Short road

How far does a million dollars go these days?

Just before County council approved its 2014 budget last December, Picton councillor Brian Marisett raised his hand to propose adding a million dollars to the tax levy. The money was to be used on County roads.

“It’s time we got serious about our roads,” said Marisett. Many around the horseshoe agreed. Council dug deeper into ratepayers’ pockets, pushing up the tax levy to more than five per cent.

Last week council learned where the million dollars would be spent. The answer: County Road 8. Specifically nearly $1,300,000 will be spent rehabilitating a six kilometre stretch of County Road 8 from County Road 17 to County Road 25 ($867,000 plus 433,000 previously allocated to the project). The County will also spend another $350,000 on improving the surface of 25 other lesser County roads, including Burr, Shannon, Miller and Fry.

The County has shelved plans to rehabilitate Main Street in Picton, from Chapel to Bridge Street. Up until this year, this bit of road was considered a connecting link between provincial highways 49 and 33. As such, the project was eligible for provincial funding for such links. But not any longer.

The municipality was directed to apply to a new fund to help pay for these specific road repairs (the County would pay for upgrades to the water and sewer lines beneath the road), which they did. Alas, its application was turned down—and with already too much on its plate—council concluded the work on Main Street would have to wait.

The money earmarked for Picton was then redirected to help fund the surface treating of 25 County sideroads.

Councillors were dismayed to learn how little they were getting for a million dollars. Ameliasburgh councillor Janice Maynard had hoped some of the money tacked onto the 2014 budget might end up on County Road 3 (Rednersville Road).

Roads and engineering chief Robert McAuley said his department decided against distributing their efforts and resources too widely.

“This is a large enough contract that we might expect to attract a number of competitive bids,” explained McAuley.

He added that County Road 3 isn’t ready to go and that more pre-engineering work is needed.

“We decided we needed to focus,” said McAuley. “The additional capital was intended to put asphalt on the ground. County Road 3 isn’t there yet.”

Maynard also made the case for ripping out a section of sidewalk on Main Street in Consecon, saying the cracks and heaving have made it unusable. While she conceded there were likely few funds to replace it—she suggested restoring it to a level gravel surface could be done inexpensively, thereby improving access along the street.

Hillier councillor Alec Lunn joined in, calling the current sidewalk’s condition a liability.

“There are saplings growing through the cracks. It’s becoming an alpine landscape.”

But the urgency of Main Street’s sidewalk wasn’t shared by everyone. Ameliasburgh councillor Nick Nowitski said he believed other sidewalks in Consecon could use attention as well. He didn’t see the value of spending as much as $35,000 to remove the sidewalk. When the vote came it was clear the majority of Council failed to see it either.