CITY officials are planning two major road projects this year with one partially financed through taxes by property owners. And not all the owners on that street are happy about the cost.
The communal repave is taking place on the 5200 and 5300 blocks of Haugland on the western-most segment where a stretch of dirt road will be turned into one of asphalt.
Residents will pay approximately $300,000 of the $1.32 million Haugland project through a 10-year tax surcharge.
For projects such as these, at least 50 per cent of the homeowners have to agree to the surcharge and then the city will pave a dirt road in town.
One resident, Maria Craveiro, said she feels that is too expensive a price tag for the community along the street.
“It's outrageous, the price they are going to charge for that,” said senior citizen Maria Craveiro who lives at 5232.
Craveiro said she voted in favour of the repave like the majority of residents on that street but that she didn't know how much it was going to cost.
She, her husband, her mother, and other elderly people on the street are just getting by on their disability pensions and having the added yearly payment is a tough pill to swallow just for a paved road.
She said she has had to pay for water, gas and sewer services herself since moving there almost 40 years ago.
“We did everything,” she said. “And now have to do that for the road too. That's a hard punch to take.”
The other major project is the 4700 Block of Walsh between Sparks and Eby in the horseshoe, a stretch of road marked by potholes and a badly broken surface.
City works director Rob Schibli says the Walsh Ave. project will include a sidewalk, a first for that street.
Also in the transportation budget, which has to be completely finalized is $40,000 for a transportation study examining the impact of increased traffic on the two major roads providing access to the bench – Lanfear Hill and Skeenaview St. more popularly known as Kalum hill.
A number of single-family homes were built on the bench last year with more planned this year in newly-cleared subdivisions.
There are also major proposals in the works for townhouse and multi-family developments, one of which is at the top of Lanfear and the other just south of Uplands Elementary.