The Town of Battleford planned to get $1 million worth of street improvements on the way this year, but some Riverbend area property owners have petitioned against work planned for their area.
Monday evening, it was reported to council that of the eight asphalt overlay projects planned for the Riverbend area, four would have to be put on hold. The petitions for those areas had been proven valid, meaning more than 50 per cent of the property owners had petitioned against having the work done.
Petitions that were determined to be valid apply to Janet Place, 4th Avenue West from Riverbend Crescent to 35th Street, Gabruch Crescent and 3rd Avenue from 35th Street to Riverbend Crescent. The Town may not attempt to undertake the project for 12 months after the date on which the petition was certified.
Petitions that were not found valid, meaning the local improvement work can go ahead, affect Riverbend Crescent from 5th Avenue to 25th Street, 37th Street from 4th Avenue West to Gabruch Crescent, 36th Street from 4th Avenue West to 3rd Avenue West and Janet Drive from Riverbend Crescent to 38th Street.
"When you look at the numbers," said Mayor Derek Mahon, "they are not overwhelmingly in favour."
He suggested an informational meeting should be set up so the people from the Riverbend area can come in and discuss their street with the engineers who have determined the work should be done. They can find out more about what kind of work is recommended to be done, including the difference between micro-surfacing and the more expensive asphalt overlay, as well as the funding model for the projects he said.
Chair of the municipal services committee, David George, said he was disappointed with the petition, especially considering costs are continuing to rise.
"Some of these streets are in disrepair," said George. "They need some major work done and it would have been a great time with the 60/40 split."
George was referring to the Town's plan to use part of its share of a $2 billion a year federal Gas Tax Program to pay 60 per cent of the $774,000 project.
"It is a pretty generous offer," he said, "because at some point in time there may not be funds available to do a 60/40 split and maybe the people will be responsible for the whole 100 per cent at some time."
He admitted, however, that perhaps the Town hadn't done its due diligence in getting more information out to the public on what it was planning and why. He agreed with the mayor's call for an open house on the local improvement plans, the sooner the better.
A meeting will probably be arranged for September, depending on when representatives from the town's engineering firm, Catterall and Wright of Saskatoon, can be available.
Meanwhile, the local improvements planned for the south side of town are going ahead. These are super micro surfacing street upgrades on 20th Street from 1st Avenue West to Central Avenue, 18th Street from 2nd Avenue West to Central Avenue, 17th Street from 2nd Avenue West to 1st Avenue East, 1st Avenue East from 18th Street (property line of Block 62, Lot 20) to north of 18th Street (cul de sac) and 1st Avenue East from 17th Street to 18th Street.
A bylaw passed June 17 authorizes the work and Monday council accepted a tender of $260,050, excluding GST from G&C Asphalt Ltd. (Later in the meeting, G&C was also awarded another $33,727.50 contract for some paving on 15th Street that is not part of the local improvement plan.)
Before any of the street improvements can be done, however, other preparations have to be completed.
"There's a number of activities that have to take place before we can move forward," said the mayor. "One of them is camering the sewer mains, checking out the status of the water infrastructure running along these streets."
That work has been started on the south end of town, but none has been done yet in the Riverbend area. Some of those streets have sewers in the range of 20 feet deep, said Mahon.
"If you have to dig up a six metre sewer in Battleford, in the sand, you kind of have to go curb to curb," he said, "so we have to take the time and due diligence to ensure everything is in good order before moving forward."
