Innisfail town councillors received a report on the progress of the Downtown Innisfail Project during last week’s town council meeting.
The update included a summary of the visioning sessions held on July 19 and 20. Among the ideas heard were dropping the speed limit in the downtown core; changing a portion of downtown streets to one-way in order to force drivers to use streets and avenues to both the south and north; improved signage; business diversity; a design theme; and an improved streetscape.
Coun. Mark Kemball said the visioning sessions made for few long days and most of those in attendance want to see the plans on paper before they share their ideas.
“We had some good insight,” he said on Aug. 8. “I don’t think anything hugely new came out of the sessions.”
Coun. Heather Taylor said she was surprised there wasn’t more worry about how things will be handled during the construction phase.
“It’s obvious the ones that were there have done some planning around that,” she said. “They’ve already decided what they’re going to be doing. But there wasn’t a big representation – that was the sad part.”
Kemball said he believed the discussions should pick up when a public review of the initial plans is undertaken in November.
“That’s when we going to see a lot of that.”
Council approves change of location for Shootout
A request by the organizers of next month’s Innisfail Weekend of Wheels to move the Shoot Out portion of the event to the arena was approved by town council on Aug. 8.
The change of location was required after the Innisfail Fire Department denied a request from event organizers to close down a portion of 53 St. for the Shoot Out on Sept. 11.
With the Innisfail Triathlon hitting a portion of local streets on Sept. 10 and a referee clinic and conditioning camps scheduled at the arena that weekend, some councillors were worried the high traffic the Weekend of Wheels would generate could lead to safety issues.
Shelley Gagnon, director of community services, said the change of location was possible if a number of logistical issues were worked out. Gagnon said volunteers will be posted at the corner of 50 St. and 51 Ave. to minimize the risk posed to triathlon athletes during the morning portion of the Show & Shine on Sept. 10.
Coun. Mark Kemball said the multiple events scheduled at the arena means parking will be an issue.
Innisfail Mayor Jim Romane suggested having the referee clinic participants register elsewhere and that getting bussed to the arena would cut down on some of the parking issues. He also said officials will have to head down to the arena to work out a parking plan.
“There are some logistics that have to be conquered,” Romane admitted.
Councillors Kemball, Heather Taylor and Derek Baird voted in favour of the motion while Coun. Brian Spiller voted against it. Councillors Tracey Walker and Jason Heistad were not in attendance.
Council also unanimously approved an additional request to close the back alley south of 50 St., between 49 Ave. and 51 Ave., for the shootout on Sept. 10.
AltaLink open house discussed at council
Innisfail town council unanimously approved a motion asking AltaLink to remove two locations on the outskirts of town from consideration for a new transmission line.
The motion followed a discussion at AltaLink’s Aug. 3 open house on the planned Red Deer Area Transmission Development.
Innisfail Mayor Jim Romane told councillors that AltaLink had requested they identify a preferred route for the proposed transmission line.
“We haven’t made that indication as yet,” he explained. “We just said as far away as possible.”
Romane admitted it will be difficult to find a route that doesn’t impact someone negatively. He suggested council send a letter to AltaLink stating that council would prefer the route does not go near Hwy. 54 or Innisfail’s north boundary.
“It will affect us directly if it is on that north line,” Romane explained. “I think that’s something we should be adamant about – that it’s not on our boundaries and it’s not on that highway.”
Library’s request for sublease approved
A request by the Innisfail Public Library to lease a small portion of the facility to a company that will provide local employment, training and career services was unanimously approved by Innisfail Town Council on Aug. 8.
In a July 18 letter to council, library manager Laurie Hodges Humble asked councillors to approve the sub lease, which would facilitate the creation of a Lokken satellite kiosk. Lokken, which provides labour market training and development services, was recently awarded the Alberta Government’s contract for employment, training and career services in the Innisfail area.
Innisfail CAO Helen Dietz said the revenue would remain with the library. Dietz added the town is currently working on a lease with the library that would outline how the facility would function and could also address where the library could spend the lease revenue.
Innisfail Mayor Jim Romane said he wasn’t opposed to the request, as long as the library board used the revenue to supplement the facility’s operating expenses.
“I think it’s a great opportunity, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “It’s just worries me that they would all of a sudden want to use that money for something additional to operating costs. “It is town space that they’re leasing off so I’m assuming that would be the intent – to lessen the burden.”
Dietz said the revenue, which is expected to be about $300 per month, will appear as a revenue item in all the library’s future financial statements.
“We’ll be looking for that in their financial statements when they come for their funding,” Dietz said.
Kemball sworn in as deputy mayor
Coun. Mark Kemball was sworn in as Innisfail Deputy Mayor prior to the town council meeting on Aug. 8.
Kemball will handle the deputy mayor’s duties for a three-month term – from August until September.
