A Monday night delegation proved that a presentation to town council can prompt change.
Sunset Ridge Ross and Erin Sturgeon brought to light a grey area councillors agreed had long been overlooked: homeowner improvements to town-owned adjacent spaces as a result of safety concerns.
The Sturgeons took it upon themselves to construct a stone pathway in June 2015 to save the grass and mitigate slipping hazards on the common boulevard between the sidewalk in front of their home and their on-street parking space.
“In the winter, people had been slipping and falling and to mitigate that, I installed a pathway,” explained Ross.
He added that he and his wife have observed many elderly persons utilizing the pathway they created for safe access to the street and he has obtained five letters of support from neighbours for the initiative.
Ross highlighted that similar boulevard to parking issues were throughout some of the newer communities in Cochrane. He suggested the town allow for “at-grade removable paths across grass boulevards where there is no other current safe access to street parking.”
While the homeowners say the town advised them no bylaws were applicable and no permits were required but they would be responsible to maintain the adjacent land (snow clearing/mowing) – the area developer, Melcor, asked them to remove the pathway because the “town had objected” in the fall 2015.
Melcor again asked the Sturgeons to remove the pathway earlier this spring and the couple confirmed with the town’s engineering department that the pathway did not meet the town’s approval.
All councillors acknowledged the town should draft some type of bylaw to govern these type of homeowner improvements on adjacent town-owned lands to “allow pathways across boulevards where there is currently no other safe egress to vehicles parked on the street.”
Rick Deans, senior manager of infrastructure services for the town, said that his department would like to see some level of regulation, as “homeowners may move and the enhancements may fall into disrepair.”
The Sturgeons agreed that some type of regulation by the town would be beneficial, to maintain a certain level of esthetics and construction standards.
“It makes total sense,” said Coun. Mary Lou Eckmeier, who suggested that when drafting a bylaw administration should consider not charging development permit to homeowners undertaking similar projects – or to refund the permits following town approval of construction and materials used.
Coun. Jeff Toews requested that the Sturgeons be permitted to keep their pathway until framework was developed at a later date, to which all of council agreed.
The town parks department has long maintained “no gardening or other activity be allowed on town land.”
