It's definitely not about the money. That's one thing they're clear about right from the beginning. In fact, they don't know yet what is actually going to be offered in terms of dollars if expropriation of their land is coming.
What really concerns brothers Don and Dave Gallaway is their belief that the proposed commercial truck bypass that has been promised for Estevan and area for several years now, has been ill-conceived and poorly planned. The bypass is pretty well dissecting their lives as well as the lives and livelihoods of several of their rural neighbours. The proposed bypass affects at least 26 other rural landowners in the immediate region.
If the bypass was planned a little further north of the current proposed route, those affected by expropriation or land negotiations would be cut by two-thirds, said Dave.
"The way it is now, it's affecting our health and well being, not just us, but a lot of other farmers," said Don.
Meeting for separate interviews with The Mercury this past week, the Gallaways admitted they were, by nature, fairly laid back and not interested in any great deal of public exposure. But the impending expropriation of some of their land, the manner in which it is being done and the aftermath of the move, has provoked them to make their issue a public one. They don't believe they are alone. A letter to the editor from a group of local landowners in this edition, supports that claim.
"We haven't heard or talked with a representative from Highways and Infrastructure since this spring," said Dave. "We have had a few back and forth e-mails," but nothing substantive.
"So it's not about money at this stage, it's about the route. They are destroying our farms, ruining our homes and in the end, they'll be doing it to build a road that they'll be throwing away in a few years."
The current proposed bypass has the highway running through the middle of their land base and what disturbs them even more, is the fact they won't be able to access the land from the home quarter without having to take the farm equipment one or two miles down the bypass route, provided they can get on it. Currently they can do it by simply crossing the highway, a journey of a few metres.
"It affects all our land where the houses are, where the grain is stored," said Dave.
Others are going to suffer the same fate.
"The first land severance offer I received on a quarter section of land was one-tenth of what SaskPower pays for power line access, but again, it's not money that's an issue, we're just wanting to be able to get on the rest of our land after they've taken what they need," said Dave. "We've offered to work with them from Day One, but they don't seem to be wanting to work with us."
"Of the original 26 landowners affected, only 12 have signed an agreement with Highways and I've heard some of those did so quite reluctantly. They wanted it to be over with. The other 14, representing about 75 per cent of the land in question, did not sign," said Don. "We don't want to stop a truck route, but they're heading into expropriation when three of us on the west end didn't even have an original offer."
The Gallaways wondered out loud during the two separate interviews how the ministry could be filing expropriation notices while telling certain landowners that their lands would be undergoing re-appraisals saying it doesn't make sense.
"There was some discussion regarding compensation for cutting off access to our land, but really, it was kind of pitiful," said Don, who figured that the highways team would be wanting up to 60 acres in total of his producing land, but wasn't sure since the negotiations have been vague up to this point.
"If Highway 39 becomes a divided highway, which is what they're talking about now, access will be even more limited, and with Estevan expected to grow rapidly on the north side. Where will everyone be in 10 years?" he added.
In Dave's case, the bypass would cut through the middle of two quarter sections of land.
"On the throwaway portion, they're only going to take enough for a two-lane bypass. On the rest of it, they're taking enough land to accommodate four lanes," he said.
"I don't know. There is so much wrong with this plan, and we've talked with so many different people from Highways, and they're not being consistent with their messages. The City of Estevan hears one story, CPR hears something else and the RM council hears another story and we, as the landowners, we get a whole different message," Dave added.
The first land appraisal he heard about, "came out pretty much what they (highways) wanted it to be, but once again, we're only talking about the plan right now. It seems as if they have taken that old plan and design from 2006 and reworked it. So much has changed since then. On the safety side alone there are lots of issues too many issues. I know there have been city planners and engineers not involved in this discussion who have taken a look at this plan, and they just shake their heads," Dave said.
The brothers said after a couple of years of silence, they've decided to make their concerns public.
"Nothing else has worked," said Dave. "We believe it's important for the people to know what they're getting and it seems as if the ministry has their minds made up and that's what they're going to tell us over and over. If they moved the bypass further north, it would still be intersecting our land, but it would be a lot less cumbersome for pretty well everyone. We'd be a lot easier to deal with.
"Even the process of pulling the Pioneer grain loading trains off and loading them, it's a 20-minute delay and Pioneer says that happens one or two times a week plus there are all those daily trains going through that would intersect the bypass. We also see, hear and feel all the trucks that go by already. We know the importance of a truck route, but we also know the importance of getting a truck route that is safe, one that won't kill people. This isn't one," Dave said.
A call to the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure on Sept. 30 for information regarding re-appraisals, timing of expropriation processes and the overall plan, had not been returned as of Tuesday morning.
