Comment received in the news feed on October 31st by user jbeveridge

jbeveridge 8 days ago

We are currently living full time at 88 Martyn Lane at the bottom of Bruce Road 6. We are in the 2nd row of houses south of Bruce Beach Rd at the south end where it intersects with Bruce Rd 6. Having read the Oct 21 presentation we were somewhat overwhelmed with all of the information/data points provided. Many of the technical points are difficult for laypeople like us to understand the impacts and implications of the problem and the solution proposed. However our feedback is as follows:1. Impact of drainage problem on taxpayer – having lived up here for our first winter in 2018 we found the flooding of the Bruce Beach road to be a minor inconvenience for us for approx. 2 – 3 weeks during the winter. It certainly did not disrupt our lives or make living/travel conditions difficult to manage. a. In the north end of Bruce Beach there was some minor flooding in the area of the Infiltration Gallery. It lasted for a few days until the ground thawed and then the water quickly disappeared into the ground. During those few days where there was any material flooding / freezing we simply used Bruce Road 6 and Lake Range road to make any car trips to town. b. In the south end of Bruce Beach we experienced NO inconvenience or disruption to our daily routines from the blockage of the culvert under Bruce Beach Rd. However, if there is potential for long term damage to the road, as a result of this blockage then perhaps a solution is needed for the South end only. That having been said, we view this as normal road maintenance provided under existing municipal tax funding. There may be others on Bruce Beach that are more adversely impacted but after talking to our immediate neighbours none expressed any significant concerns with the drainage problems on the road. The only feedback received was along the lines of “given the amount of taxes we pay on Bruce Beach you would think the township would provide the same care and maintenance of the road that other taxpayers in the township would receive as part of the municipal responsibility” eg if this was happening on Huron Terrace in Kincardine most of us are of the opinion the township would repair the drainage problems as part of the normal road maintenance provided under existing municipal tax funding. To summarize we see absolutely NO justification for such a costly solution given the minimal adverse impact on us. 2. The cost of the solution – given the lack of adverse impact on many of us on Bruce Beach road; specially the south end eg cottages 85 – 130 and all of the residences on Lake Range road (approx. 90% of the lots detailed on slide 52 of the presentation) a solution in excess of $1.2MM seems similar to trying to “kill a mouse with a bazooka”. Surely there are more cost effective ways to deal with a problem that has such minimal impact on the people living in the area. 3. The proposed funding solution – see reference to this in point #1 above. I understand from a previous presentation that: “Drains constructed under the Drainage Act are user pay systems. This means that landowners that benefit from the construction of the drainage system, or own land which contributes runoff to the drainage system will contribute a portion of the costs towards the design, construction and maintenance of the municipal drain.” Since we receive no perceived material benefit from the proposed solution we are loath to understand why we required to contribute a significant percentage of the costs of the proposed solution.4. Underlying cause of the problem – we have been coming to this address for over 40 years and have never experience this type of flooding/lack of drainage in the areas identified until approx. 2 - 3 years ago. Surely one of your engineering studies can tell us why this is now occurring. Is it all the new builds that have been done on Lake Range Rd and Highland Dr? and/or the runoffs from the weeping tile systems put in farm fields over the last 30 years? I am pretty sure that our property and those in my immediate area (eg cottages 85 – 100) have NOT contributed to this problem and yet we are being asked to contribute a significant dollar amount to the solution. Regards, John Beveridge Taxpayer, 88 Martyn Lane, Kincardine