Residents in the community of Kirkland, on the Island of Montreal, Que., are not happy with the results of recent roadwork.
The drainage ditch on Mike Mongeau’s lawn is just under three feet deep.
His home, as well as his neighbours’ on Harold and Summerhill streets in Kirkland, have had ditches on their lawns for decades, but they say never have they been as deep and as wide as they are now.
“I have three young children; six, three and two, and with my two-year-old in the ditch, when they initially dug it, if you were across the street, you couldn’t see him anymore,” said Lindsey Dalley.
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Residents claim they were advised back in June that work would be done on their street — including repaving the road and reprofiling the drains.
They said, over the years, they were promised by the town that when their streets would be re-done, the ditches would be filled in.
Instead, they insist that their ditches got worse.
“These ditches now are not only an eyesore and a problem, but they’re a safety issue, as well as a maintenance issue and a property value issue,” said John London.
London and others say communication with the town has been confusing.
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Some of them claim to have gotten different responses, from different people.
They say it’s unacceptable to leave their homes with these ditches, and they want them to be filled immediately.
“We see the guys coming every day and they’re cleaning the ditches, digging them deeper, making them wider so they’re not as deep and going up to the front of people’s property,” said Dalley.
“It’s been a mess. And we don’t get a straight answer [from the city], we don’t get any answers, we get different answers, it’s just very frustrating.”
Kirkland’s Director-General, Joe Sanalitro, told Global News the town has been as transparent as possible.
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According to him, not all the ditches can be filled because water would flow too fast to the end of the street, which the pipes can’t handle. The ditches are there to help control that flow.
He added that the project isn’t completed yet and so they’ll continue to look at all options and encouraged residents to bring forward any solutions they might have.