Lakeshore residents want their pothole-laden access road fixed, but municipality says it's not theirs to repair
Residents who live along Couture Beach in Lakeshore are up in arms over the condition of the only access road leading to their homes.
“Let’s just say you don’t wonna stop at Tim Horton’s before you come on it,” said Vince Renaud, a 20-year resident of Couture Beach Road in Lakeshore.
Renaud and 25 other year-round residents of the Couture Beach Community play a game of dodge the pothole every time they use the lone access road out of their property.
“It was really, really good until about three years ago, two years ago,” said Renaud, noting the municipality has maintained the road in the past. “But for whatever reason, they just stopped repairing the road, they stopped keeping it up.”
What makes matters a bit sticky there’s currently a dispute over who should be maintaining the pothole-filled roadway: the municipality, or the estate which owns the private road.
Bruce Gadal, who has lived in the community for 70 years, said the former township of Tilbury North once had two access roads to Couture Beach. But after some fatal train incidents, the other public road was closed and the Couture Road crossing was made safer with guided arms.
The catch, of course, is that the road has long been privately owned and the municipality claims that leaves maintenance work up to the private owner.
“It is owned by a third party. And that's part of the problem. That's the challenge that we've had with private roads in Lakeshore and in fact in all of Essex County,” said Ward 6 Lakeshore Coun. Larissa Vogler.
Residents say the owner of Couture Road passed away in 2019 and it’s now the property of his estate.
The Municipality of Lakeshore confirms it has sent a letter to the owner regarding the state of the road.
“I can't understand why a private citizen should maintain a road that's being used for public access with a public crossing,” said Gadal, who notes it’s also the only road for police, fire, EMS and other services to access these properties.
Coun. Vogler tells CTV Windsor the municipality is bringing a private road study before council in a few weeks’ time.
“That may shape how we move forward. And I personally would like to see the municipality take a role in seeing this role repaired in one way or another,” she said. “We owe that to our residents. Safety and well-being always has to come first.”
Vogler says council and the municipality are taking steps to resolve the issue once and for all, but residents are anxious for answers.
“The question will be, what are our legal options to move forward to ensure that this is resolved safely and quickly?” Vogler said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
Investigators have finally revealed the identity of an unknown victim nicknamed 'Midtown Jane Doe,' who was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City two decades ago.