The City of Cold Lake will be going ahead with a submission for the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), regardless of the grant's changes in funding.
During their regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 11, council agreed to submit their intention to use some of their Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) monies for their ICIP project.
If the project meets the ICIP requirements, the MSI, which would be the province's contribution, would cover one-third of the cost, while the federal government and municipality would pick up the balance.
The city would be responsible for just over $800,000, while the federal government would contribute $1.2-million, leaving the province with just shy of $1-million left to cover.
Andrew Serba, manager of strategic initiatives for the city, said out of the projects they sent to the province in their ICIP expression of interest, they seemed to show the most interest in the Kinosoo Beach enhancements.
“The government has made it clear, however, although provincial money is required in order to access the ICIP grant monies, no new provincial revenue will be made available to municipalities in order to do so,” Serba noted. “In the Kinosoo Beach enhancement application, Cold Lake submitted a total project budget of $3-million. In order to proceed with the grant application, we would be required to inform the province that the city intends to use MSI in order to fulfill that one-third obligation."
CAO Kevin Nagoya recommended council "carry the torch a little further and see where this goes."
Coun. Vicky Lefebvre wondered if the city could go ahead with the project with or without ICIP funding.
Nagoya confirmed that this stage of the Kinosoo Beach enhancements is scalable, because it includes upgrades to the east such as sidewalks and boardwalks.
Council agreed to inform the province they would use their MSI funding, should the project be approved.
“i think the document for the Kinosoo Beach expansion speaks for itself, and that's why the province looked at it and said ‘wow, here’s a vision,’” expressed Mayor Craig Copeland.
