A resident living off Blatz Road says the proposal to rebuild their road is unreasonable.

Roy Funk lives along Rocky Lane and is part of a group that has been lobbying the Rural Municipality of Hanover to make improvements along Blatz Road.

On December 1st, the RM of Hanover issued a letter to area residents. In the letter, Council proposed the same sort of cost-share agreement as residents of Pansy were offered back in 2018. Back then, ratepayers banded together to raise more than $125,000 through private donations and fundraising, working out to 20 per cent of the total project cost.

s in the area. "They could do better."

Funk says the municipality and residents do not share the same opinion on the scope of the project. While Hanover says this project would involve rebuilding the first two miles south of Highway 52, Funk says that is not necessary. He agrees the first mile is in very bad shape but says the second mile is actually in pretty good shape and would only need to be refinished, not rebuilt. With this in mind, Funk says the project should not have to cost $1,125,000.

On top of that, Funk says the timeline is not fair.

"They put this into (our hands) just before Christmas, which was tough to deal with," he says. "March 18 would have been a much better date than January 18."

Funk says considering the COVID-19 restrictions, it is not possible for neighbours to meet as a group to discuss this and therefore the deadline is too tight.

Funk says he is also frustrated that there is no give and take with the municipality on this one.

"It's just take it or leave it," he says. "All they care about, just a yes or no answer."

Funk says it is also not fair to keep comparing this proposal to what residents of Pansy were offered when Pansy Road was rebuilt. He notes they had to pay only $125,000, well below the $225,000 being asked for from residents along Blatz Road.

Meanwhile, according to Funk, Blatz Road was hard-surfaced 30 years ago thanks to local residents donating time, equipment and material. Funk questions why their tax dollars have not been going towards the upkeep of this road the last three decades.

"It should be rebuilt and returned to a hard-surface road with regular taxes just like any other road they do," he says.