East Ferris has no choice but to upgrade One Mile Road, a resident has told council, pointing to the municipality’s Official Plan dealing with the process of assuming ownership.
The previously private-road connects 14 properties on the shore of Trout Lake to MacPherson Drive at the north end of the township.
Council adopted a staff recommendation Oct. 27 to designate the roadway property as an “open but unmaintained municipal road” while directing staff to study the cost of improving it to municipal standards. An updated survey is expected in December and a report about construction costs – and recommendations about how to pay for it – will be part of the 2021 budget deliberations.
Council has delayed dealing with requests for services from One Mile Road pending the results of a Local Planning Appeal Tribunal ruling about a subdivision plan approval.
“We feel that the recommendations are flawed based on incomplete information” presented to council by the director of public works, states Tom Fletcher in a letter to Mayor Pauline Rochefort dated Nov. 6 and received at council Nov. 24.
Fletcher describes council’s decision as “quite shocking” and also complained about the process to provide feedback.
Fletcher said they were only given one day of notice before the report went to council and they attended the meeting with the intent of speaking to it but were denied.
Mayor Rochefort had asked those in attendance if anyone wanted to make a presentation at the beginning of the meeting. Nobody did. Later, she ruled it was against policy to allow comment at that point in the agenda.
See related story: East Ferris balks at major road upgrade ...for now
“The one-day notice was not sufficient time to do a comprehensive analysis of the background, options analysis and conclusions reached in the report,” Fletcher stated, adding more information would have assisted council’s consideration.
“The report was tabled at the council meeting without any explanation of the contents or justification of the recommendations by the Director of Public Works,” Fletcher wrote. “Council members were asked to comment but none were brought forward.”
The township became the owner of the property where the roadway sits in 2015. Issues over municipal responsibility were rekindled when it was learned the roadway will be an access point for six of 25-lots designated in a plan of subdivision. The developer is expected to improve the road to municipal standards, when required, but only as far down as the sixth lot.
The association for the One Mile Road residents who have been maintaining the road since the mid-1970s said they did a major upgrade in 2011, investing at least $75,000 to get it where it is now.
In his letter, Fletcher told council the move contravenes the approved Official Plan, specifically quoting Sect. 8.2.4 which requires the township, when it assumes ownership of a private road, to improve it to the standards for municipal roads first.
As part of the road’s history, as submitted by Fletcher, “The right of access is recorded on our deeds giving ‘free and unobstructed access, via the private road that was built in 1975 from our properties to entrance on MacPherson Drive…
“There should be no question that the purpose of this right of way was to build a roadway right of way and that was completed shortly after the agreement was signed.
“This is critical information … not included in the background section of the tabled report,” Fletcher wrote.
Some other background information that did go with the report included a letter from One Mile Road resident Michael Pettigrew dated April 18, 2019. Also included was a presentation by Glenn Brophey dated July 14, 2020, both seeking municipal-provided services and road maintenance.
Antoine Boucher, public works director, referenced council’s Oct. 13 resolution that addresses some of the points regarding existing private roads. It states that One Mile Road was transferred to the municipality in 2015, and while residents continue to use and maintain it, there “no expressed permissions of use have been authorized.”
The report states four options: do nothing and leave maintenance to residents; assume the road as open but unmaintained; close it, blocking access rendering the lots on Trout Lake water access only; or upgrade to municipal standards and fund it either through special charges to abutting landowners, capital funds or combination of the two.
Fletcher said council doesn’t actually have those choices.
“By accepting the transfer in 2015, the Township is now the owner of the One Mile Road right of way and must abide by the legal right of way access as contained in the covenants,” he states, noting the option of closing it “contravenes the property owners right of access” and should be removed.
He also said the inclusion of closure as an option was “interpreted by the residents as ‘fear tactic’ by the municipality.”
Fletcher recommends council “reconsider this decision” and offered to make a presentation in person with this and other new information that can be gathered.
Dave Dale is a Local Journalism Reporter with BayToday.ca. LJI is funded by the Government of Canada.
