'Leave road section unpaved.'
Those were the instructions given by Tay councillors to staff in response to a petition launched by a handful of residents on a half-kilometre stretch of Rosemount Road.
Eight residents from that part of the municipality had sent a signed letter to council requesting that patch of the road be left unpaved.
Their concerns were that paving the road would increase traffic speed making it difficult for area residents to back out of their driveways and unsafe for those who take the path on their bikes.
Council agreed unanimously that they didn't have a problem leaving that section unpaved and focusing on other sections instead with the $50,000 saved from that task. Additionally, there is $684,838 available from the roads budget.
Staff had prepared an alternative plan to present to council, informing them of other areas in the township that could use some attention. And for that, staff sought council direction.
"If we are to add additional roads to this year's resurfacing contract, some direction tonight woud be desirable because they're already doing the pulverizing," said Peter Dance, general manager of operational services and manager of engineering services.
"If they're going to hold their prices for us, we need to get them those road sections sooner than later. The manager of roads and fleets have put together that list in the report and we can get those list onto the current work list without having to re-tender."
Coun. Barry Norris said he would have liked to see that section of road paved, but he did not have an issue granting the residents what they had asked for in their petition.
Deputy Mayor Gerard LaChapelle agreed with him and thought it was best to go with what staff had recommended in the report around what other road sections could be paved instead.
Additinal road sections considered are:
- Granny White – Newton Street to Reeves Road (1360m, presently about 180m paved over bridge), 480m of asphalt from the east limit of the bridge asphalt toward Newton pave the hill, which is one of the township's remaining gravel hills and is a significant concern for wash-boarding and wash-outs.
- Reeves Road to the bridge (about 280m).
- Gerhardt Road, Waubaushene (800m to Severn Trail Lane) serves a fair number of properties, a long way for the grader to go, only gravel road in area.
- Granny White – Highway 12 to Newton (1420m, first 150m already paved).
- Government Dock Road (250m).
- Todd Lane (590m).
- Duck Bay Road (275m) south east of Quarry Road. This section is the last of the bad sections on Duck Bay Road and is adjacent to a section already being paved, which may help keep the cost down.
- Martha Street (200m) from Jephson Street to William Street.
