Feature Article October 2, 2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeCF Township Stuck on Villata Lane TurnaroundLawrence and Muriel Villalta and their twin boys came to Central Frontenac Council to see if the township would be willing to build a $3,000 turnaround on their lane in order for the school bus to be able to pick the boys up at home and take them to Hinchinbrooke school.
Im willing to do the stump removal and the brushing, I only want council to do the actual roadwork, Villalta told the councillors at their September 23 meeting. It turned out the situation is not nearly as simple as Villalta, and most of the councillors, would have hoped. Two key factors come into play. First, the lane, which runs off Goodfellow Road in the southern tip of Hinchinbrooke district, must be taken over by the township in order for the school bus to be permitted to use it. Second, the road must be brought up to a set standard before the township can take ownership of it by the rules set out in the townships Official Plan.
Council had asked Public Works Manager Bill Nicol to get a price on bringing the road up to the standard, and the price quoted is $59,823.70 including $18,000 for blasting.
Lawrence Villalta said he would be the first to complain if council spent $60,000 on a road that is barely used. Councillor Elva Price summed up the viewpoint of several councillors when she said, I think we are losing sight of what the man is asking for. Hes only asking for a turnaround, a plain and simple turnaround.
Councillor Bill Snyder said the lane is in as good shape as the Goodfellow Road which leads into it, you cant even tell where one ends and the other begins, and weve been maintaining it for years.
In fact, as the result of a mistake, the township has been maintaining the road for six years, Clerk Heather Fox told council, but that has no bearing on it being a township road, she concluded. The Official Plan sets out road standards for newly-acquired or newly-built township roads, and these standards exceed the levels of many existing township roads.
Mayor MacDonald reminded council that you people are the people that set the standard. If you dont want to assume the standard, pass a new bylaw.
It seems the only way to satisfy the Villaltas without spending too much money is for council to decide to make an exception to their Official Plan in this case, which is something they are loathe to do because it would set a precedent which could lead to future requests and eventually damage the viability of their Official Plan.
For Muriel Villalta, who had trouble sitting through the debate, and could not understand why it would cost $243 to build each metre of road, the answer lays in establishing different standards for different types of roads. Lightly used roads could have a lower standard than heavier used roads.
The matter has been sent back to the Public Works Manager for him to se if the project can be more cheaply completed using township workers.
REDUCED SPEED ZONES: A bylaw was passed reducing the speed limit to 60 km/hr on gravel roads throughout the township. A second bylaw was passed reducing the speed limit to 40 km/hr on St. Georges Lake Road.
911 REPORT: A 911 update was presented to council. The mapping the township was required to do has been completed, and 82% of the address matching between civic address signs and phone numbers has been done 1,388 addresses still need to be matched, and 550 of those are in Central Frontenac. At this point, roll list comparisons and local knowledge will be used to complete the matching phase of the 911 project. The date of implementation for 911 in Central and North Frontenac will be determined by Bell Canada, but it is estimated it will be in the first quarter of 2004.
