Six miles of Pansy Road will be repaved this year, and it won't cost local ratepayers an extra dime.

On February 14, council for the Rural Municipality of Hanover held a public hearing. Council had proposed a Local Improvement Plan which would see approximately six miles of Road 33E resurfaced with asphalt overlay at a thickness of 40 mm. The six miles would run from Provincial Road 205 south to Pansy.

(Councillor Dylan Barkman prior to Wednesday's vote)This project would see $200,000 coming from the RM of Hanover through a Provincial Road Improvement Grant and another approximately $75,000 being contributed from local donations. The remaining $425,000 would be financed from benefiting ratepayers living nearby. For a residence assessed at $300,000, they would pay an extra $410 per year in taxes for ten years.

But after many residents objected, citing the financial burden as their reason, council came up with another plan. The new plan was to use what the municipality had earmarked for this project, plus contributions from local donations and pave as much as can be done without raising taxes. Local Councillor Dylan Barkman's hope was that three or four miles could be repaved in 2018.

Then, this week, at the recommendation of the Finance Committee, council approved a new plan. This plan will see all six miles repaved at an estimated cost of $580,000, contingent on $200,000 coming from the Province of Manitoba Road Improvement Grant, $25,000 from Ward 4 discretionary road budget, $240,000 from Gas Tax Funds and $115,000 from local donations.

"People didn't want extra tax on their properties and also they had already fundraised a good portion," says Reeve Stan Toews, explaining why council chose to go in this direction. "So that showed council there was a good interest and backing to get this job done."

Councillor Dylan Barkman says following the February 14 hearing, council had a desire to come up with a plan that would get this project done in its entirety. Barkman says local residents should be ecstatic, though they might wonder how the tables could turn so quickly.

"I think it speaks well to the hearing and maybe our opportunity for freedom of speech in this country," says Barkman. "Where people can come and speak to a project and then I think it speaks well for council to have heard it and listen and take appropriate action in that regard."

Toews says if the local donations are not in place by the time they want to commence the project, council may have to decide its next step. However, Barkman says that shouldn't be a problem.

"I'm confident that we can have that in place by the end of April, no problem," he says. "I know there are some residents that have already expressed interest in contributing and I know that the Pansy Hall is putting on a fundraiser on April 14. I think those two combined we should be able to see it come by the end of April."

Hanover receives approximately $766,000 annually from the federal government in gas tax and Toews says the money used for this project was not earmarked for anything else.

The repaving of Pansy Road is expected to happen this summer.

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Plan Unveiled To Pave Pansy Road