You Are Right...Up To A Point

"Aurora's homeowners are paying for the Region's project." And so are Vaughan's residents, and Richmond Hill's, and Markham's and so on. I would think they should be more pissed than Aurora's residents. We do not live in a vacuum. I submit to you however that the majority of these residents have a valid complaint. Some of these houses were built in a time when Bathurst was a 2 lane road, not the 4 lane aterial roadway it is now. The environment was changed on them, they did not buy with the environment as it is now. I do not blame the homeowner - as you do here. on Facts For The Record

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Residents of the Region are all entitled to be pissed off by the Region's spending policies. 
Homeowners are entitled to put forward their  interest to  government.
I  speak only for residents of Aurora.
I do not blame residents for bringing concerns forward.They have that right. 
I would cry too if it happened to me.
My criticism is  reserved for the  Region and the decision they made.
It doesn't end now. The acoustic fence will have to be maintained. In another twenty years, it will likely have to be replaced  at public expense again.
Had the  Region required developers to build acoustic fencing at the time of building, the cost would have  been bourne by home-owners.
Done now. it  should be a local improvement. Under the town's jurisdiction.
A local improvement  has two benefits. Those who want the improvement pay for it. It's done at their request. Seventy-five per cent of participating property-owners have to approve.
That way,benefit is measured against cost and  property-owners make their own judgement about the value. 
Bathurst Street was re-constructed in the  mid seventies when the Province was sharing the cost at 50cents on the dollar.
Two lanes were  paved but full width was taken and the design provided for  increased lanes..
It was a  preferred option toYonge Street.
Homes built  twenty years ago and  development since, have  increased the  traffic and the need to add lanes.
Homebuyers in urban Aurora  had no reason to expect  it was or  would continue to be a country road.
The fact the urban boundary ends on Aurora's  side is areason that mitigates against the Region's decision to take responsibility for fencing.
In the foreseeable future, the west side of Bathurst will NOT be developed.
NO  urban traffic will emanate from there. 
Gravel roads are not urbanized without urban traffic.
Bathurst pavement  ends at Green Lane with,I think, East Gwillimbury on one side and King on the other; both rural municipalities.
With respect, just because former city-dwellers  come  to live in a small urban municipality surrounded by rural  townships, doesn't mean they don't have the responsibility to learn something about the nature of the place where  they  have chosen to make a major  property investment.
The Region, in accommodating a special interest group under our very noses  has not served  us or them well.
I shudder to think what they are doing where we are not watching.
How do they justify two billion dollars worth of debt?  .