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Survey on LLB downtown dig-up gets approved — again

First survey question might be: "Is this survey too late?" say some councillors
LLB construction question
Council has gone ahead with the idea to send businesses a survey about planned construction phases to replace old utility infrastructure in downtown Lac La Biche. Rob McKinley

It seems that in all the excitement of conducting a survey to ask Lac La Biche County businesses their feelings on shiny, new upgrades to Main Street — municipal officials might have forgotten to send out the survey.

At their May 27 meeting this year — well before their summer break that saw them return to the council chambers on July 28 — councillors had a long discussion about re-paving the downtown Main Street, upgrading sidewalks, lighting, underground utilities, and even the design of intersections to allow areas for pedestrians to sit and socialize. The main part of the construction, however, was the underground infrastructure replacement to remove 70 year old water and sewer pipes.
During the discussion, councillors decided to send out a survey to downtown businesses, asking for their input on the project and suggestions for staging the construction so it wouldn’t disrupt business.

The decision to send out the survey, however, wasn’t officially voted on. So administrators didn't send it out.

And two months after the discussion, some councillors are feeling it’s too late to start the project, while others say it’s never too late to upgrade essential services. A middle ground was also discussed, where the survey would be sent out, but the project may wait another year.

“We can’t go ahead with it until we’ve spoken to the Main Street businesses to see how they are feeling, about how their appetite is to tear up Main Street,” said Moore.

Lac La Biche County’s acting CAO Ken Van Buul says he will collect information from municipal departments to see if the project can still be completed this year.

In a May 27 news story on the www.lakelandtoday.ca website, readers did comment on the proposed construction project. Referring to the comments, Moore said, “it was mostly negative.”

Owl River  representative and Deputy Mayor Sterling Johnson was opposed to starting up the project this year, saying some of the design projects that had been discussed would make some serious alterations to the downtown area. He didn’t think the full design of the project was ready yet.

“Myself, I’d be opposed. I don’t want to survey them until a full concept of the work is completed,” he said.

The pipe, the pipes

Councillor George L’Heureux said the main focus of the project is to replace old pipes that are constantly breaking — and that should be addressed with or without a survey.

“The survey, to me, I think is kind of irrelevant. The main thing is that there are pipes underground that are very ancient and start blowing up,” he said, suggesting only one question for the survey, “Are you prepared to go without sewer and water for the next four months when it all falls apart.”

L’Heureux said the pipe replacement component of the overall re-vamp would cost between $1.5 million and $2million.
“I believe we have that money in reserves,” he said.

Initially, the overall downtown re-design was going to be worked around the utility pipe construction, bringing in new sidewalks, lights, parking areas and downtown sidewalk features like benches with wifi hotspots and heated areas at street intersections. The price for the overall design was in the neighbourhood of $6 million.

At the July 28 meeting, council did decide to move ahead with the survey of downtown businesses, with councillors Colin Cote, Darlene Beniuk and Lorin Tkachuk opposing.

 


Rob McKinley

About the Author: Rob McKinley

Rob has been in the media, marketing and promotion business for 30 years, working in the public sector, as well as media outlets in major metropolitan markets, smaller rural communities and Indigenous-focused settings.
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