Beaver Flood Township Road, Leaving Residents Up the Creek

By Jeff Green

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Gary Morey is fed up and he's not going to take it any more.

Morey lives, with his wife Judy Killops and three grandchildren, at the far end of the Arena Boundary Road, a road that straddles South and Central Frontenac.

His section of the road has a flooding problem that has been unresolved for several years.

The road has always flooded in the spring, but Morey said that it is flooded on a year-round basis now, and with cold weather coming on this makes the situation more and more dangerous. Morey travels to Sydenham for work each day, his wife to Verona, and his grandkids to Prince Charles Public School. The last time any township did work on the road was in 2002, when a large culvert was replaced with culverts and some gravel was put down to raise the level of the road. For the last six years the road has been sinking again.

A couple of years ago Morey spent $2,100 of his own money fixing the road, but the gravel he put down has since washed away.

“The school bus doesn't come down to our house, which wouldn't be a problem because the kids can walk out, except for the road being flooded. So my wife drives the kids to school. This time of year when she goes through the water it freezes to the bottom of her car and her brakes don't work, so there is a real safety concern, not to mention that our cars keep getting torn up,” he said.

Living on the border between the two townships has turned out to be a big part of the problem that Morey faces in convincing one or the other township to bring up the level of his road.

“My house is located in Central Frontenac and the road is located in South Frontenac. Under an agreement between the two townships it is Central that is supposed to maintain it, but they don't,” Morey said, “and South Frontenac has also done nothing.”

To make matters even more complicated, part of the problems stem from water being held back by beaver dams that are located on private property in South Frontenac, and on property that is owned by the Quinte Conservation Authority.

“I have approached road crews and politicians from both municipalities, and the conservation authority, but nothing has been done,” he said.

The flooding is worse this year than it has ever been before, partly because of the high snow and rain levels, as well as the natural sinking of the road.

“I am fed up with getting the runaround between the two townships,” said Morey. “They both have said they are going to look at this, but nothing has happened. At the very least I need them to put down some gravel. The way things stand, I don't know how we are going to get out to work and school this winter.”

Morey has brought the matter to a lawyer and is considering court action to force the townships to give him some service.