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City Council to consider truck toll stations at all entry points to the Sault

Councillors will also be asked on Monday to consider having out-ot-towners pay more to use the city landfill site
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Two city councillors are sore at the Ontario government for refusing earlier this year to fund a $2.4 million expansion of Black Road to four lanes between McNabb Street and Second Line. If the province won't help pay for damage caused to local streets by truckers, they say we should consider charging them tolls.

2017 could well be the Year of the User Fee in Sault Ste. Marie.

With cIty staff signaling that they're looking at user fees as a principal tool to balance unfairly high tax ratios on industrial and commercial properties,  Ward 1 councillors Paul Christian and Steve Butland are talking about establishing toll collection stations for large commercial vehicles at all entry points to the city.

In a resolution to be presented to City Council on Monday, Christian and Butland lament the province's unwillingness to share in the rising cost of maintaining Black Road and other city thoroughfares that function as connecting links to provincial highways or border crossings.

The ward-buddies are upset that the city received nothing this year from a newly reinstated provincial program that paid up to 90 percent of the cost of such roads.

Ironically, the program had been unveiled in the Sault one year earlier, in part because we have the largest share of connecting links in the province, at 24.5 kilometres.

In a separate user-fee resolution, Ward 6 councillor Ross Romano and his Ward 3 counterpart Matthew Shoemaker will ask that consideration be given to charging higher fees to non-residents of the Sault who use the city landfill site.

The following is the full text of the two resolutions.

Monday's City Council meeting will be livestreamed on SooToday.

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Black Road widening project

Mover: Councillor P. Christian

Seconder: Councillor S. Butland

Whereas Sault Ste Marie has 24 kilometres of connecting links roads within its boundaries; and

Whereas 35 per cent of arterial roads in Sault Ste. Marie are designated as connecting links; and

Whereas the provincial government does not provide any funding for winter control, line painting, or maintenance of any kind; and

Whereas the Black Road widening between McNabb Street and Second Line, which is estimated to cost $5.6 million to complete, is ineligible for funding as MTO [Ontario Ministry of Transportation] deems the increased traffic to be locally generated; and

Whereas Sudbury and Thunder Bay each have a bypass which diverts commercial traffic around their communities; and

Whereas the government of Ontario funds all maintenance and repairs for these roads which local traffic in these communities access on a constant basis; and

Whereas in 2014, MTO deferred all route planning and environmental assessments for a 17E/17N by-pass, and the connection of 17E to Black Road at Second Line for at least 10 years;

Now therefore be it resolved that council request that staff provide an update on any current developments relating to the widening of Black Road, and any funding options that would allow for the completion of this work;

Further that staff investigate the possibility of establishing tolls at all entry points to the city where fees can be charged to all large commercial vehicles entering the city which would help defray the escalating costs of maintaining connecting links roads which these commercial vehicles damage as a result of continued use.

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City landfill site

Mover: Councillor R. Romano
Seconder: Councillor M. Shoemaker
 
Whereas the Corporation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie does not presently have a different fee structure for use of the city landfill site; and
 
Whereas it would be appropriate for non-residents of Sault Ste. Marie to pay more than Sault Ste. Marie residents to use the landfill site, especially when considering the lifespan of the current landfill site and costs of upgrades in the future;

Now therefore be it resolved that staff report to council by 2017 02 01 with respect to potential additional costs of dumping at the landfill by non-residents of Sault Ste. Marie; and

Further that staff report to council on a mechanism to ensure that only non-residents of Sault Ste. Marie are required to pay a greater fee for use of the city landfill site.

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David Helwig

About the Author: David Helwig

David Helwig's journalism career spans seven decades beginning in the 1960s. His work has been recognized with national and international awards.
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