Leisure centre opens Monday
Lace up those shoes and skates, Morinville – your shiny new leisure centre is open for business this coming Monday.
The $30-odd million Morinville Leisure Centre will be open to the public as of May 27, reports town community services manager Sharleen Edwards, who oversees the leisure centre.
The roughly 76,000 square-foot facility just east of Morinville features a hockey arena, field house, running track, fitness room, kids’ room, and more. It has been under construction since June 2017.
Edwards said that facility construction was complete as of last Friday, and that crews had already given the ice in the hockey rink a test skate. Staffers gave the facility’s operational procedures a dry run Tuesday and Wednesday.
Anyone who comes to the leisure centre Monday after 6 a.m. and buys a pass can make full use of its facilities, Edwards said.
“We’re hoping lots of people come out to see what’s available.”
Current and former town councillors will hold a brief opening ceremony at the leisure centre at 9 a.m. next Monday, Edwards added. A bigger grand opening party is scheduled for September.
The roughly 66 acres of land around the leisure centre aren’t open yet, but should have some sort of grass/crop cover at least by September, said town public works director Claude Valcourt in an email.
This project has been six years in the making and it’s extremely exciting to finally reach this point, said Morinville Mayor Barry Turner.
“I’ve been in this facility and I’ve seen it constantly change and come together. It’s an awesome community space and I know residents are really going to enjoy it.”
The leisure centre will be open seven days a week (except for holidays) from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Call 780-939-7839 for details.
Leisure centre lights
Town council will spend up to $110,000 this year to light the road to the Morinville Leisure Centre.
There currently aren’t any streetlights along Hwy. 642 between the town’s new rec-centre and its eastern border. Town council and Alberta Transportation had flagged this dark zone as a potential safety concern, and called for it to be lit up.
Fortis Alberta said that it could likely add 10 streetlamps to the eastbound/north side of Hwy. 642 in this area for about $85,000 and have them online by October, Valcourt told council during a meeting last May 14. When council asked if these lights could also cover the proposed walking trail on the north side of the highway, he said he would check if double-headed streetlights could be used.
Council moved to spend up to $110,000 of its safety initiative reserve to install double-headed streetlights along this stretch of road. This leaves the town with about $66,000 in the reserve (which is funded through photo radar cash).
No road fix in sight
There’s still no fix in sight for the rough road that leads up to Morinville’s new leisure centre, council heard last week.
Valcourt gave council an update on the state of Hwy. 642 in town on May 14. The road has been in what Turner has described as “absolutely terrible condition” since August after Alberta Transportation did a chip-sealing application to it – one that soon failed and turned the road into a bumpy, gravel-strewn mess. Town officials loudly called on the province (which has sole jurisdiction of the highway through Morinville) to fix the road, but the province said it couldn’t do anything about it until this spring.
Officials believe the road west of 100 St. could be repaired with a seal coat, as it was in reasonable condition, but suspect the much-bumpier east portion might need to be shaved down and resurfaced, Valcourt said, citing his latest updates from Alberta Transportation.
“They don’t know why (the chip seal) did not work,” he said, as it had worked on many other roads, and they still have to find the money to repair the road. When they do bring in a fix, they hope to do so at night when there’s less traffic.
“They are committed certainly, to fix the issue. They’re just not sure to date what that (fix) is going to look like.”
Turner said he had sent many emails to the previous transportation minister (Brian Mason) on this issue and had been scheduled to meet with Alberta Transportation officials about it at April’s committee of the whole meeting (officials cancelled on the town due to the provincial election). He lobbied every local candidate in the provincial election to address the road, and hoped to meet with Morinville-St. Albert MLA Dale Nally about it shortly.
“The (chip seal) product they chose is not acceptable in an urban environment,” Turner said, and he wanted to ensure it would not be used in Morinville again.
Coun. Stephen Dafoe said that town residents wanted this road fixed, noting that there were “so many broken windshields” because of it.
“The sooner this is done, the better.”
