More than four years in the making, it looks like the province is prepared to take the first step in building a pedway from the Enjoy Centre to Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park.
In a letter to Mayor Nolan Crouse dated Dec. 12, Tourism, Parks and Recreation Minister Jack Hayden writes that his department has issued a contract for conceptual options and cost estimates for the pedway.
"My department agrees that a pedway across Ray Gibbon Drive is an essential component, to ensure safe access to Lois Hole Centennial Park by local residents," Hayden wrote. The letter references a Nov. 16 meeting between himself and Crouse.
Crouse was happy to share the news.
"With Hole's and a new minister, we decided to go at this thing one more time," Crouse said. "Time will tell as to when it gets built and is in the provincial budget, but at least we got an acknowledgment, so I was pleased."
The city and the Hole family have been tossing the idea of the pedway around with the province since Hole's announced it was purchasing land for construction of the Enjoy Centre in South Riel in 2007.
"We're very happy," said Enjoy Centre co-owner Bill Hole, one of the former lieutenant-governor's sons, of the news. "Give credit to Mayor Crouse — they've been working hard to get the province committed to do something."
The pedway to the park would be more than just a symbolic link between the new location of Hole's Greenhouses & Gardens and the park named in Lois's honour. It would also solve the problem of access to the park, its new John E. Poole Interpretive Wetland and the safety issues presented by the limited access to it.
At present, the only available path is located in Riel by the Big Lake Environmental Support Society (BLESS) picnic shelter, which takes pedestrians underneath the Ray Gibbon Drive bridge over the Sturgeon River. BLESS officials have complained as frequently as last month to council how frequently the trail is unusable due to the river flooding over the path during warmer months. The only other alternative is to make the dash across Ray Gibbon Drive, something Hole has personally witnessed.
"My concern is now that the boardwalk is done, there's more of a concern for people running across. We're seeing people park here and run across the street."
While Hayden does not know the specific safety problems, Tourism, Parks and Recreation spokesperson Camille Weleschuk said the goal is to provide safe access to the provincial park.
"We've been busy planning what facilities there will be and we need to ensure safe access to it," Weleschuk said.
Who pays?
The minister's decision is so fresh that no price tag has been placed on the contract for the conceptual designs, Weleschuk said, but part of the work will include a cost estimate. Also unknown at this point is who will pay the construction costs.
An estimate conducted by the city pegged the cost at approximately $3.5 million.
"This would be a very big project that would take some time and likely involve many different partners," she said.
But Crouse believes the provincial government should foot the bill.
"It has to cross a provincial highway into a provincial park," Crouse said. "We just want to make sure the province takes ownership of it and so far they have."
There is also no timeline on when the department might get the conceptual designs back, Weleschuk said. Given the province expanded the park by 1,800 hectares just last year, it is still assessing what is in the area.
"We're looking at some plans for the park now in determining what's all there," she said.
Hole said the family wanted to see progress "sooner or later" and now that the province is moving forward, hopes whatever design is eventually selected "looks good and reflects a focal point or entrance to St. Albert."
"Whatever they design, it must try to reflect the park in some respect and hopefully an architect can come up with something appealing, not just a simple bridge across Ray Gibbon."
