely owns the roadway, however it has never been maintained and the reason for it is because it wasn’t built to municipal standards so there is options available to the municipality,” said Ironmonger.
Mayor Allan Alls wanted to meet with the residents of Scott Crescent to make the issue clear to them.
“We can’t ignore their queries and questions on it because it is our road,” Alls said. “We’re inheriting a problem we didn’t create.”
If the municipality decided to start maintaining Scott Crescent, the road would have to be widened and a turnaround and proper drainage installed. Triton estimated the cost of that work at $130,000.
“(Triton is) suggesting we get additional legal opinions from our solicitor on how we should move forward because it is actually a costly venture for us to add this section to our road maintenance,” said Ironmonger.
She added some examples of precedence have been to upgrade the road and charge it to adjacent benefiting properties or enter into an agreement with the landowners for maintenance without the upgrade.
Councillor John Brennan wanted to be cautious about that.
“I would suggest that among the information that we seek on a legal basis would be … the implications of taking over the maintenance of a road that’s not built to municipal standards,” he said.
“Should something go wrong and there be some sort of a wash out or whatever – it is right beside wetlands. I would just like to get the lawyer’s take on that because I sense there may be some unforeseen liability in entering into such an agreement.”
Councillor Jeff Duncan wanted to know if the road had been assumed. He was also concerned how it could be built to municipal standards.
“If the town did take it over and we did have to build it to standards, when you have a roadway that’s over a certain length, which this would be, you have to provide a turnaround facility…” Duncan said.
“And you can see at the end of this road, Lake Roman is on one side and there’s homes on lots 10 and 11, physically where is this (turn around) facility going to be? It’s going to be on someone’s property.”
Councillor Rob Smith added, “If there’s supposed to be a turnaround, then it’s on other people’s land, this really becomes a matter of expropriating land.”
Duncan asked if all the residents had raised a concern – or if it was just one.
Ironmonger said only one resident contacted the town, but the municipality had to investigate in order to respond.
“Because it was in the 60s it’s difficult to determine exactly what happened,” she said.
Councillor Matt Sammut added, “I think it’s a surprise to the municipality that we actually own the road.”
Council agreed to have Alls and Ironmonger acquire legal advice then meet with Scott Crescent residents.
