Town of Bonnyville residents will have a chance to get their questions on cannabis answered during a public open house.
On Wednesday, May 16, the town will be giving residents an idea of what they can expect locally when it comes to recreational marijuana use and retail. The open house will be hosted in the council chambers at town hall from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m.
CAO Mark Power said story boards will be displayed to map out a "rough outline" of what the town is proposing.
The public will also have a chance to provide their feedback on what direction they would like to see council take when it comes to the municipal regulation of cannabis.
Check next week's edition of the Nouvelle, or our website for the full story.
Survey results in for ICIP application
A new swimming pool remains a top priority for local residents.
The results are in from the Town of Bonnyville's survey on what projects residents would like to see submitted for an ICIP grant application.
In total, the town received 1,303 responses, including 629 from with the town limits and 674 from the MD.
"We've had some really surprising results. From a survey perspective, the amount of respondents we had is an amazing response," said Mayor Gene Sobolewski. "The break down (between the town and MD residents) is close to the C2 funding split, so that surprised me. I didn't expect to see those kinds of numbers."
About 54 per cent of respondents marked down the pool as a priority.
Over 250 responses were in support of a new arts centre, followed by an expansion to the C2 at 151.
The remaining options included a dog park with 125, and an outdoor rink at 62.
Council wondered what they should focus on for their ICIP application, and considered the pool, or merging the two top choices.
“Adding a pool and the arts centre at the C2 accomplishes the top three goals of everybody that responded to us. It's really rolling the top three into one project to meet the majority of the needs,” noted Coun. Brian McEvoy.
With a little over half of responses coming from MD residents, town council decided they'd like to arrange a meeting with the MD to go over the results and discuss the potential of partnering on projects.
Check back for more in next week’s edition.
Local baseball clubs seeking support from town
With an ever growing interest in their sport, Bonnyville Minor Ball has plans to expand this season.
With over 300 children registered for minor ball this season, the organization will be expanding their mosquito program and is hoping to add two new baseball diamonds to accommodate the increase.
"Presently we have two mosquito AA teams, one pee wee AA team, and we have one midget AA team," said Jim Church, competitive baseball director for Bonnyville Minor Ball. "These are all provincial teams that travel for tournaments and our goal is to host AAA Pee wee program in 2020."
Currently, there are six baseball diamonds in town. Church was before council during their meeting to request a donation of land and a letter of support as they apply for grant funding.
Although they already have the funding necessary in place to get a new baseball diamond installed, Bonnyville Minor Ball would like to go ahead with the project right away and complete it this year.
"The society has been saving up for this program. We have set aside $100,000 as our capital investment, that allows us to apply for these grants," explained Church.
See next week's Nouvelle, or our website for the full story.
Improving roads within Bonnyville
Council has taken another step in improving local roads.
BEL Contracting Ltd. of Wainwright will be completing the 47 Ave. rehabilitation and 54 Ave. continuation north of 51 Ave. projects at a cost of $2.4-million.
“We did get good prices on 47 Ave., which is in front of the hospital. That tender came in under budget,” said Power.
The 47 Ave. bid was $1.6-million, which is $84,195 under budget. The 54 St. project came in at about $750,649, approximately $190,000 over budget.
The funds over budget on the 54 St. project will be recovered from the remaining dollars in the 47 Ave. budget.
Renovations planned for the Bonnyville Curling Club
The president of the Bonnyville Curling Club requested a letter of support from the Town of Bonnyville for the club’s Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) grant application.
If successful in their application, the money will help cover the cost of maintenance to the building including sheet stickers, new curling ice rubber bumpers, kitchen appliances, lounge cooler bar, and renovations to the kitchen and upstairs bathroom.
Council voted in favour of providing them with the letter of support.
Council supports SPCA grant application
Council will be sending a letter of support to the Bonnyville and District SPCA for their Community Initiatives Program (CIP) grant application.
Should they be approved for the funding, it will go towards covering wages for a newly hired executive director at the local shelter.
Under the CIP grant, the Bonnyville and District SPCA may be eligible to receive up to $60,000.
New bleachers in the works for Walsh Field
Plans are underway to install two new bleachers at Walsh Field this summer.
Each bleacher would have the capacity to hold 600 people.
"Right now, our stands holds about 450 in total and the new bleachers will hold about 600 per bleacher," Dan Jubinville, president of Bonnyville Amateur Football Association, emphasized. "We're tripling our stand capacity."
The application for the upgrades was in front of the municipal planning commission, during the Tuesday council meeting.
Coun. Elisa Brosseau said, "I think it’s a great idea. We could host provincial-level tournaments, whether it be track and field or football."
The approximate $800,000 project will be funded through the $2.6-million donation that was made for the overall revamp of Walsh Field.
"Our stands were getting old and they weren’t big enough and not safe. These new ones are going to be a lot safer, nicer, and a better viewing area," expressed Jubinville.
