WEST CARLETON – In a marathon council meeting, the last for the city until late August, Coun. Eli El-Chantiry was able to get a motion passed that will bring some surprise roadwork to West Carleton.

Wednesday’s (July 15) City of Ottawa council meeting started an hour early at 9 a.m. and didn’t end until nearly 9 p.m. that night.

During that time there were two separate in-camera sessions to discuss Coun. Rick Chiarelli and issues related to alleged harassment as well as a session on chronic issues with Ottawa’s light rail transit. There were several reports to accept, several motions to pass, a lengthy discussion on bylaw enforcement related to the city’s new COVID-19 mask rules and many other issues to discuss.

Coun. El-Chantiry was able to find some time to get his motion unanimously passed, a motion that will bring “desperately needed road repairs in a timely manner” to Constance Bay roads Holiday Drive, Shady Lane, Resthaven Avenue and Hunter Crescent.

“Roadwork funding has never been done this way before,” El-Chantiry told West Carleton Online today (July 17). “I had some cash in lieu from development. Sixty per cent goes locally and 40 per cent goes to city-wide projects. I was saving if for the Corkery Community Centre, but I was able to get the city to chip in on that project so I didn’t need to save it for that anymore.”

So the councillor worked with city staff the past couple of weeks and came up with an “inventive and forward-thinking solution to getting the funds needed to complete the (aforementioned roadwork),” El-Chantiry told council on Wednesday.

El-Chantiry’s motion stated $400,000 would be moved from an envelope earmarked cash in lieu to a funding envelope marked for a community building in the rural west. Staff then moved $400,000 from the community building envelope in to road resurfacing.

El-Chantiry stated the current patch method for those roads is failing “more rapidly than they can be repaired” and repair costs were accruing at a rapid rate. The councillor also noted those roads were not in the five-year roadwork forecast either.

“It was not a direct result of flooding,” El-Chantiry said of why those four roads were in such bad shape. “The flood did not help them. Bayview Drive was very limited, so those roads got a lot more use.”

El-Chantiry says one of the listed roads has had 850 pothole repairs so far.

“They’re in horrible shape,” El-Chantiry said. “Instead of sitting on the money, I thought why not put it in to roadwork that is so badly needed.”

El-Chantiry said the city asked the province for roads funding help earlier in the year, but were eventually rejected due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

El-Chantiry says the $400,000 he moved isn’t quite enough but is confident the city will help out with the other $250,000.

“This is great news for the community and a creative way to get it done,” El-Chantiry said.

El-Chantiry says, he knows what will come next as this news makes its way around the community.

“As soon as you publish your article, I know I’m going to hear from residents about their roads,” El-Chantiry said. “You can imagine how far behind we are with the 850 kilometres of roads in Ward 5 and the $192 million shortfall from the pandemic.”

In fact, the motion attracted some attention around the council table too.

“Coun. Jeff Lieper asked the question,” El-Chantiry said. “His area is a growth area. Some residents are going to ask me if I can do the same, Leiper said.

El-Chantiry said he “had to go through legal” to craft the motion, to make sure everything was done properly.

“It has to be a unique circumstance,” he said. “Sometimes it pays to have experience.”

El-Chantiry says he will continue to work on fattening the city roadwork envelope.

“The condition of our roads in West Carleton-March is the number one concern I deal with every day,” he said. “I know there are many other roads in my ward in need of repair. We’re going to do our best and work with our colleagues to increase the roads budget. We cannot connect in West Carleton without our roads.”

El-Chantiry says the city will also be reaching out to the federal government for funding.

“We ae in desperate need of help,” El-Chantiry said. “Let’s hope they come forward.”