Town council voted to close a right-of-way on the north side of Highway 27 between 67A Avenue and 70 Avenue at its regular meeting on June 11.
The bylaw had previously been given third reading in January, but had to be rescinded as the minister of transportation had not approved the bylaw before council gave it three readings. Since the minister of transportation has now given the approval, council went ahead and approved the second and third readings of the bylaw.
Town administration extensively consulted with Canadian Tire and Moody's Equipment, two adjacent landowners on the closure, and all agreed the closure would be in the best interests of everyone. The town will now take the possession of the right-of-way, close the road and do some land swapping in order to build sports fields in the area, said Norm McInnis, the town's chief administrative officer.
“We've got a fairly ambitious plan to build some ball diamonds and soccer fields north of that area,” he said.
The plan also allows Springwood Land Corporation to have a fairly large contiguous piece of land to continue to develop residential units in the area, McInnis said.
McInnis said the timing of the development of the sports fields also depends upon discussions the town is currently having with the Community Learning Campus on potentially developing more facilities there, plus depending on what happens with Olds Agricultural Society lands around OR Hedges Park.
“At this point, we're just positioning ourselves to have the ability to make sure that the facilities that we need for the long term, the land is available,” he said.
