The Town of Bonnyville won't be footing the bill for upgrades to the Iron Horse Trail following the construction of the regional waterline.
Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski and Coun. Ray Prevost met with representatives of Muni-corr on Monday, Sept. 11, to discuss the waterline and its future impact on the Iron Horse Trail.
Town council revisited the discussion during their regular meeting Tuesday, Sept. 12.
Muni-corr had voiced concerns over potential damage to the trail during the construction of the waterline, and raised questions regarding the restoration process.
“There are a few members of their committee that have the impression there should be a cost associated with putting the waterline in. The cost will be reciprocal. They won't charge a dollar, but they want an upgraded trail,” detailed Sobolewski.
The Iron Horse Trail originally met Muni-corr requirements, but under new standards developed in 2006, parts of the trail are starting to fall short.
According to Sobolewski, Muni-corr is viewing the waterline project as the perfect opportunity to rectify those shortcomings.
“Since that time in 2006, they have elected to develop standards around what they want their trails to look like,” said Sobolewski. “They literally said, ‘okay you're going to put your waterline in, here's exactly what you're going to put back.' My comment was there's going to be objection to that.”
Prevost, who sits on the Muni-corr committee, isn't afraid to choose sides on the issue. Much like Sobolewski, he's not prepared to have upgrades to the trail funded through the waterline project.
“I'm not sitting well with my colleagues over there, but I sit on the Cold Lake Regional Utility Services Commission (CLRUSC) as well, representing Bonnyville. I can't support upgrading the trail above what it is,” he stated.
The government grant being used to fund the waterline project covers 90 per cent of the cost, with municipalities claiming responsibility for the remaining 10 per cent.
Under this format, if upgrades to the trail were included in the funding, the town would have to cover 10 per cent of the cost.
“This has been on the books for 17 years, and the pricing for this has been around since between 2007 and 2009. If there was $2-million of work that needed to go in to meet Muni-corr standards, essentially the town would have to pay $200,000 of that,” detailed Sobolewski.
Muni-corr wouldn't confirm the extent they were asking the trail to be upgraded. However, they did state that they're willing to work with the involved municipalities to craft the best possible plan for restoration.
“We're just following standard procedure that we do with any waterline construction,” said Marianne Janke, administrative coordinator for Muni-corr. “Northeast Muni-corr works with the municipalities to mitigate the disturbance along the right of way, and to ensure that we have a reasonable plan between all parties as to what the restoration will look like.”
Currently, engineers for the waterline project have taken restoration into account, but an already tight budget means extra work is unlikely to be funded.
Sobolewski agreed, the trail should and would be put back to its original state. However, he made it clear upgrades to the trail will not be included in the project budget.
“If they're expecting funds to be approved through this project, the budget is already tight enough. I was very honest with them, I didn't mince words, it's just not going to happen,” he said.
Muni-corr will meet with engineers on the waterline project this week, where they will discuss restoration expectations.
Though both parties want to provide the best possible trail to Lakeland residents, Sobolewski explained the regional waterline project isn't the way to achieve that goal.
“There hasn't been an issue with the trail until now. This is one of the first times they have spoken-up and said ‘we need these areas fixed.' I can see where they're coming from, but I think there needs to be a different mechanism for acquiring the necessary funding.”
