BEAVER BANK: The chairman of the Monarch-Rivendale Community Association wants those in the subdivision located in Beaver Bank, to come together for the greater good.
Brad Conrad believes a united front from residents, whether they live on corner lots, flag lots, lanes or otherwise, many who are in desperate need of water, will make it easier to attain funding, which in the end will lower everyone’s costs for the proposed project.
The project went before Halifax Regional Municipality regional council Feb. 9, for first reading, where it was given a March 2, public hearing date before regional council. That meeting will start at 6 p.m. at city hall in Halifax.
“We all have to focus on the same thing, reducing costs for everyone,” Conrad said. “We need to have funding from some form of government and we have to lobby those government entities to get that funding.”
“If we don’t go as a cohesive group, it’s fragmented and government doesn’t pay attention to us. We have to make sure we have one message, one request, to get funding for the entire community to reduce the cost burden on all of its’ residents.”
The cost provided by HRM to residents in a November survey was $17,750 per household. That number could go down if the Halifax Regional School Board pitches in to get water to Beaver Bank-Monarch Drive Elementary School, or if additional funding is secured through one or all three levels of government.
At a public information meeting held on Oct. 29, HRM provided residents with a cost estimate to bring the water lateral from the street to their homes of $150/metre ($45 per foot). At that time HRM agreed with residents that this was a very high estimate and agreed that the cost could likely go much lower. In an effort to reduce the costs to each resident, members of the local home owners association have contacted several contracting companies and have actually been able to reduce the cost of the laterals to $65 per metre ($19 to $20 per foot).
In a previous story, flag lot and lane owners expressed their dissatisfaction at being financially burdened by having higher costs. However, corner and regular lot owners are facing the same impact, Conrad said. “Everybody feels like their being financially impacted, that’s why I think it’s imperative everyone gets together, regardless of the type of lot they’re on, and go after government sponsored funding,” Conrad said. “If we all go together, it reduces the costs for everybody.”
According to analysis done by the association, the owners of flag lots and those who live on lanes, would pay between $2,000-$5,000 more than what a regular lot owner would, not two times more as what estimates from flag lot owners had told this newspaper in its February issue. Conrad said there are two reasons for the lower cost.
“The first reason is the per metre cost is much lower then what they had been using, which was given out at the public meeting, and the second reason is they can share the costs with others on that same land or lane to bring the lateral to their homes in the same trench,” he added. “The number they were using was from a PIM held six months ago.”
While there was a mention there was 17 flag lots, Conrad said HRM has actually tallied the number to be 13, and even some of those are being investigated as to whether they are flag lots or not. Councillor Barry Dalrymple confirmed that HRM has recently identified just 13 flag lots in the subdivision.
“What I think has to happen, and I’ve already asked HRM to do this, is to define what an actual flag lot is,” he explained. “If in fact concessions are given to flag lot owners they have to define what a flag lot actually is. A lot of people are going to question whether they’re getting concessions. They have to define what it is to make the decision objective.”
Conrad said with the reduction in per metres and sharing of the lateral costs, the costs for flag lot owners will be much cheaper than an estimate used by some flag-lot owners. Some flag lot owners have expressed their concern that the cost of this project could be close to $34,649. However, Conrad said the association’s calculations put that number closer to $24,000-$26,000. According to the group, one lane owner, will likely face a $25,000 bill, not the $50,000 that was estimated with the previous calculations.
“This would include the Local Improvement Charge (LIC) and the installation of the laterals. Again, that’s our rough estimates,” Conrad said. “We have two estimates from contractors, one in writing, and it’s on our website saying that residents in Monarch-Rivendale can likely get their laterals done for $19.50 a foot.”
He added there’s no restriction to the number of pipes that can be put into trenches.
“When we did our calculations, we shared the costs amongst all the homes on lanes and flag lots and its’ much, much less then what they had estimated,” he said.
One thing Conrad doesn’t wish to see is for a rift to fracture the community or a rift to slow this endeavour to bring much needed water to those in need.
“That’s not what’s best for our community,” Conrad said. “Right now, I think there’s excitement in the community because people realize that we’re close to obtaining city water, which will solve the major issues we’re facing. The community doesn’t just want city water we need city water.”
Dalrymple doesn’t believe the proposed project will be held up by any issues that flag lot owners may have with the costs they will be faced with.
“I’ve been honest with them since day one, and we will try, right until the end, to get something in to help them in some way,” he said. “I’ve also said since day one the timeline here is crucial. We have always said we wanted to target a spring tender date.”
He noted that not all flag lot owners are against bringing city water to residents. “A number of them have voted yes in both surveys for this project,” Dalrymple said. “Part of the reason they may have voted that way could depend on how desperately they need water. At the end of the day, if you don’t have water you’re paying, but I think a number of them do feel and understand the issue.”
phealey@enfieldweeklypress.com