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City postpones decision on funding Baywood Rd.

Upgrades to Baywood Rd. will forge ahead as scheduled. The City of Cold Lake postponed their decision to assist the MD of Bonnyville with funding this year’s portion of the Baywood Rd. project.
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The City of Cold Lake is hoping residents will take the time to fill out their survey.

Upgrades to Baywood Rd. will forge ahead as scheduled.

The City of Cold Lake postponed their decision to assist the MD of Bonnyville with funding this year’s portion of the Baywood Rd. project.

According to Mayor Craig Copeland, the city’s conclusion has a lot to do with the changes to the ID 349 agreement.

“We deferred the decision to a future meeting. We delayed the decision because we want to have a bigger discussion on it,” he explained. “It all ties in to the $10-million reduction in our 2018 capital, and I think it’s related to the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range funding for the city.”

Copeland added, the city still fully supports the MD completing the road this summer, however they’re “going to have a further look at this later on in the year.”

“Right now, our 2018 budget is pretty fixed. A lot of projects were said no to. We will bring it back in the end of May for further discussion,” he continued.

A letter from the MD of Bonnyville had sparked the recent discussion at the city’s council meeting on Feb. 27.

It overviewed the work that was finished in 2017, and highlighted what was left on the project.

The second phase, which was finished last summer, cost the MD approximately $1.7-million. They estimated the third and final phase, which is expected to finish this year, will cost $1.2-million.

The MD of Bonnyville owns Baywood Rd., but because city residents utilize it heavily, originally the two municipalities agreed to work together on the project.

“This project goes back to 2014. Initially, the MD and Cold Lake had gone together on a federal grant, which would have done that road as an infrastructure upgrade. That failed to go through,” explained MD Reeve Greg Sawchuk.

The intent, at the time, was to jointly fund the project because it’s considered a route shared by the municipalities.

Sawchuk said Cold Lake residents often use it as a throughfare from the south side of the city to the north, and vice-versa.

“Baywood Rd. is a critical road for everybody. It’s considered a bit of a shortcut in some cases, but everybody uses it,” Copeland agreed.

When the grant funding fell-through, the MD decided to go ahead with the project regardless, and is expecting to wrap it up this summer.

“The need was there. The road was in a poor state and it really needed the upgrade,” Sawchuk expressed.

Using their own resources, they were able to cut back on costs, with the project in its entirety estimated at $3.7-million.

In 2016, the city contributed $167,200 towards phase one of the project. This covered about one-kilometre of the 4.5-kilometre road.

“The issue for us right now, is back when we committed, we didn’t realize the province was going to make such a dramatic change to our sustainability funding. Our hope is the province will change their mind and reinstate the Air Weapons Range funding to the city. We’re just pausing our commitment on the Baywood Rd. for now,” Copeland added.

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