Residents of Pansy will see improvements made this year to Pansy Road, without taking on more of a financial burden. But, the scope of the project has been scaled back.
Council for the Rural Municipality of Hanover held a public hearing Wednesday to hear from those for or against this project. 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.
This project would cost about $700,000, with $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.
"I feel like everybody in this room pays enough taxes that we don't need to pay on top of our taxes for things that the municipality should be covering for us to drive on," says Swynar. "For a young farmer with a young family, it's not really in our best interest to pay more taxes."
Tim Wiens also objected.
"As a young couple just starting out and a new family starting out, how are people supposed to get ahead if people just want to take our money all the time," he says. "So I'm opposed."
Meanwhile, Dave Wiebe sent a letter to council suggesting there is not enough traffic down that highway to justify spending that amount of money and the new road would mean local farmers would have to find other avenues for getting to and from their farms.
Several people questioned why only a select number of people should have to pay for a project that benefits more than just those living in the immediate area.
But there were also many people who spoke in favour of this project, including Denise Friesen.
"We would say that it's an investment on our new property," says Friesen. "It's also going to protect our vehicles, I've got an older vehicle it's already going to fall apart and I'm just needing this road to be fixed already."
Friesen says re-paving Pansy Road will also assist emergency personnel.
"A properly paved road, wouldn't that help to get our emergency services to us a lot easier, a lot better?" she questioned. "If my new house starts on fire, I want that fire truck getting to me."
In a letter to council, Vernon Froese spoke favourably towards the plan.
"Good roads are essential for any community to thrive," wrote Froese. "A good road makes it easier for people to go shopping, invite people over, plan community events at Pansy Hall, attend Church in Pansy or Pansy residents drive to other communities to Church, start a business, create employment."
At the end of the public hearing, local Councillor Dylan Barkman presented a new resolution. His recommendation 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. Council unanimously supported this decision. Barkman says it would be great if they could re-pave three or four miles this year.
Local resident Mel Kachur is pleased with council's decision, noting a lot of money has already been fundraised for this project.
"The community is raising I would say between seventy-five thousand and one hundred thousand dollars and we'll do one mile at a time," he says. "In Pansy we have a slogan there, we do things one perogy at a time."
Barkman says they have yet to decide which miles will be touched first. He says what happened Wednesday speaks well for the residents of Pansy.
"There's lots of passion, like was mentioned a number of times at the microphone," he says. "Pansy is full of hard working people and honest people who work hard for their money and I think this speaks well for the community."
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