A local business owner hopes the new municipal government will fix the roads by Rose Beach Line because she is losing a lot of money due to closures.
Sherry Lines is the owner of Sherry's Country Corner Cafe located at New Scotland Line and Kent Bridge Road. She said her, along with local residents, are frustrated over road closures in the area.
According to Lines, New Scotland Line has been closed down for almost seven months with the only detour being dirt roads, which she claimed weren't being taken care of by the municipality. The business owner said due to erosion Rose Beach Line is now closed and the remaining options to get around it simply aren't acceptable.
"A lot of our customers used to be able to come right down the road to come for breakfast or lunch, but now they have to go around and take dirt roads that are full of potholes and they're telling me 'we're not coming anymore because our car is getting knocked out of line," Lines said. "I'm losing business hand over fist and then we find out Rose Beach Line is closed and directing traffic away from the restaurant."
Lines took to social media Tuesday to voice her concerns, posting a picture on Facebook of a sign she put up on her cafe reading "We have two roads closed. Does CK Care? Hell No!"
Lines said while she is still frustrated she was pleasantly surprised Thursday afternoon when she came into her restaurant to find mayor elect, Darrin Canniff, along with other councillors and administration. According to Lines they showed up to talk about the situation and promised to rectify it as soon as possible.
Canniff said he and other councillors had already planned on visiting the area to talk about the closures and added the key to the visit was communication.
"If people know what's going on we can talk about that and it gives them a sense of comfort," Canniff said. "In the situation here, people had no idea when it was going to be fixed, so that was the whole idea of coming out here and saying 'this is what's going on.'"
According to Canniff construction will start Tuesday and will be done before Christmas, weather permitting. The mayor elect said crews were supposed to be out this week working on the roads, but the weather interfered with those plans.
He added the reason it took so long was due to the process the municipality has to take before it can start working on infrastructure. A process Canniff said will have to be reviewed.
"Six to seven months taking out a significant road is unacceptable," Canniff said. "How can we develop a process that will shorten that time significantly? Given that we have 19,000 culverts in here, we can expect at some point something will happen to one of them that's not anticipated."
Lines said she will be closing the restaurant after Sunday for a few weeks, but after the visit from Canniff and others, she is feeling a lot better about the situation.
"I have lots of faith now because they actually came down, they took pictures and a video," Lines said. "They said it is supposed to be done by years end, so we will see."