Regional council raises concern over long grass lining some regional roads

The grass may be greener on the other side but only if you can see it.

That’s been part of the problem around the Region of Waterloo of late, grass so long along some regional roads you can’t see what’s on the other side let alone what might be hidden within.

The grass has now grown so long, in fact, it’s become a safety issue raised during a Planning and Works Committee meeting.

“The grass, I mean, there was a portion of Westmount Road where, quite frankly, you couldn’t see the fire hydrants because the grass was higher than the fire hydrants–which is a concern,” said Berry Vrbanovic.

The Kitchener mayor said he’s been fielding complaints from residents but he’s also seen the issue for himself while behind the wheel of his own vehicle.

“To be honest with you, in my time, I’ve never seen the problem as extensive as it is this year,” he added. “So something seems to be off and I’m not sure what’s happened with our contractor in that regard.”

Regional staff, meantime, responded to say there is indeed something a little different this year.

“The high grass is a result of the decision that was made to reduce the budget for grass cutting,” said Mathieu Goetke, commissioner of transportation services with the Region of Waterloo.

As part of the most recent budget process, regional council opted to slash the grass cutting budget in half. That reduced spending to $100,000 from $200,000 but it also meant reducing the number of cuts per season to six, from 12.

Goetke continued to say staff will now look to see what more can be done in-house to deal with sightline and safety issues. He said they’ll also look at how much it might cost now to re-add some additional trims.

Vrbanovic, meantime, also asked for a more detailed update from staff ahead of the next round of budget talks.

“There’s certain basic things that the community looks for us to do; plow the streets, cut the grass, pick up our garbage,” he said. “Those are the core services that citizens expect and we really need to make sure that we can tackle those.”