Charlottetown mayoral candidates debate merits of ditch infilling
If there’s one issue many residents in Charlottetown like to dig into, it’s ditch infilling.
And when The Guardian solicited questions from readers for Wednesday night’s mayoral debate, it’s the issue that kept coming up.
Some residents in outlying neighbourhoods like West and East Royalty and Winsloe say 23 years after amalgamation they’re still waiting for their ditches to be filled and aren’t yet equal partners in Charlottetown.
Others describe it as a controversial, environmentally unhealthy practice running rampant in the city and costing taxpayers millions.
Four of the five candidates for mayor — Philip Brown, Kim Devine, Cecil Villard and Jamie Larkin – weighed in.
William McFadden, the fifth candidate for mayor, was also in attendance.
Brown said the practice must continue but suggested that the city doesn’t have to do every single property.
“The city has spent $20 million since 2003. If we stop now, it would affect many homes in (East and West Royalty),’’ Brown said.
“If we do it, we have to cost it out.’’
Villard said many homeowners are concerned about ditches, especially deep ditches.
“Some of the ditches raise safety issues for children,’’ Villard said, adding that many have water-flow issues and infilling has been working for some time.
Villard said he’s personally observed children playing on top of the ice in deep ditches during the winter and fears they’re accidents waiting to happen.
Larkin said it’s “silly to talk about ditch infilling when there’s a housing crisis’’, which was met with some applause.
Devine said some people think the downtown core gets all the services and has committed to doing a review of all services to determine fairness in all city neighbourhoods.
Villard concurred, saying amalgamation created a situation where parts of the city don’t think they’re getting the same level of service as the downtown core.
At one point, Villard criticized Brown, saying Brown was against ditch infilling during the 2014 election. Brown admitted he was but now believes in looking at the issue on a limited basis.