District ends public work on private road

By Jennifer Smith - Vernon Morning Star Published: August 19, 2012 1:00 AM

Employment Opportunity in Coldstream

An old habit is dying hard in Coldstream.  For more than two decades, Coldstream public works crews have plowed snow on Priest Valley Court – a private access road servicing four homes. But that is slated to end this winter. Since it is not a public road, Coldstream is not obligated to plow the road, therefore the district is cutting its losses. “There’s been a change of heart,” said Mayor Jim Garlick. “We do not see any strong reason for continuing to provide this service, in fact we see a number of reasons not to,” said Michael Stamhuis, chief administrative officer. Along with potential liability issues in the event of an incident (the road has a 16 per cent grade with no turnaround), the district has also received complaints from residents in the area regarding promptness of service. Coun. Pat Cochrane questions why the district started the service in the first place. “How did we get in this mess to begin with?” asked Cochrane. “We just inadvertently got into the habit of clearing that road because it looks and smells like a road,” said Stamhuis. Coldstream tried to stop the plowing habit five years ago, when the service agreement came up for renewal, but local property owners appealed council to continue the service. Local residents could appeal Coldstream’s decision again.