UPDATE: This story was updated Aug. 10. According to Darlene Hehr, a weed maintenance company was on-site Aug. 8 to cut and spray the weeds with pesticides.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A Crossfield resident is upset by what she sees as a lack of responsibility on the part of various organizations and government bodies regarding a patch of noxious weeds growing near her property.
Darlene Hehr, who lives in a cul-de-sac on the north edge of Crossfield, said some of the weeds growing on an easement near her backyard – which includes a water pipeline from Innisfail – are more than seven feet tall and the patch itself is more than 80 feet wide. Adding to the frustration, she said, is that multiple parties are not claiming ownership of the area.
“I phoned the Town that these weeds were growing and they said they’d get on it right away – which of course, they did not,” Hehr said. “Three calls later, they said, ‘We don’t own that – the developer [Dream Development] owns it.’ So I called them three times.”
After calling the developer, Hehr said she was informed Saskatoon-based Hamm Construction – the company contracted to lay the water pipeline – was responsible for dealing with the weeds. During another call, she was told the weeds were within the provincial government’s jurisdiction.
“I just feel the inaction and the passing of the buck is really annoying,” she said. “This isn’t just stinkweeds – these are serious, noxious weeds. If any farmer had them in their fields, [Rocky View County] would be on them right away.”
Hehr said the easement used to be farmed, but she was told by the farmer he was no longer able to ride his equipment over the land because of the water pipeline.
According to Ken Bosman, Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Crossfield, the responsibility for the weeds lies with the Mountain View Regional Water Services Commission (MVRWSC), a water utilities company that owns and operates the Anthony Henday Water Treatment Plant near Innisfail.
“When the regional water commission twinned the main water line into the town last year, the lands just west of the Harrison subdivision were disturbed and have been overrun with weeds,” Bosman said in a statement. “Despite sustained and repeated requests to the water commission and the contractor, no action was forthcoming.”
An MVRWSC representative said the commission would not comment on the matter, as it is a landowner's issue.
Instead, Bosman said Dream Development – which developed the Vista Crossing community to the west of where the easement is located – has agreed to take care of the weeds. Jim Grandan, vice president of development and general manager, concurred.
“Dream Development recognizes MVRWSC has a right-of-way over Dream’s lands but [we] are very concerned that grassed areas adjacent to existing residents have not been properly restored to the original condition with grass after construction of the waterline by the commission’s contractor last year, which should be a common courtesy,” Grandan said in a statement.
He added the area was “informally adopted” by an adjacent resident and was “looking fantastic” before the construction was done.
“Dream will be remediating the lands as quickly as possible and will work with the Town to recover our costs from the responsible parties at a later date,” he said.
Hehr, upon learning the developer would take care of the issue, said she was pleased to hear someone would step forward, but hopes action will be taken swiftly, before the weeds start to spread seeds throughout the town.
"I just hope it isn't more buck-passing, because this has been going on for months now, and everybody blames everybody else," she said. "It just seems nobody was accepting the responsibility. I'd like to believe this will end soon. It could have been stopped in June."
Scott Strasser, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @scottstrasser19
