Laura Lee Davis sent in a request to County of Paintearth Council Tues. Feb. 1 to close the road allowance on TR 374, between SW and SE 26-37-9-W4 and NW and NE 23-37-9-W4.
The particular one-mile section of road is owned by Davis and partner Patrick Davis while the NW-23-37-9-W4 is owned by Dale W Guse and the NE section owned by Timothy and Tammy Smith.
“This property was acquired sometime roughly around 1947 by my grandfather Henry Davis and has been in my family ever since.
There is no vehicle tracks ever been on that road allowance for as long as we have had it. There is also tree patches which would prevent a vehicle to drive down the road allowance without having to go onto my property,” she stated in her letter.
Davis added, “Hunters have multiple ways of accessing all lands involved from other road ways. On Guse side they can access his land on the west side and Smith also has access to his property. We also have access to our land on the north and east side of the property.
“For two parties involved that are having issues on other matters I believe to avoid having more issues that can happen the best course of action is to close this road allowance.”
Councils in the past have been reluctant of such requests as they are considered public roads open for use by any one but also would take considerable time and funds at the land titles office to do this.
When a piece of land is closed off it creates a title which leads the county to have the option of disposing of it and putting it up for auction which could lead to more controversy.
This was explained to the requestees but they were still interested in sending a request to council to get a decision.
In the end, council chose to take no action at this time, avoiding any decision to close or purchase the aforementioned road allowance in the letter.
Recreation bylaw contributions increased
Administration brought forward a new version of an ‘outdated’ bylaw from 2009 for council to consider.
This bylaw that governs grants for recreation boards and community associations garnered all three readings by council after a brief summary of what the changes were.
Assistant CAO Brenda Hepp shared that because of insurance increases and equipment failures or upgrades, the boost in funding prompted by this bylaw was important to the survival of these small local groups such as Brownfield, Coronation, Castor, Fleet, Halkirk, Talbot, Lauderdale Recreation Boards and the Valley Ski Hill nestled in the Battle River Valley.
The boards added the ski hill will receive a combined total of $210,000 with a remaining $3,260 to the county to be distributed at the discretion of council to teams and clubs who participate in provincial play or to other community associations or leagues as determined by council.
“I think its a fair increase,” said Coun. George Glazier.
Council passed all three readings of the bylaw.
Terri Huxley
ECA Review
