BONNYVILLE – The Bonnyville Golf and Country Club is well on its way in the phase two planning process for upgrades on its irrigation system.
The golf course received assistance from the Town of Bonnyville after council passed a motion to provide a one-time contribution of $100,000, which will come from the ID 349 hold over revenues.
Coun. Ray Prevost was in support of providing the funds that were asked for, due to all that the golf and country club does for the community.
“They raise a lot of money for the chamber and the Kleinmann Cup. Those dollars from the Kleinnman Cup go to the youth for the most part and (other) tournaments or whatever the case may be.”
Coun. Chad Colbourne agreed, “It’s more or less a golf course that serves that community and if anybody’s ever golfed there, which I know we all have, it’s absolutely gorgeous. What they were able to achieve through COVID-19 and the amount of restrictions and stuff they had to go through to make it work out there, it was really a pleasure to see.”
The request came after the golf club was successful in obtaining $500,0000 from a provincial Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) large funding stream grant, which is a matching grant that responds to local facility enhancement needs and to work in partnership with community groups and volunteers.
The money will go toward upgrading the irrigation system, which is described by golf and country club president Maurice Mercier as "quickly approaching the end of its life cycle."
“The failing pipes are the biggest problem as over time, they have become oversized because of the system pressure and brittle because of age,” he told council in a letter. “When they fail, it’s difficult to repair because you have to find some pipe along the line that’s not deformed to attach the repair pipe to.”
The first phase of the project was completed in 2017, Mercier stated, which involved replacing the pump station with a new system that allowed for better control over the operation and system pressures.
“This bought us a few years because these failures are increasing in frequency and severity and we cannot risk a total system failure as that would be catastrophic,” Mercier said. “We need to protect the investment and this beautiful community asset. The new system, the NDPE piping, would have a lifespan of 75 years.”
The golf and country club is required to raise $500,000 to match the amount given to them by the provincial government through the CFEP grant.
“I appreciate the way that the golf course is approaching this. They’ve got a $500,000 in a matching grant and so by asking $100,000, they’re leaving themselves a lot of work to do for fundraising and everything else, which speaks volumes to the request,” noted Prevost.
He added, “I do understand there’s some work being done in the background to get the oil companies involved in this issue, but I wouldn’t want to let the golf and country club go to waste or become in poor shape as a result of not raising the amount of funds. I think the ask is completely fair.”
This isn’t the first time the town has given the local golf club a hand financially. A one-time contribution of $30,000 was approved by the council at the time in 2017 when they were addressing the first phase of the irrigation project. The MD of Bonnyville also offered financial assistance with a one-time grant of $150,000. Those funds went toward work on the pump house.
According to Prevost, a request has also been sent to MD council for a one-time contribution to go toward the irrigation project.
