Purpose: Deteriorating road conditions on Toni Avenue and Amelinda Crescent combined with a lack of municipal maintenance continuously and regularly are causing damage to vehicles, safety issues for the school buses travelling on these roads and have a high potential to cause harm to the children and residents living on these two roads. School buses are unable to travel up Toni Avenue regularly due to lack of paving and irregular maintenance of these roads, while the number of damaged vehicles continues to climb and personal injury from walking becoming a legitimate concern With required servicing from school buses, waste services and other emergency services which are increasing the roads in their current state can no longer safely meet the pressures of growth and demand. 

For Toni Avenue specifically, it is our understanding that HRM submitted the J class road to the province for paving in 2022 when it was downloaded but the province hasn’t agreed. Since private roads are no longer allowed in new community developments (Policy S-26 of Regional Plan), we strongly believe that we now more than ever need alignment between the HRM and province, and action to escalate the urgency around the paving and more frequent commitment to the maintenance of these roads. We want to avoid another serious incident from occurring such as the one that occurred this past winter when a school bus turning from Toni Avenue onto Amelinda Crescent went into the ditch and hit a tree because of poor road conditions. The Children were shaken up and scared by this experience and could have been injured. With more development happening in this area and young families moving into the neighborhood it is critical that something changes. 

The current lack of ownership of the Amelinda and the upper part of Toni road since the previous developer and “owner” has been deliberately non-responsive. Per Councillor Lovelace’s HRM Request for Council Conderation dated February 6, 2024 the following was noted:

“In HRM there are many property owners who live on private roads where the owner of the road can’t be located, is unknown, or refuses to respond to road maintenance requests, and where the roadway infrastructure and stormwater drainage system continue to deteriorate without adequate maintenance, cause issues for public stormwater infrastructure, pose safety concerns for those living on the street, visitors and service vehicles, including emergency services”.

Remedy Sought: HRM and the province align and agree to committing to paving Toni Avenue and Amelinda Crescent including taking over municipal ownership of Amelinda Crescent with regular street and stormwater (ditch) maintenance including winter snow removal and sanding and overall upkeep of the roads. 

Start Date: As soon as possible.