Spaniard’s Bay council has hot debate about the roads not taken

By Craig Westcott

Differing views over when the Town should take over responsibility for private roads sparked a sharp debate at Spaniard’s Bay council last week.

The debate got off to a rocky start as soon as a motion came from planning committee members Debbie Newman and Ann Marie Singleton not to alter the existing Road Takeover Policy. Councillor Terry Sheppard, who was participating remotely by telephone from Florida, was upset he had been left out of the discussions that led up to the motion.

“I was the one who advocated about this for the last four months,” said Sheppard. “I’ve been trying to get a meeting about this, I wasn’t included in the planning (committee) meeting, I am the soul and the heart of this discussion and I have been turned down multiple times by other councillors to have this meeting, and now all of sudden I’m in Florida and they’ve had a meeting… I feel like I’ve been backdoored on this, and I think this should be deferred and it should not go ahead. There was a motion made that we meet as a council to go over the policy as a council and that did not happen… This is not right.”

Councillor Sherry Lundrigan countered that the issue had been discussed by council, but “you weren’t here, councillor Singleton wasn’t here and councillor (Darren) Smith wasn’t here. It was just myself, councillor Newman, and Deputy Mayor (Gerald) Sheppard.”

That didn’t mollify councillor Sheppard, who accused Lundrigan of having opposed his earlier requests for a meeting, and that she had described his plea to change the policy as “ridiculous,” a claim she denied.
Under the current policy, council requires that private roads be upgraded to Town standards, including paving, before it takes them over for snow clearing and maintenance.

“It should be deferred,” Sheppard repeated. “I was the one who advocated for this, I’ve had zero say, and I’ve been trying to get this meeting for four months. It is a disgrace to the residents of Spaniard’s Bay to go forward with anything here tonight without me and the rest of council being involved in any decision.”
Singleton denied the planning committee members had waited until Sheppard was away to discuss the policy and prepare their recommendation for the public meeting.

“I’d like to stress that,” she said.

Smith, meanwhile, said the current policy seems to have been written more for property developers than individual property owners, or new families moving in who would like to see the private lanes upgraded to Town roads.

“I think the road policy wants to be reviewed a little bit more and broken down into just a regular resident coming in as opposed to a contractor coming in and building 10 units, or five homes,” Smith said. “There is a big difference between the two of those and it’s big for the development of the town as well, that we make it clear and precise once we put it down, clear for everyone to see.”

Sheppard agreed. “It’s not an easy decision,” he said.

Mayor Tammy Oliver pointed out council decided to review the policy after it received several letters from people living on private roads.

“At first, council was looking at it as, ‘Maybe we can review the policy and change it to make it more acceptable that some of those roads we could handle, whether it be snow clearing or pavement or whatever,” Oliver said. “But my understanding is that as we started looking at each individual request – there are five or six that I could name off – they are all different. They all have their own set of circumstances that have to be reviewed differently. So, by not making any changes tonight, it doesn’t mean we can’t make changes in the future. Councillor Sheppard feels very strongly that it needs more time for review, and certainly when he comes back from his vacation he can at any time, or anybody can, review the policy.”
Sheppard said he agreed council should deal with each situation individually. “Every circumstance is individual,” he said. “So, we waited four months… and now we’re going back to individual, which is what I wanted in the beginning, because there are certain roads here that really need to be taken over, it’s so silly that we’re not. So, I’m fine with that, but I’m frustrated that I’m not included in this for the last week, and I’ve been fighting for it for the last four months.”

Smith asked why council needed a motion at all if it was keeping the policy the same.
“Because there was a request in asking to change the policy,” said Oliver.

“No, it was asking for council to review the policy and to possibly change it,” said Sheppard.

Put to a vote, Mayor Oliver, and councillors Newman, Singleton and Lundrigan voted to keep the policy the same while Smith, Sheppard and Deputy Mayor Sheppard voted against the motion.

The issue cropped up again minutes later when council dealt with a request to extend snow clearing to a private portion of Chipman’s Road by 170 feet.

Newman moved to deny the request, which was seconded by Lundrigan. Councillor Sheppard and Deputy Mayor Sheppard both declared a conflict of interest and removed themselves from the discussion.
That left Smith to argue in favour of the request.

“I was hoping to get more review of this,” said Smith. “This ties in with our Road Takeover Policy. Once again there’s the big question about pavement or not pavement for new residents. These people, I don’t think, are part of a contract association or a contract with the Town, they’re just new people building a home. The road was upgraded to community standards, from what I’m seeing, and to bring a plow service in to these new residents coming into town is only something that we as town officials should make happen, and try to bring more growth into the town… I think the only reason this road is not being taken over is that the Road Takeover Policy needs to be reviewed and updated… I don’t know why we’re turning down people for snow clearing who have their roads brought up (to standard). The Town policy is looking to get people to pave roads, which is not proper.”

Singleton countered the road is not paved and so the Town can’t take it over. Neither does it have curb and gutter, she noted.

Mayor Oliver, meanwhile, allowed this particular road is probably the closest to being up to standard, among the five or six requests council has had, and suggested council could consider it for paving when its gets to its roads program in the spring.

“Then if that’s the case, your Worship, we’re going to have to go over the budget again, because it’s not in the budget (for paving),” Singleton said.

Put to a vote, Singleton, Newman, Lundrigan and Mayor Oliver voted to deny the resident’s request with only Smith supporting it.