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Vol. 14, No. 32, Wednesday, June 26, 2019 www.LamontLeader.com
Road repairs have county contemplating who pays? BY JOHN MATHER The need to reconstruct a portion of Range Road 160 near the corner of Township Road 582 (Melgey’s corner) has Lamont County Council in a quandary over how to proceed. Public Works director Chris Vallaire told council, June 18, the erosion in the ditches was caused by a local farmer who got his discs into the ditch line, and since the ditch in question was a regional drainage catchment area it had cause significant run off and erosion in the area. “Through our assessment of the site we could tell the landowner had pulled the disc right up into the right of way for the ditch,” said Vallaire. “As you can see in the pictures there’s quite a bit of erosion and some of the depth has eroded up to six feet deep.” He told council the reconstruction costs would be about $30,000 and it had to be done immediately for public safety. Further, he added proper engineering was required to ensure the long term stability of the ditch and nearby culverts which have to be replaced. “It’s certainly not something we can leave because it is a safety issue,” he told council. Vallaire also questioned whether there was any county policy or bylaw allowing the county to get some cost recovery when it could be proven a farmer’s operation had lead to the damage. He said he hadn’t discussed the situation with the landowner but it was clear who had caused the problem. “It’s clear why this occurred but I think we need to look at a by-law to see who incurs the costs to fix the problem.” He said public works had applied some pit run to the bottom of the channel, but it wasn’t anywhere near a permanent solution. Vallaire said if council didn’t address the problem quickly it would lead to more issues including the possible destruction of the road. Chief Administrative Officer Stephen Hill said council couldn’t deal with it as a land use issue. He said council did have a policy that dealt with farming into County right of ways. He further said it should be a capital project rather than an operational project. Vallaire said the erosion had even exposed a Telus buried line in the ditch. Vallaire admitted the farmer would have been OK if he had stayed just a few metres away. Continued on Page 2
Road damage caused by farming, corner of Township Rd. 582 and RR 160.