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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWD-10-844 CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT HAMPTON, ONTARIO LOB 1JO R. DUPUIS, P. ENG., DIRECTOR TEL. (416) 263 -2231 987 -5039 REPORT TO THE GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE MEETING OF JANUARY 16, 1984. REPORT NO.: WD -10 -84 SUBJECT: POLICY FOR UNIMPROVED ROADS IN THE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE RECOMMENDATION: It is respectfully recommended: 1. That this report be received; and, 2. That the Town of Newcastle adopt the policy set out in Attachment 1 -to -this report for the construction and maintenance of unimproved roads within the limits of the Corporation and implement same forthwith. ...2 U �l� REPORT: WD-10-84 Page 2 REPORT: The Town of Newcastle, according to a cursory inventory performed as part of the original 1976-1985 Road Needs Study, has approximately 115 miles of road allowances which have been opened, fully or in part, or which show signs of having been open in the past. These roads are for the most part, however, not maintained by the Town. Excluded from this mileage are other locations where the originally laid out road allowances still exist, but where there is no physical evidence that they were ever opened. With respect to the locations where there is no evidence that the roads were ever opened, there is no obligation on the Town to either open or maintain a travelled road on the road allowance. Various cases, in courts as high as the Supreme Court, have illustrated that there is no obligation on a Municipality to either open or maintain a road allowance where public funds have never been spent. It would, therefore, be appropriate for the Town to inventory, close by by-law, and dispose of as many of the roads falling into this category as possible. Most disputes arise at locations where evidence can be found that public funds have been expended at one time or another to open a road allowance to traffic. Such evidence can take the form of culverts, bridges, cuts and fills, roadside ditches or gravel having been placed. Where this type of evidence is present, there are two options available. Firstly, the Municipality can relieve itself of any further obligation to maintain these roads by closing them by by-law in accordance with statutory requirements. These requirements include advertising the road closure such that any person who feels his lands would be prejudicially affected by the closure, has an opportunity of making his concerns known. For the Town to consider closing all of its unimproved roads would require steps which may be summarized as follows: 1 . Inventory all of the unimproved roads within the Corporation limits; 2. Assess the desired status, i .e. , closed or opened, of each such road allowance by reviewing them in the Registry Office to ensure that no parcels of land become land-locked by the closure. In some cases where land-locking occurs, it may be desirable to proceed with the closure and provide the affected land owner with a right-of-way over the closed road allowance. f,0� REPORT: WD-10-84 Page 3 3. Prepare a road closing by-law with schedules indicating the roads to be closed; 4. Advertise the road closings and hold public meetings if necessary. For a wholesale closure of roads as would be required in this proposal , it is felt that public meetings would be an essential component; 5. Adjust the road closing by-law to accommodate legitimate concerns expressed at the public meetings; 6. Close, but do not dispose of, the unimproved roads remaining in the by-law; 7. For roads so closed, cease and desist providing any form of construction maintenance, or other services; 8. For the unimproved roads where closure is not deemed advisable, provide construction and maintenance in accordance with the policy in Attachment 1. This approach has been employed by several Municipalities in Ontario, two of which are the former Township of Pickering (now the Town of Ajax) and the Town of Richmond Hill . Although the procedures leading to the passing of a road closing by-law were time consuming and painstaking, this approach resolved, once and for all , the question of the Municipality's obligation to maintain these little used roads. As an example, a few years ago a land owner in the Town of Ajax attempted to secure a building permit for a parcel of land on one of the road allowances included in the Towns blanket road closing by-law. Further, this owner contended that the Town should both open and maintain said road. The Town refused both the building permit and the request to upgrade the road, a decision which was upheld at the Ontario Municipal Board. Similar approaches have been taken by other municipalities with the result that they are not longer plagued by constant and persistent requests for maintenance and improvement of road allowances which should not really be opened. i REPORT: WD-10-84 Page 4 Unfortunately, this is not an easy method of dealing with unimproved roads; the pitfalls are many. Firstly, the approach is an unpopular approach. Many landowners consider these road allowances as their entitlement and will not easily relinquish their perceived rights. This could result in public input being so vocal that decisions whether to close or leave open a certain road allowance could not be made. Further, the whole approach might become so contraversial that Council could not reach an ultimate concensus. Council must be firmly committed to the concept of closing all unimproved road allowances prior to embarking upon it. Having considered these implications, the general concensus seems to be that this approach should not be pursued. The second option for dealing with unimproved roads is for the Municipality to recognize them for what they are, establish a policy with respect to their construction and maintenance, formulate quality standards for their maintenance, have them recognized in the Road Needs Study for subsidy purposes, and subsequently, adhere rigidly to the policy. As indicated previously, the Town has about 115 miles of unimproved roads, many of which are utilized by the agriculture industry for access to fields, etc. Unfortunately, these roads are also sought out as a challenge to all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts who cause considerable damage to them through use during wet seasons of the year. This use causes the roads to become rutted and virtually impassable in some cases. If the Town elects to give these roads some status as part of the Town road system, it must also take action to ensure their continued use for the purpose for which they are intended. In most cases this use is for access to agricultural activities. The Town must firstly establish a policy for construction and maintenance and adhere rigidly to this policy. The policy should not create undue obligations on the Town yet should ensure a reasonable standard of unimproved road. The roads must be kept in a state to adequately serve the traffic intended to use them. To accomplish this, construction and maintenance quality standards must be developed. Again, once established these standards must be adhered to and not be exceeded. If the Town exceeds the established quality standards, people' s expectations will be raised and it may become necessary for the Town to place a road into a higher category. Conversely, not meeting the standard will add to further deterioration of the road and continued complaints from users. REPORT: WD-10-84 Page 5 It has been determined from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications that "Summer Maintenance Only" roads into which category unimproved roads would fall , are eligible for subsidy on that basis. Accordingly, if Council elects to establish and follow a policy for unimproved roads it is essential that such roads be recognized in the needs study so that the Town's maintenance allocation can be adjusted accordingly. Finally, and this has already been pointed out, but must be stressed again, the Town must adhere to the policy to ensure consistent application across the Municipality. Exceptions cannot be made, otherwise it will be necessary to make arbitrary decisions for individual cases and the Town may be providing a relatively high standard of maintenance on roads where the present position is that none should be provided. It may be noted that this option is slanted towards maintenance and tends to ignore the need to reconstruct unimproved roads. This is in fact the case since it is felt that expenditure of funds from the Town's road budget cannot be dictated by expansion to the system. Just as was illustrated in the Ajax example, the Town cannot be placed in a position where it is forced to build new roads, at the taxpayers expense, to accommodate development or some other enterprise. With this second option comes advantages as well as disadvantages. the main disadvantage is that the Town will continue to have some 115 miles of unimproved roads under its jurisdiction and will , with regularity, have to deal with complaints that the standard of maintenance is not high enough or that construction is needed to allow land to be developed. The main advantage will be that there will be a policy and set of quality standards to rely upon in response to such complaints. Provided that the policy and quality standards are applied consistently, the matter should be relatively routine to deal with. ( In summary, insofar as unimproved roads are concerned, the Town has two options; close them by by-law or establish a policy for their construction and maintenance. Considering the relevant factors surrounding each, and the input received from some Council members and members of staff, it is felt that the second option is the most likely to meet with sucess. Council should, therefore, adopt the attached policy and quality standards. Respectfully submitted, R.G. Dupuis, P. Eng. , Director of Public Works. RGD:jco January 10, 1984. r REPORT: WD-10-84 Page 6 ATTACHMENT # 1 POLICY FOR CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF UNIMPROVED ROADS 1 .0 GENERAL 1.1 The road system of the Corporation of the Town of Newcastle shall be divided into three categories; namely, Improved Public Streets, Unimproved Roads, and Unopened Roads. 1.2 IMPROVED PUBLIC STREETS are streets or roads under the jurisdiction of the Province of Ontario, The Regional Municipality of Durham, or the Corporation of the Town of Newcastle which are maintained so as to allow normal vehicular access to adjacent properties throughout all seasons of the year. Maintenance of such roads will be in accordance with accepted standards for year round roads. 1.3 Roads where there is evidence that public funds have at some time been expended to create, said roads will be designated as "UNIMPROVED ROADS". Evidence shall include grading of cuts and fills, grading of ditches, culverts, bridges, placement of gravel over a substantial length of the road and extended period of time. 1 .4 UNIMPROVED ROADS are located on municipally owned road allowances where there exists during the summer season, passable sand or gravel roadways that are not fully maintained by the Town throughout the entire year. The standard of maintenance provided shall be consistent with the needs of the traffic normally expected to use them and shall generally be as specified in Attachment # 2. 1 .5 UNOPENED ROADS are municipally owned road allowances, laid out as part of the original municipal survey where there is no evidence of the expenditure of public funds to open same, although a passable earth trail may exist. No maintenance will be provided by the Town on such roads. 1 .6 PRIVATE ROADS are travelled roads located on privately owned property. In cases where certain private roads have received some form of maintenance by the Town, effective July 1, 1985, any and all such maintenance shall cease and desist unless legal and binding documentary evidence can be produced wherein the Council of the Town of Newcastle or Council of one of the former municipalities within the Town of Newcastle has legally agreed to perform such maintenance. REPORT: WD-10-84 Page 7 2.0 UNIMPROVED ROADS - GENERAL 2.1 The Town will take steps to have all unimproved roads within the Corporation recognized as "Summer Maintenance Only" roads in the Road Needs Study to ensure that appropriate subsidies are realized from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. 2.2 As part of the process in Section 2.1, the Town will identify a category of "Unimproved Roads to be Closed" and inventory the t components of same, such roads not being integral to the Town's existing or anticipated road system. as} many as possibl��s V1, <: V r� r� fj ` e of the Broads 2.3 The Town shall , by by-law, close,,�' identified in Section 2.2. The Municipally-owned lands so created will be disposed of to adjacent land owners at fair market value plus costs, unless they are considered necessary to the Town. 2.4 Where requested by owners of land abutting an unimproved road, the Town may, at the expense of said owners, close by by-law, fence, or fence with a gate, and grant road occupancy rights to said land owners. 3.0 MAINTENANCE OF UNIMPROVED ROADS 3.1 Unimproved roads which have been recently maintained by the Town will continue to be so maintained in accordance with the standards specified in Attachment # 2. 3 .2 Unimproved roads, which have not recently been maintained by the Town, shall not have maintenance performed unless such maintenance is requested by abutting property owners. Maintenance on such roads will be on a demand basis only. 3.3. Maintenance of unimproved roads forming the boundary between the Town and an adjacent Municipality will be provided only if agreed to by that abutting Municipality. 4.0 RECONSTRUCTION OF UNIMPROVED ROADS 4.1 The Town shall not perform construction on private or unopened roads. 4.2 The Town shall not reconstruct an unimproved road unless it is proven that said road is necessary as an integral transportation link in the Town's improved road system and is recognized by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications as being eligible for reconstruction subsidy. REPORT: WD-10-84 Page 8 4.3 Where it is proven that the construction of an unopened or unimproved road is necessary, such construction will be performed only at the expense of others either under a Subdivision Agreement, the Local Improvement Act or through private enterprise, provided that the road so constructed has said construction approved by the Council of the Town of Newcastle, meets the Design Criteria and Standards of the Town and is in accordance with the provisions of the appropriate Zoning By-law and Official Plan. 5.0 CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS ON UNIMPROVED ROADS 5.1 Building permits for buildings to be used on a year round basis shall be issued in accordance with the Zoning By-laws of the Town of Newcastle. 5.2 Where an applicant wishes to construct a building to be used on a year round basis on an unimproved road, the applicant must arrange for construction of said road in accordance with the requirements of Section 4.3 of this policy such that it can be redesignated as an improved public street. REPORT: WD-10-84 Page 8 ATTACHMENT # 2 QUALITY STANDARD FOR UNIMPROVED ROADS The major objectives are: - To prevent the spread of noxious weeds to adjacent properties; - To provide an adequate road driving surface for farm equipment. The level of service shall not exceed the following: 1. Noxious weeds shall be sprayed if necessary; 2. Roadside grass shall be cut one swath wide, once per year. 3. Roadside debris and litter pickup shall be carried out once per year immediately prior to mowing; 4. Road surfaces shall be graded twice per year, generally once in the spring and once in the fall ; 5. Ditching improvements and gravel spot resurfacing shall be carried out only if absolutely required as directed by the Director of Public Works; 6. Emergency operations such as removal of fallen trees, replacement of culverts or washout repairs shall be performed when practically possible after the occurrence. 7. Winter control operations shall not be carried out on unimproved roads.