MELFORT — Residents of Cairns Avenue East in Melfort have petitioned and successfully opted out of the addition of sidewalk, curbs and gutters to a block of the subdivision.
The area of Cairns Avenue East from Albert Street to Assiniboine was part of three local improvement projects council decided on during the June 14 council meeting.
The improvements that did pass council include paving for two blocks of Main Street, as well as sidewalk, curbs and gutters for Cairns Avenue West from 1st Avenue to Main Street.
Local improvements like the ones proposed are paid for by property owners on the block over a fixed period of time.
Glenn George, Melfort’s mayor, speculated that the cost may be a deterrent for families.
“It’s working out to six or seven or eight thousand dollars a lot, which is a lot of money if you’re a pensioner or on a pension,” he said. “So we’re going to try to find ways in the future so they can afford it.”
George said some possible methods of making local improvements more accessible that the city may discuss includes adjusting the interest rate and increasing the time to pay back the cost.
“We didn’t have time to work that out now, so we had to let this go ahead and petition it out, and then we’ll work on it.”
