The unexpected approval of a $2.3 million conditional grant to the Town of Bonnyville is expected to force some tough decisions on the town's capital projects list.
The town was informed in April that it had secured the grant under the province's Resource Road Program for a proposal to upgrade 4.2 kilometres of 54th Avenue, all the way from the west edge of town by the Neighbourhood Inn to its junction with Highway 28 by Tim Hortons.
The total cost of the project was estimated to be about $5.6 million when the town applied for the grant in November 2009.
The problem for town officials now is to figure out where roughly $3.3 million to do the work not covered by the grant will come from. The town hasn't set aside any cash for its share at this point, so that means doing the project would require either an unplanned hike in taxes or use of funds earmarked for other infrastructure projects.
“We were shocked we got approval,” said Mark Power, the town's chief administrative officer, in summing up reaction to the grant.
The town hasn't even spent money on engineering work for the project to date.
The province likely found 54th Avenue to be an attractive road for funding because it carries a growing volume of truck traffic around the town and keeps it off a busy stretch of Highway 28/50th Avenue.
While the eastern end of the road primarily requires another layer of pavement, the western end from the Neighbourhood Inn property to 55th Street requires significant basework in addition to pavement. As well, deep utilities aren't completely installed under the road for its western section. The western end of the road currently requires regular attention from a grade, and its used by large trucks to access bulk fuel dealers.
Power brought the issue to council for discussion and direction, offering the view that the town should try to do what it can to access the “fifty cent dollars” from the province rather than pass them up.
He also noted the town has planned to spend about $5 million through 2013 to fix drainage problems and improve the road network to a paved standard in the North Point industrial subdivision north of the Iron Horse Trail.
When the project was conceived, it was anticipated that $1.5 million of that cost would be covered by local improvement levies on property owners, based on their frontages in the area. As well, the town has lined up about $1.3 million in other sources of cash for North Point — some of that is provincial grant money and some would come from the MD of Bonnyville.
“The economy has changed quite a bit from when we originally planned to do this project to now,” Power said, adding the rate of development in the subdivision has slowed, and property owners with vacant lots may not have an appetite for local improvement charges.
Given the new grant approval and the possibility North Point property owners may have less of an appetite than they once had for paying for upgrading work in their subdivision, Power suggested the town host a public meeting with landowners to see where they want to go with the project. That may in turn influence what should be done with 54th Avenue.
Council agreed to host a meeting on North Point options, though no date for the meeting had been set as of Thursday.
Council members certainly seemed reluctant to walk away from money for 54th Avenue, with Coun. Linda Storoschuk saying the town can't afford to lose grants.
Power said he would be looking for more details on what 54th Avenue work would be covered by the grant and what might not generate any provincial cash. Generally speaking, resource road grants don't cover options such as curbs or deep utilities such as water and sewer lines, council heard.
