Krista Sanford (left) and Valerie Wojdylak are among the two who will be financially burdened if city water is brought in without a reduction in costs to them as lane and flag-lot owners.

BEAVER BANK: Residents living on lanes and flag lots in the Monarch-Rivendale subdivision, in Beaver Bank, feel they are being financially burdened by the proposed central-water system, which will bring city water to them.
In a recent Halifax Regional Municipality-Halifax Water survey, residents in the subdivision voted overwhelmingly in favour of bringing city water to their homes. The estimate cost is $17,500 per property. The next step in the process will be for HRM staff to prepare an internal report that will be presented to the full HRM council, which is expected to occur mid-to-late January, Barry Dalrymple, councillor for District 2, said previously.
However, those who live on flag lots will be facing a cost of almost two times what their neighbours will be faced with. And that has some of them questioning the objective, considering it will not be fair to everyone.
Flag lots are considered those parcels of land that has a long pole fronting on the street, with the bulk of the lot making up the flag.
Valerie Wojdylak and Leigh England are two of the 17 flag lot owners in the subdivision. Each of them has their own concerns with the proposal, which they admit is needed for those who are in dire need of city water.
Based on estimates done by Wojdylak, she and England will be faced with a $34,649 bill each, whereas those who don’t live on a flag lot will only have a $17,500 price tag. The two share Chateau Lane, which is off Rebecca Drive.
Wojdylak and England are two of three neighbours who have access to their homes by one way, the same lane, which is about 550 feet in length, not including the additional 100 feet each to bring the water across their property to their homes.
“Since we’re on a flag lot we are burdened with the extra 550 ft, since we would have to bring it across our driveways anyway if we were on a regular lot,” she explained.
She noted at the most recent community meeting, held in October, HRM staff estimated the cost of $150/metre ($150/3.28 feet) to bring water to the homes. That estimation leaves flag lot owners facing a cost of $17,500 each per lot, $25,152 between Wojdylak and England for their private lane and $4,573 for their driveway. That leaves the final tally at $69,298 (or $34,649 each). Those who don’t live on flag lots in the subdivision will face a bill of about $22,000 in total ($17,500 and $4,573), based on her estimates. Krista Sanford will face a more than $50,000 bill because she lives on Parkside Lane, which is accessed on the Monarch side of the subdivision, and has the same trouble as Wojdylak and England.
“Those on flag lots are being financially burdened beyond what is acceptable for the rest of the community,” Wojdylak said. “Although I wouldn’t like to see anyone left with such a large expense, it seems to be fine for flag lot owners to deal with this cost, but not acceptable for larger road frontage lots to deal with a similar expense. If the cost was done by road frontage some regular lots would have in excess of a $30,000 expense.
“HRM/Halifax Water decided this would not be the best way as it would be too expensive for some homes and thus went with a per lot cost of $17,500.”
For England and Wojdylak, they have to bring water about 750 feet to even get it to their homes.
“We’re paying that amount ($17,500) for our small road frontage, while those with perhaps 400 feet of road frontage are being charged the same,” Wojdylak explained. “However we still have to bring it in our lane, which is an expense the other lots don’t have to face. But yet, HRM/Halifax Water consider this acceptable and equitable.
“Due to the extreme expense of bringing water in our lane, we may not be in a position to actually connect to the city water. We will have to pay for a service that we can’t afford to actually connect to. How is this considered the most equitable means of bringing water to the community? How can we consider this service as being available to everyone in the community?”
England and her husband Gerry have serious concerns about the costs involved.
“On average, most homes in Monarch are set back approximately 80-100 feet from the road,” England said. “This means the cost of these homes bringing water from the street to their house is much less than the cost we’ll have to incur to bring water to our home, which is about 700 feet. Who is going to help us with these costs? I'm sure if the other home owners had to incur the expenses we will to bring water from the road to our houses, they too would want this resolved as fairly as possible for all homeowners.”
As England understands it, there were provisions considered for homeowners on corner lots who had road frontage on both sides of their property. She feels provisions should also be considered for all homeowners who will have to incur a drastic expense to bring water in on flag lots.
“Therefore, most homes will only have an additional 80-100 feet to bring this service into their homes,” England explained. “Our home alone is approximately 700-800 feet from the road, almost six times the distance of any regular lot. This means we will incur the cost of bringing the water to our home at an extra expense than most homes in the Monarch-Rivendale subdivisions. For those who will not be able to afford to bring the water from the road to their home, will basically have an unsellable home. Who will be able to sell a home with water lines not brought into the house, when all other surrounding homes have the service installed?”
Sanford has had lengthy discussions with Fred Wendt, with Halifax Water regarding the issue. It all stemmed from the first map that went out, which didn’t include Parkside Lane, but did include Deerhurst Lane. The lanes are split with Deerhurst on the Monarch side and Parkside on the Rivendale side.
“I would support this project because at some point we may need the water, but it can't be a financial burden to our family and my neighbours,” Sanford said. “We’re looking at another $50,000 to complete this project if we needed the water. While we’re helping pay for our neighbours with the huge corner lots and 100 to 200 feet of frontage, who's helping us with our costs?”
She’s not looking for special treatment from the city, just the same benefit everyone else is receiving. She thinks she may have a solution.
“We need to be charged for our individual frontage, in our case 20 feet per household, and the cost the city would have received from our contribution would then need to be added back to the property owners or the city adds the cost of the lateral lines for the lanes in the grand total of the project and its divided between all the property owners,” she explained. “If we’re expected to help everyone with their cost we want the same benefit.”
Sanford wrote and e-mail to Wendt detailing her concerns about the proposed project.
“There are many ways of allocating the cost of providing the service to home owners. In fully developed subdivisions like Monarch-Rivendale, the usual approach is to share the cost on a per lot basis,” Wendt said in his Nov. 19, response. “The principle is that each property has access to the water main so three houses have three shares. There was some discussion at the public meeting about flag lots and the cost of bringing laterals to houses set back some distance from the street. There is no easy solution to this problem. Any reduction in the cost to flag lot owners has to be borne by the owners of the other lots.”
Wojdylak was informed by officials she knew to expect these costs when moving onto a flag lot, the project was too far along to consider paying by road frontage and projects that are done by road frontage do not receive the same community support. She was also told going that way now could end the initiative.
She has had no contact with anyone from Halifax Water or HRM despite making comments on the two surveys that she wished an explanation on the topic.
“I guess we’re part of the minority on this issue and therefore our votes don’t matter,” she said.
She wished to thank those in the Monarch-Rivendale Subdivision who have taken on the initiative of bringing city water to the area.
“All I ever wanted to see was a fair way of distributing the cost of bringing in water,” Wojdylak said. “At the end of the day, it should cost each of us the same to bring water to our homes. Right now, we’re looking at about $12,000 more than regular lots provided our neighbours want to connect and share the cost.”
England agrees with Wojdylak, adding it’s a predicament HRM is forcing upon flag lot owners.
“When we’re personally faced with astronomical expenses to complete the water lines, then considerations must be made for owners of flag lots to fairly allocate these expenses,” she stated. “What’s the use of having the water lines at the road, when the cost to bring it to the home is too costly. The fact we own a flag lot should not mean we’re penalized by the expense of having municipal water.”
Councillor Barry Dalrymple has left some room for the three, and the 14 other flag lot owners in the subdivision, to be optimistic a resolution to their cost issue may be found.
“Just because there has been a huge yes vote, we have not forgotten about the flag lot owners whatsoever,” Dalrymple said. “We’ve had some discussions with the department. We’re going to have more discussions. What we’re doing is all of those discussions are going on while we move the report forward because, number one we know the urgency to get water and number two we believe if we can get a spring tender out that will probably be cheaper for the residents to bear.”
phealey@enfieldweeklypress.com