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Ramara residents want to know why the township’s responsibility to maintain their road is not more clear-cut.
According to a report from the township’s lawyer, Ryan Matson, the status of Sunset Drive is “unassumed,” which is not the same as ownership.
“Assumed roads carry heightened liability and financial risk exposure for a municipality’s general tax base, particularly those not constructed to municipal standards,” states the report.
Taxpayers along Sunset Drive have lots of questions related to this liability concern.
“I just wish they would resolve it,” said Julie Nicholls, who, with her husband, has lived on Sunset Drive for over 20 years.
It wasn’t until this year that she noticed winter maintenance standards change on the road.
Recently, residents Trevor and Keiley Bruce noticed the ditches across from their property being worked on and wonder if it’s “courtesy maintenance” and what could potentially be their responsibility in the future.
There is a difference between policy and bylaw, said Ramara Mayor Basil Clarke. The bylaw is what deems a road open, whereas the policy outlines the level of service provided. Sunset Drive was never deemed open, he explained.
The reason for that, according to Clarke, is that when the subdivision was being built, the road was meant to connect to another one in the east, but was left incomplete.
As “relatively recent home buyers in Ramara Township and residents of Sunset Drive, we received staff report CS-13-26 only on Friday and remain confused, concerned and in disagreement with regards to the township’s stance on Sunset Drive as unassumed,” said Bruce during an open forum presentation to council on Monday.
He pointed out that Holiday Road, Warren Road, Georgina Drive, and Sunset Drive are all characterized as dead-end, gravel roads. Each one is a similar subdivision off Lakeshore Drive with anywhere from three to seven homes occupying the area, he noted.
Yet Sunset Drive is the only one “unassumed.”
With a house every 30 metres, Sunset drive is the most densely populated of the four, claimed Bruce.
“(It) provides the township with the highest rate of revenue in terms of dollars per metre of all these four roads based on this development density. A lack of infill should not be a reason as to why this road would not be assumed,” he argued.
Asserting that the township’s geographic information system does not clearly identify the unassumed roads, he said potential home-buyers are left unaware of the level of service they will receive for their road.
Coun. Sherri Bell asked for a policy or bylaw to frame how roads may be “assumed” by the township.
“Any road that wasn’t deemed open by bylaw now must be brought up to township standards,” said Clarke, noting that there is a framework in place.
However, staff are working on a report gathering the status of each road and what level of service will be delivered.
“Once we have that road inventory, that will be the policy that comes to council,” said Laura Pye, the township’s general manager of development and infrastructure.
There is no saying how long that might be.
In the meantime, Bruce wonders if he will need to continue contacting the township for clarity about road maintenance issues. Last January, with its heavy snowfall, township staff were not required to plow “unassumed” roads and might miss or return to Sunset Drive at a later time.
“We’re here today asking for the township and council for the specific rationale and reasoning behind why the township believes Sunset Drive is unassumed. We hope the council can see the human side of this matter and appreciate the significant burden of liability suddenly placed on us by the township this January, an act of common sense and compassion,” implored Bruce in his speech.
Since receiving complaints early this year, much of the conversation around Sunset Drive has occurred in closed session – another thing Bruce found frustrating when seeking information.
Coun. Joe Gough asked if the historical information the township has pulled together can be provided to Bruce and any residents who have requested it.
Matson responded that a freedom of information request would be the best mechanism for this.
Coun. David Snutch disagreed. Enough of the community wants the information, he said, and asked that it simply be shared.
Bell went one step further, asking for an amendment to the motion for all communications around Sunset Drive to be brought into open session.
“If there is a desire to release information from closed session that should be done so in closed session,” explained CAO Gayle Jackson.
Council carried the motion to continue the current level of maintenance – plowing when snow accumulates over four inches – along Sunset Drive until the global roads inventory and a unified policy is presented to council.
Council will also discuss in a closed session releasing the information residents have requested.
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