The strips of land bordering the Holland Marsh canal can be a “nice jewel” for Bradford West Gwillimbury, said Deputy Mayor James Leduc, and part of that includes cutting down the overgrown weeds and grass.
BWG council voted earlier this month to consider making room in the town’s 2019 budget for $19,000 to buy special equipment to regularly trim the sloped strips of land, known as berms, and for $12,000 to hire seasonal employees to do the work.
“It’s in our best interests to buy the equipment,” said Leduc at the Oct. 2 council meeting. “It can be a nice jewel for our areas. Our residents can be proud of what the berms can become.”
The berms are owned by individual farmers, the Town of BWG and King Township, and there are currently no set rules for their maintenance. Some people mow the berms while others leave them wild, creating a patchwork along the canal.
The proposed cutting would only be done on Town of BWG-owned portions.
Only half of the berms — from the roadside up to the middle point, where the berms begin to slope down to the canal — would be cut east of Highway 400 to the Art Janse Pumping Station.
Coun. Peter Ferragine questioned whether special equipment was necessary to trim the berms, but Terry Foran, the town’s director of community services, said it is.
The town’s current equipment “is not meant … to manicure a berm,” he said, noting there are specific machines built to rise higher and lower and go over gentle slopes.
He said the cost to trim half the berms is about four times that of trimming the town’s boulevards, and it would take four to five days each time due to some obstructions machine operators would have to work around.
At least one private contractor has contacted the town about doing the work. Coun. Gary Lamb said he is interested in seeing what “private enterprise” could do, but others said they would rather the work be done by the town.
“I’d rather see it done in-house than contract it out to make money off us,” said Coun. Peter Dykie Jr.
There are no more council meetings until after the municipal election. The new council will have its first regular meeting Dec. 18.
