Council updates: County Road 3 construction, rural roads investment and tire recycling

By Sharon Harrison
Council awarded the tender for the rehabilitation work for County Road 3 at this week’s regular council meeting, and also heard a deputation from a resident on the rural roads maintenance and infrastructure investment, as a case study.

A quarterly update was received from the development services department, and council also voted to have the municipality send a letter to the province on tire regulation.

The Sir John A. Macdonald ‘Holding Court’ statue that was removed from outside the Picton branch library on Main Street several years ago was back before council again. Click here for that story. 

Summarized below are some of the meeting highlights.

County Road 3 rehabilitation tender
The tender for the construction work for County Road 3 was awarded to Earth-Crete Ontario Inc. by council in the amount of $1,226,654.30 (plus taxes). The lowest bid of the seven received was recommend by staff (bids ranged from $1.22 million to $1.51 million).

This project continues the previous phase of the County Road 3 rehabilitation and will continue to the west (of Rednersville) for just over a kilometre (civic addresses 1460-1668). Along with full removal and replacement of the existing roadway asphalt surface, the project will include culvert replacements, paved shoulders and ditching improvements.

A minimum of one lane of traffic, operating under alternating directions, shall be maintained throughout construction, which is expected to be completed by Sept. 1.

A further two kilometre section of County Road 3 (already approved) is presently in the design phase with construction tentatively scheduled for 2027.

Rural roads investment
Sam Mitchell presented an idea for road maintenance and infrastructure investment with rural roads as a case study in the County. However, his presentation wasn’t provided to council or made public which made following and understanding the very detailed information virtually difficult for council to follow.

Mitchell lives on Victoria Road and based his case study on that road to include the impact to residents to its poor condition, costs to repair, wasted dollars and potential costed solutions, etc.

“It is interesting what you are talking about, and it’s certainly something that comes up every budget cycle because we are always caught in the knot of, how do we pay for what we know we need, but can’t afford,” said councillor Kate MacNaughton.

Tire recycling system
A letter is to be sent to Bay of Quinte MPP Tyler Allsopp, and copied to the minister of the environment, the association of municipalities of Ontario as well as all Ontario municipalities, on action on Ontario’s tire recycling system. Initiated by the environmental advisory committee, the request endorses the support for the province’s proposed amendments under resource recovery and circular economy act, 2016, particularly those related to the tires regulation, the hazardous and special products regulation, and the administrative penalties regulation.

In part, it reads: “… our municipality is experiencing escalating pressures, with multiple collection sites nearing capacity and facing the possibility of refusing incoming tires. In the current state of the extended producer responsibility system, municipalities like ours are struggling to safely and efficiently manage tire collection in compliance with environmental and regulatory requirements.”

Development services department – overview
An update covering the first quarter of 2026 from the development services department was received by council for information.

Cristal Laanstra, director of development services, shared a number of highlights, such as approximately $50.14 million (of $62.24 million) in capital projects released through procurement; 11 new planning applications have been submitted for processing, while 20 planning applications have been approved.

Two plans of sub-division received final approval resulting in the creation of 369 new residential units. 105 building permits have been received, with 82 permits issued to date in 2026, resulting in $13,857,889 in construction value.

Further information and associated reports on all agenda items, as well as the meeting recording, can be found on the County’s website under the April 21 council meeting.