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At Morinville Council

LAV III moves back to leisure centre as MCHS students get set to head to the international Envirothon with council help. Also, still no fireworks for Morinville.

LAV III moved back

Town council waved a white flag last week on its decision to move the proposed LAV III monument after it learned doing so might torpedo the whole project.

Morinville council voted 5-2 last June 11 to rescind a previously passed motion to place the proposed LAV III monument by the Hwy. 642/Range Road 252 intersection. Councilors Rebecca Balanko and Nicole Boutestein were opposed.

The Rotary Club of Morinville is leading a roughly $450,000 effort to place a decommissioned LAV III vehicle on the town’s leisure centre grounds to serve as a monument to Canada’s military efforts in Afghanistan.

The original concept plan for the leisure centre grounds placed the monument next to the Morinville Leisure Centre parking lot. Last April, council voted 5-2 to put it by the Hwy. 642/RR 252 intersection instead.

Gordon Putnam, speaking on behalf of the Rotary Club, told council last week that the club and its partners “pumped the brakes” on the monument when they heard of this change through a reporter with the Gazette.

“We don’t think it works in that southeast corner,” he told council.

One of the project’s requirements is that the monument be illuminated, and there’s no power at that site for lights, Putnam said. Nor was there easy access for students or people in wheelchairs. The lands around that corner were also years away from development, meaning the monument would be sitting in an empty field.

Putnam said Rotary and its partners had spent hundreds of hours on this project and made commitments based on the idea that the monument would go by the leisure centre.

“If you move us to the southwest, we’re probably not proceeding.”

Council’s decision to rescind that April motion moves the LAV III back to its original spot by the parking lot.

Putnam said in an interview that the project team was pleased with council’s decision and was now moving full-steam ahead to raise the remaining $150,000 needed for the project. The team hopes to have the monument in place by June 2020.

No fireworks, again

Morinville won’t have a fireworks show this Canada Day because town officials still haven’t found a place to launch them.

Town officials announced last week that there would not be a fireworks display during this year’s Canada Day celebrations because they could not find an appropriate launch site for it.

Fireworks at November’s Lite Up the Night festival were cancelled for the same reason.

While the town has long launched fireworks near the Ray McDonald Sports Centre or Morinville Public School, town events and cultural co-ordinator Ryan Telfer said staffers reviewed federal and provincial safety regulations following last year’s Canada Day show and determined those sites did not meet the town’s standards.

“It’s all about safety,” he said.

“With fireworks, when they go wrong, they go wrong bad.”

There aren’t many spots in town that meet safety codes and are accessible to a large audience, Telfer said. The town thought it had a winner with the ball diamonds up north, but Alberta Transportation said that site was too close to Hwy. 2. The field behind the Morinville Leisure Centre is listed as the town’s fireworks launch site in leisure centre grounds concept plan, but that field is still under construction.

Telfer said the town would use the fireworks cash to bring in an escape room, the ETS Pipe & Drum band and other entertainment for Canada Day.

Canada Day is July 1. See morinville.ca for the schedule of events.

Envirothon grant

Town council has thrown its support behind four Morinville high school students so they can represent Alberta at an international environmental tournament.

Council voted unanimously June 11 to provide the Morinville Community High School Envirothon team with a $1,000 sponsorship so they could attend the 2019 NCF-Envirothon finals in North Carolina this summer.

The Envirothon is an international tournament run by the National Conservation Foundation that tasks students to apply their skills to real-world soil, water, wildlife, forestry, and environmental challenges for a shot at cash prizes.

MCHS Envirothon team spokesperson Emma Van Brabant said this was the first time that the school had participated in this tournament, and that they took second at the Alberta Envirothon back in May. Recently, the first place team at the Alberta Envirothon said they wouldn’t be able to make to the finals and asked if MCHS wanted to go instead.

The finals are an international event that will host teams from across Canada, the U.S. and China, Van Brabant said. While they won’t qualify for prizes as they won’t have a full five-person team (one of their teammates can’t make the trip), the team hoped to reach the podium this year and return as a full squad next year.

“It’s a really great opportunity for us as students to learn more about our environment,” Van Brabant said.

The Envirothon finals are this July 28 to Aug. 2 in Raleigh, North Carolina.


Kevin Ma

About the Author: Kevin Ma

Kevin Ma joined the St. Albert Gazette in 2006. He writes about Sturgeon County, education, the environment, agriculture, science and aboriginal affairs. He also contributes features, photographs and video.
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