Coun. Len Bracko wants the city to spend more than $500,000 for a study on what route a future LRT line through St. Albert might take.
Bracko presented council with a motion Tuesday during budget deliberations that he wants to draw the total sum from the LRT reserve to pay for the functional alignment study.
This is the third time in a year that Bracko has asked councillors to approve this study. It was a budget item in last year’s deliberations but was ultimately defeated. This summer Bracko again brought the item forward, this time at the standing committee on finance. Again it was defeated, with only Coun. Wes Broadhead joining Bracko in voting for the motion. Both times the majority of council has felt it was too early to begin planning for an LRT line through St. Albert.
Planning for a possible LRT extension to and through St. Albert has been one of Bracko’s priorities for several years. It was at his urging that council established the LRT levy in 2010, charging $1 per $100,000 of assessment to homeowners and asking developers for voluntary donations.
Bracko had made no secret of the fact he would be resurrecting his request – at the budget town hall meetings in early November he told some residents he would be making the motion again.
The unstable shoreline ringing Lacombe Lake likely won’t be repaired until 2014.
The city erected fencing around most of the lake two months ago after it noted the bank was becoming unstable. The engineering department plans to take steps in 2013 to prevent any further erosion of the bank, but a permanent fix will have to wait until 2014.
Director of engineering Tracy Allen said the repairs weren’t planned in either the city’s three or 10-year capital plans. The preventative work in 2013 is meant to stop the problem from getting any worse.
“Unfortunately it will likely mean the fence will have to stay up as a protective measure,” Allen said.
The total cost of permanent repairs is estimated roughly at $800,000, but Allen said no design work has yet been conducted.
Mayor Nolan Crouse made a motion during Thursday night’s budget deliberations to add the project to the 2014 budget.
“My dislike is that it was going to take this long because, quite frankly, I think it should be kept modern, but on the other hand I have to respect the fact we need the resources to get it done,” Crouse said.
The city might not have enough resources to conduct all the work planned under the 2013 utility capital budget.
But while resources might be tight, Mayor Nolan Crouse said he has been told administration would prefer to approve the proposed projects so planning can begin for all upcoming work, even it needs to be deferred to future years.
“They came back with a response that we think we should at least allocate the capital and plan it,” Crouse said.
The utility capital plan for 2013 contains 30 funded projects dealing with proposed water, wastewater, stormwater and solid waste projects at a cost of $19.69 million. There are two water mains planned, costing approximately $10 million in total. Other major projects include a $2.4 million wastewater trunk and more than a $1 million in stormwater rehabilitation.
Despite the admission of insufficient resources, no motion has yet been made to defer any of the work to future years.
