TEHKUMMAH—Amid many concerns from residents who live on Michael’s Bay Road, the reeve of Tehkummah township says council will look at actions that can be taken to improve the road conditions.
“Tehkummah township, in the past, has allowed people to build on the road to live here permanently. So, we should do something to help (improve the road),” said Tehkummah Reeve John Deforge.
“The road was built many years ago, of sand and tree stumps/logs and whatever they had to use to fill in the road,” said Reeve Deforge. “We will hopefully start work this year to get something done. My hope is that for this year we can get new ditches in and next year look seriously on what needs to be done to improve the road, but this will all be up to our roads superintendent (Kevin Dunlop) and our budget as well.”
“No emergency vehicles could get down that road the way it is now,” said Blair Walker, from Mississauga who is building a house on Michael’s Bay Road and retiring full-time locally. “I don’t know how a fire truck carrying water would be able to get down this road.”
Mr. Walker said he has contacted the township about his concerns with the road. “They have not been able to provide a solution. They grade the road in the summer, but it is not going to help at this time of the year. They are going to have to find a solution before something bad takes place.”
“I’m new to the area, and we are building our home to live here full-time,” said Mr. Walker. While the house structure is up, he is concerned in trying to get contractors for mechanical, electrical and plumbing to do work now when the road is in such bad shape, making it difficult for them to get down the road to his home.
“And I’m worried about emergency vehicles trying to get down there. It’s a bad road,” said Mr. Walker.
Claire Cline, who has lived on the road since 2017, said in a recent letter she received from the township to concerns with the road, “I was told ‘if you maintain a speed limit of 40 kilometres per hour you will be alright.’ I came in today on the road and the most I was going was 12.”
“Michael’s Bay Road, which is off the Government Road in Tehkummah, is a problem every spring,” said Ms. Cline. “But this is not just a few potholes and mud. It is so bad starting the beginning of this week that on Tuesday (March 5) myself and others couldn’t even venture out on our road. I couldn’t go to work and heaven forbid if an ambulance or other emergency vehicle was needed. Several of us have complained in person, emails, letters and nothing is being done.”
“Each member of council is aware of this problem,” said Ms. Cline. “One person on council acknowledged my emails and told me he drove down our road and it is a real mess. He told me to keep him informed.”
“We have written to our ombudsman and our MPP (Michael Mantha) who at least acknowledged our problems but cannot help because it is a township issue,” said Ms. Cline. “During the past council, myself and my neighbour Elaine Leeson went to council meetings and while council did acknowledge that our road is a mess, they said it was built in the horse and wagon ages when the old town of Michael’s Bay existed. The road is sand and logs, not for vehicles. However, they let many houses be built and there are many people that live here all year-round. We also pay the highest taxes in Tehkummah township. But our council today continues to say our road is just not built for traffic. This is the problem, we need a solution.”
“The township had the grader down the road this morning,” said Ms. Cline last Tuesday. “I was literally sliding on the road, it’s so muddy and it’s filled with potholes. And you certainly can’t drive too close to the shoulder of the road.”
Ms. Cline said, “We have no other way in or out of our properties beside this road. I think the only way they can fix the road, which is about 6.5 kilometres in length, is to go two kilometres at a time and dig down, put big rocks on the road and put the gravel over that. The township put gravel on the road one year but it was the small sand rock stuff and we watched the gravel sink into the road.”
“It’s too wet and muddy,” stated Ms. Cline. “The road was never built for vehicles, it was built when travel was by horse and buggy, so why did the township sell lots on the road? There are all kinds of people living here now.”
Elaine Leeson told The Expositor, “I sent a letter to the township and council a week and a half ago and was told I need to maintain speeds down to 40 kilometres per hour. But we can’t even go much faster than 10 kilometres.”
“Last summer the township put sand gravel down, but it was small stuff and it just caused more mud,” said Ms. Leeson. “I have also been told by the township that I don’t pay enough taxes. When I said I pay $7,200 in taxes I was told the next time I complained I would be paying even more.”
“And the boat launch is down here,” said Ms. Leeson, who has retired as a registered nurse at the Wikwemikong Nursing Home. “One morning at 6 am, I met 13 huge trucks with big fishing boats attached to them. The township said they would close the boat launch until the spring; we’ve asked and it is still not closed off,” she continued. “I don’t know what we are going to do, maybe we should get together and file a civil suit against the township.”
“We have heard complaints about the road from a lot of people,” said Reeve Deforge. “We are planning to do some work,” he said. He explained the actual length of the entire road that needs work is eight kilometres. To dig the road up and repair it will cost about $8 million, “which is a lot of money,” he said. “But we are going to start work this year to get something done. My hope this year is to put ditches in, but to look at getting the ditches in we need permission from all the landowners.”
Michael’s Bay Road is a road that, due to classification standards, is not required to be maintained. However, Reeve Deforge acknowledged something needs to be done with so many residents living on the road, and how bad the road is. “Quite frankly, our roads superintendent can grade it one day and four days later all the potholes are back. I know as a kid there was no one driving their vehicles down the road. But over the years, Tehkummah has let building take place. So, we need to take care of the road.”
