Hold Off on All Driveway Repairs

Are you planning on redoing your driveway over the next few months? If so, please postpone those repairs until 2012. This has been suggested by City staff at the Transportation and Works Department -- and it applies to everyone in the Birch Glen neighbourhood area.


The reason for this suggestion is threefold and it involves our streets being dug up sometime over the next few months.


1. The Region of Peel is planning to replace all of the watermains in the neighbourhood starting (we understand) sometime this year. We are expecting to learn soon when that work will begin -- but we know that it will continue for some months after it begins since they will likely work in sections moving around the neighbourhood until it is completed.


2. Bell Canada is expected to be coming into the neighbourhood to replace existing cables with the new fibre optic cable technology. This will likely also involve digging up the streets to install the new cables. We are hoping that this will be done at the same time as the Region is in doing the watermains, and have suggested to the City that someone work on coordinating the efforts of both the Region of Peel and Bell Canada.


3. After the Region and Bell have completed their installations, the Transportation & Works Department of the City of Mississauga will be coming in to repave all of the streets in Birch Glen. This will involve removing the existing paving and curbs and laying down new asphalt on the streets and putting in new curbs. It will also involve the repaving of the boulevard portions of every driveway in the neighbourhood. At the same time, they will be replacing some of the sidewalks in the neighbourhood, which will also involve approximately 1 foot of the driveway on the property side of the sidewalk. We will be informed of the timing and extent of the work a few weeks before the City comes in to start the work on the street.


We have reported some of this to you in the newsletter earlier this year. However, we still do not have information on when this will begin or when it will end. If you have already contacted a contractor to do your driveway, may we suggest that you ask him to hold off on the work until the City has completed all of its repaving.


Once the work has begun, individual homeowners -- including those who have already redone their driveways -- will be able to talk to the City's paving contractor to discuss what can be done in their specific driveways. However, the City will not be able to replace any brick or concrete on the driveways. The boulevard portions will only be done in asphalt.


If you have any questions, please get in touch with us immediately either through this blog, by email or phone.