Duane Hicks
After completing Phase I of its Active Transportation Plan more than two years ago, council agreed Monday to submit an application for funding for Phase II and move a step closer to having a trail system throughout the community, as well as linkages between the waterfront and the north- and west-end residential areas.
“Several years ago we completed an active transportation plan. The plan was a generic plan for the town,” Community Services manager George Bell said at Monday’s meeting on the 2010 budget.
“In order to move to the next step, we need quite a bit of additional information, including costing, the impact on the environment, greenhouse gas emissions.
“In order to get that information, we’re looking at another study,” Bell noted, explaining the information would enable the town to apply for various “green” grants and loans that are available and move ahead with implementing various recommendation in the initial plan.
Bell said the town is eligible to apply for funding under the recently-announced Healthy Communities Fund.
The estimated cost of the plan is $20,000, of which 80 percent is eligible for funding, meaning the town’s share would be $4,000.
The town would partner with the Northwestern Health Unit.
“I think this is very worthwhile to go forward,” said Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft.
“We need that data if we want to apply for grants,” he stressed.
Coun. Paul Ryan said active transportation is included the town’s strategic plan, and so having the data would be useful when determining whether or not the town can afford to go ahead and implement parts of the plan.
The Phase II study would include the costs of construction and development of the project, calculating environmental benefits and the methodology to measure them, protection and improvement of human health, improvement to quality of life, the impact on economic development, and community revitalization and support.
The idea of a town trail network stems back to 2004, when the local recreation advisory committee sent out a survey to residents asking them what they thought the town needed in terms of recreation options and improvements.
The number-one priority identified was to develop a trail strategy, and a Trail Network Steering Committee was formed.
This was followed by a series of public meetings and open houses regarding a trail system, the input from which was included in an active transportation plan done by consultants Hilderman, Thomas, Frank and Cram.
A final version of their report was submitted to council in December, 2007.
In March, 2008, council agreed to include the active transportation plan in the town’s official plan.
Road repairs
Also at Monday’s budget meeting, council agreed that two local roads will receive surface treatments in this year’s budget.
These include a single application of surfacing on Idylwild Drive from School Road to Lake Road (a first application was done several years ago and a second will increase its longevity), as well as a double application along Fifth Street from west of the Portage Avenue intersection to west of the Wright Avenue intersection.
The Idylwild resurfacing will cost about $25,000 while the Fifth Street job will cost $82,000, plus another $28,000 in in-kind services from the town.
Mayor Roy Avis, who asked that the Fifth Street resurfacing be included in the 2010 budget, said he still supports doing the project this year.
“I realize we’re putting the poor man’s pavement down there because we can’t afford to do any infrastructure,” Coun. Ryan agreed, noting that although the town usually tries to rebuild its roads, sewer and water pipes, and sidewalks all at the same time (like it has with Portage Avenue, for example), it would cost $10 million to do that with Fifth Street.
The town can’t afford it.
“We’ve got to provide a smooth surface out there . . . we’re out there patching every day now,” added Coun. Ryan.
Coun. Wiedenhoeft concurred, adding that while council understands many roads in town need work, Fifth Street is a slightly higher priority because it’s a frequently-used connecting route between one end of town to the other.
Council was prompted to vote on the resolution because the town is required to submit by April 9 a letter to the MTO outlining which roads in the community would be surface treated in the year ahead.
Also Monday, council approved a report to allow furniture to be purchased for the new Fort Frances Public Library and Technology Centre.
This includes computer furniture from BF Workplace ($22,321.59), conference tables from BF Workplace ($14,589.88), lounge furniture from BF Workplace ($21,062.02), and reading tabs from Carr McLean ($9,073.90).
All of this is paid for through grant monies the town received for the new library, and falls within the furniture budget of $111,000.
Some more furniture still will be purchased in the future.
