Fine with having excess water from an adjacent property drained through their own lands, neighbours aren’t the least bit interested in picking up part of the tab to do so.
An engineering report dealing with a longstanding problem with land at the intersection of Line 86 and Northfield Drive east of Elmira calls for a series of tiles, open ditches and catchbasins to drain water from the land on the northwest corner owned by Ken Geisel. It puts the price tag at $198,000, and suggests neighbours contribute thousands of dollars toward the project.
For neighbouring landowners Robert Shuh and Don Hofer, that would add insult to the injury of having portions of their properties taken up with the proposed drainage system.
“This fails the fairness test,” Shuh told councillors meeting Tuesday night to discuss the report submitted by Dietrich Engineering.
The report says Shuh and other neighbours will receive a benefit from the new system, which would take water from Geisel’s property under Line 86, across Hofer’s land, under Northfield Drive and on to Shuh’s land before continuing south onto other neighbouring properties before finding an outlet south of Hill Street.
“This is no advantage to me whatsoever,” added Hofer. “It’s worthless to me.”
Both said they’d already spent considerable amounts of money to deal with drainage issues in the area without demanding assistance from the township, region or other neighbours.
With the proposed measures, the township would in effect be destroying what’s already been fixed on his property, Hofer argued.
Originally, the work was petitioned by Geisel, but he withdrew his request when the estimated price tag was reached. At that point, the Region of Waterloo petitioned the township for the drainage works, forcing the township to continue. As the largest beneficiary, the region would be expected to pick up most of the costs, some $107,000. The township’s share would be about $20,000. Geisel would be expected to pay about $15,000, while about a third of the costs assessed to residents would be covered by provincial grants totaling about $23,000.
The remaining costs would be divvied up among the neighbours, an option that troubled Coun. Mark Bauman, who agreed with Shuh’s assertion the project should come at a net-zero cost to those who don’t benefit from it.
At this week’s meeting, council approved the drainage plan submitted by the engineering firm. The vote was split, with Mayor Todd Cowan opposed given the controversy.
The issue of costs was not dealt with, as councillors acting as the court of revision will meet at another time to look at assessments. Any of the decisions made in relation to the project are subject to an appeal to the Ontario Drainage Tribunal.
