Give me a number
Trent Drive street name, numbers to change
All Ontario Power Generation (OPG) wanted was a street number, instead it’s getting a number, another new street number, and a new street name. And so are several other properties.
Confused? No wonder. So was whoever decided on street names and numbers years ago in Trent Hills.
A report to council says that the municipality realized back in 2018 that it had an issue with street names and numbers on Trent Drive, because the road loops south across the swing bridge and heads both east and west.
No action was taken seven years ago when the issue was discussed but recently OPG asked for a street number for the generating station as a safety issue. Currently, it’s 8 Trent Drive, but so is OPG’s regional service office across the canal and around the corner. Any 911 call from either location could leave responders unsure where to go.
A report to council about the anomaly doesn’t name the individuals or council members who thought this made sense.
Planner Cameron Law was tasked with trying to figure out a way around this mess. His recommendation, which was backed by council, is that Industrial Drive be renamed Industrial Crescent and loop around along the canal back to Grand Road at Drummond Motors. The short extension of Trent Drive that currently heads east to the water treatment plant would become Greywater Way, unless someone has a better idea.
Under this plan, Trent Drive will end at the swing bridge. This will allow the Ranney Falls Generating Station to be 8 Trent Drive all on its own. It has two entrances that will be designated 8-1 and 8-2.
Council approved the plan. Now, the municipality will let property owners along the route know that they may soon have to change their street addresses. Unless there are strong objections, the issue will come back to council for a bylaw to make the change legal.
Property owners to pay $400,000 for road improvements
Owners of 14 properties that are currently on an unmaintained section of the road allowance for Autumn Road, on the northern edge of Warkworth, have won the right to pay $427,000 for road upgrades.
Fixing the road will allow homes to be built on the properties. One of the owners is Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalf, who excused himself from the council table and didn’t vote on the issue.
A report to council said 11 of the 14 owners had voted in favour of paying for the upgrade, one opposed and two owners didn’t respond to a petition on the topic.
Under provincial law, a majority of the owners, representing a majority of the area, can go ahead with the plan. The municipality tendered the project and will oversee it. Once completed property owners can either pay their share in a lump sum or in annual installments, plus interest.
Planning Director Jim Peters said the cost of the upgrade will be added to tax bills so the municipality can collect when a property is sold, or it can sell the property for unpaid taxes.
The lowest bid for the project was from Tim Donaldson Excavating Ltd. of Wooler for $427,641, including HST. There were 10 bids, with the highest from QBT Excavating Services Ltd. being $1.2 million.
Selling road allowance to permit development
Legal maneuvering continues in a bid to make it possible to build homes on Silver Heights Drive, southwest of Hastings.
In late March, the owners of property in the area moved to create new lots that can be developed. On Tuesday, the municipality agreed to sell most of an unopened road allowance.
Law said the allowance runs through wetland and would never be used as a road.
Officially closing and selling the allowance will permit the owner to “upgrade the Old Cobourg Road to provide access to these newly created lots. The applicant will be entering into a development agreement with the municipality to bring it up to municipal standards. The road will be accessed by the unopened road allowance. This section will eventually be reopened and transferred to the municipality once the road has been completed.”
Trying to buy local
A couple of months ago when the Trump tariff dispute broke out, council asked staff to report on what could be done to increase the municipality’s purchase of local goods and services.
To prevent fraud and other issues, municipal procurement is tightly controlled. The municipal guide on the topic is 28 pages long. Our trade deals with other countries and jurisdictions usually require that we can’t restrict our purchases to local providers.
After a review, that’s what the town’s lawyers said. Well, I am assuming that since the advice was provided in a closed session. But I think it’s a good guess since the only change that staff recommended was increasing the limit on some purchases that can favour local companies to $75,000 from $50,000.
Short takes:
The municipality is spending $38,000 to fix up the parking lot and surrounding area at the Ranney Falls Bridge. It has been working with OPG on the improvements. In the future, the municipality will be responsible for maintenance and improved signage. For the past 25 years, neither side really took responsibility.
About 60 per cent of the vehicles travelling on Burnbrae Road are going over the 70 km/h limit, with more than 20 per cent exceeding the limit by 15 km/h, the level at which they would be ticketed, a radar survey shows. Several vehicles were clocked going more than 120 km/h. Councillor Rob Pope, who lives on Burnbrae, said he was surprised at the speeds recorded.
High water levels have closed navigation of the Trent Severn Waterways so that the dams can be opened wider and more water dumped downstream to Lake Ontario.
Crowe Bridge Park opens for the season on Friday. It will be open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for $5 per person.
Council continues to discuss the sale of the Campbellford arena site in closed session. Tuesday it received a brief verbal update from Planning Director Jim Peters.
You can read all Trent Hills News stories on my website here.
This is unbelievable about the numbers. It is more unbelievable that our tax dollars are going to improve Federal property and maintain it. Now I see federal staff cutting the lawn at the locks, now the council wants to shell out our dollars. Signs I can see but dollars spent here and Trent hills residents can,t get decent patches on the many water breaks. Maybe this is a reason our municipal taxes went up to take on upkeep of federal property. What is next for our tax dollars.