There was some last minute debate on the Town of Drayton Valley’s budget for next year before it was passed at the Town’s Dec. 22 meeting.
Before council passed the capital budget, Town administration offered more details on the 50 Ave rehabilitation project.
The project, originally budgeted at $2.1 million, presented two options. Option A was to resurface the road, build new gutters, and replace the swales from 50 Street to Beckett Road. Option B would be to build a whole new storm drain from 50 Street to 43 Street that is more in line with modern standards.
As described by Town administration, the current storm drain has been in service since 1978, has a collection of pipes of varying width, and two, 90 degree bends. Officials say this all adds up to turn 50 Ave into a veritable river whenever a one-in-five-year storm occurs.
Upon further review, administration determined it would be a much bigger project than initially thought, and could run up to $10 million. Administration warned that going ahead with it could result in delays to other more critical projects.
One of the projects that would be delayed is the expansion of Drayton Valley’s landfill. Without the expansion, it would cost the Town around $250,000 per month to ship their garbage to another landfill.
In light of this new information, council voted to remove the project from the capital budget. Administration will be producing a new figure for patching 50 Ave and doing a study for a proper and lasting solution to be presented at a later date.
Upon the passing of the budget, Mayor Nancy Dodds took a moment to highlight the budget, which included the last-minute addition of a waterslide and a bouldering wall to the new aquatic centre.
“I know that we received a lot of letters of support asking for it, and e-mails and things of that nature from the community, so they will be very excited to hear that the waterslide will be part of that,” said Dodds.
Even though it has been approved in the budget, Dodds reminded the community that the Town still needs their support to make it happen.
“We also still want to encourage organizations, groups, businesses, and individuals in the community to still continue to be fundraising and sending their donations to support the waterslide and any other pieces of this very important project,” said Dodds.
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