Residents living along Blatz Road in Hanover are not giving up their fight for a better road. But, Waldon Reimer says it is time that Hanover Council listens to their concerns.

A delegation of residents appeared before Hanover Council in 2020, requesting the municipality make improvements to their road. On December 1st, Hanover issued a letter to area residents, proposing the same sort of cost-share agreement as residents of Pansy were offered back in 2018. Back then, ratepayers banded together to raise more than $125,000 through private donations and fundraising, working out to 20 per cent of the total project cost.

Hanover's Engineering and Public Works department has inspected the two-mile length of Blatz Road needing a full reconstruction and surfacing to the current standards. It is expected to cost approximately $1,125,000. That means, if the residents raise pledges in the amount of $225,000, Council will consider the project.

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Reimer says it feels like the municipality has an agenda. He notes they seem to be tied to the fact that Manitoba Infrastructure is planning improvements for Highway 52 through Mitchell, and that these improvements are standing in the way of upgrading Blatz Road.

Reimer says they are requesting an in-person meeting with the municipality, not a virtual meeting online.

"The general consensus, is everybody is willing to do something, as far as some kind of contribution towards this," says Reimer. "We don't have the numbers, we don't know because we don't know what each individual is willing to contribute."

Reimer says the group is also largely against the idea of turning that road back into gravel.

"We purchased these properties because we had pavement, that's the reason we purchased them," he says. "And now to take it away from us would devalue our properties."

Reimer says if this was any other paved road in Hanover, there would be great objection from residents if the municipality stated that their road was being turned back to gravel.

Further to that, he says there is a lot of traffic down that road and a lot of walkers in the area. Reimer says turning it to gravel would make it a very dusty road and discourage people from walking.

Reimer adds it is the opinion of residents that making improvements to those two miles is not as big a project as the municipality makes it sound. He notes portions already have a great base and they would not need to rebuild the full two miles.

Meanwhile, Hanover Council has said it will discuss what to do with this matter, later this month.