Funding application for County Road 49 sent to province

Decisions for work to fix County Road 49 could be on the budget table for next year – conditional on the successful application for $20 million in provincial funding.

Council Tuesday night directed the mayor and the County Road 49 Working Group to continue to advocate for federal government funding – and support from everywhere possible – to bridge a remaining funding gap estimated at $24.6 million.

The rehabilitation of the rural section of County Road 49, (CR49) which consists of concrete pavement, is estimated to cost approximately $32 million. The ongoing Picton Main Street Phase 3 Reconstruction Project (cost estimate $7.8 million approved for 2024) is technically also the urban portion of CR49, and will be combined into the project moving forward.

Chief Administrative Officer Marcia Wallace updated council on the efforts of the working group, (consisting of Mayor Steve Ferguson and councillors Chris Braney, Dave Harrison, Brad Neiman and Phil St.-Jean) noting an application has been made for provincial funding under the Housing-Enabling Core Services Fund.

She noted she was pleased staff was able to think differently and find a way to match the County’s need to fix CR49 to the provincial funding application requirement to enable housing.

“Under this program, municipalities can receive funding for road and bridge infrastructure projects which enable new housing. (up to a maximum of $20 million toward a project that will enable new housing development).

Wallace noted that as stated in the application, “County Road 49 (including the final phase of Picton Main Street which represents the urban section of County Road 49) will enable over 2,000 housing units on the east side of Picton over the next 10 to 15 years.”

In 2023, the working group sought donations, making the road a “project of community interest”, for fundraising purposes. No donations have been received.

This year, the municipality also tried to request the “upload” of the road back to the province, after decisions by the province to take over maintenance and repair of municipal roads in Toronto and Ottawa.

CAO Wallace told council “This too, did not receive a favorable reply.”

She noted the Housing Enabling Core Servicing Stream is a $400 million provincial fund available to municipalities to fund the construction, maintenance or repair of road and bridge infrastructure which enable new housing opportunities.

Housing, she noted, is the key condition.

“Given the importance of CR49 as the primary access point for homes on the eastern side of Picton, in buildout projections, staff have calculated that rehabilitation of CR49 would unlock approximately 2,000 planned housing units (as projected until 2031) on the eastern side of Picton, including:
• Base31 – 7,500 dwelling units
• Vineridge – 430 dwelling units
• Wellings – 26 dwelling units
• Cosmopolitan – 164 dwelling units
• Tulip – 325 dwelling units
• Fawcetteville – 85 dwelling units
• Long Term Care Home – 160 beds

The municipality submitted its funding application through the Transfer Payment Ontario (TPON) system on the Oct. 18, 2024 deadline. The municipality does not expect to hear the results until late 2024 or early 2025.

However, funding approval from the province, and the already allocated municipal contribution, will not be enough.

“This is an application where we completely fit the criteria,” Wallace told council. “And we’re hearing positive things that this is the kind of project they want to fund. So we’re in a different place to go have a federal conversation. But absolutely, your treasurer and CEO are going to tread very carefully, if in the next three months there isn’t a sunny prospect of federal funding, or any other funding Fairy Godmother that might land in our lap.”

The total project cost for County Road 49 – including the reconstruction work under way now at the urban end at Picton Main – is $52.3 million (including a 25 per cent contingency, but does not include the underground water-wastewater work required on the Phase 3 portion of Main Street, which was funded by the rate-supported budget in 2024).

County Road 49 has severe joint and slab failures, cracking, and polishing of the surface. The average weekly cost of patch repairs, including material, equipment, vehicles and staffing is approximately $1,360 weekly or $70,720 annually.

Wallace’s report reminded the municipal five-year road improvement plan, which sets out what roads will be rehabilitated over the next five years, does not include CR49 given the overwhelming expense.