Owners are advised that they have a legal responsibility to convey their drainage to a sufficient outlet. For this reason, they have a share in the cost for upkeep of the drain adjacent to and downstream of their lands and this obligation is reflected in the assessment for Outlet Liability. Owners are reminded that the responsibility for carrying out maintenance on a Municipal drain rests with the City as set out in the Drainage Act. Any owner can notify the City that the drain requires maintenance and the City has to take action pursuant to the Act. This system is generally reactive and requires the property owners to raise their concerns and issues to the City. Owners are reminded that keeping brush clear along their portion of the drain and having buffer strips provides them with a direct benefit of improved drain protection. Owners have an Outlet Liability for the downstream portion of the drain. The owners are reminded that Municipal drainage is a communal project and basically a user pay system. As an example, when work is carried out downstream, the owners that are outletting to the drain will be responsible for a portion of the cost, along with the other owners in the watershed upstream of the work that is conducted.

Owners may appeal their assessment as set out in the drainage report. They are advised that they should submit their appeal to the Court of Revision 10 days before the scheduled date of the meeting; however, the Court of Revision can agree to hear appeals presented at the meeting. If owners are still dissatisfied with the report after that meeting, they may submit an appeal to the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeals Tribunal (A.F.R.A.A.T.) through the City Clerk within 21 days of the closing of the Court of Revision pursuant to Section 54 of the Drainage Act.

The cost sharing for bridges is based on the location of same along the overall length of the drainage system. Each owner has the right for one access across each Municipal drain abutting or crossing their lands. The owner generally pays 100% of the cost for the first bridge installation and it becomes part of the drain when included in an engineer’s report and is then to be maintained by the drain with costs shared as set out in the drainage report. The majority of cost for bridges serving roadways are assessed to the City pursuant to Section 26 that states that all increase in cost to the drainage works resulting from the roadway are to be borne by the road authority. Section 26 also applies to lands of the railway and hydro as it states that “the public utility or road authority shall be assessed for and shall pay all the increase of cost of such drainage works caused by the existence of the works of the public utility or road authority”. For access bridges serving private lands, agreements can be drawn up to reflect the cost sharing for the drainage works associated with them. A secondary access to a parcel is assessed 100% to the owners of the parcel served by the secondary access for both construction and all future maintenance.

Owners should be aware that existing grass buffers and accesses will be protected and maintained as set out in the report specifications. Allowances as set out in the report are provided for land taken for buffer areas and to offset damages to lands from the construction work and the Contractor is responsible to guarantee the work performed on the drain with a maintenance period of one year from the date of substantial completion.

VII. PRECONSIDERATION MEETING

The draft report for this project was reviewed with affected owners that were all notified of a meeting held on July 9th, 2019 at the Roseland Golf and Curling Club. The following people were in attendance: William Snider, Steve Nimigon, Mike & Bonnie Harasemchuk, Peter & Karen Morgan, Mario Iatonna, Kevin & Maureen Peifer, Dana Sepetance, Carmen Samson, Danut Murariu, Tim Robinet, Lucian & Stefania Smuczer, Laura & Peter Valore, Frank Mallat, Fahd Mikhael (City Drainage Superintendent), Kory Snelgrove (Rood Engineering), Sarah Minard (Rood Engineering) and Gerard Rood (Rood Engineering).