The next step towards developing an RV-friendly parking lot in Sundre’s downtown core was recently approved by council.
The proposed project, which involves a partnership with Sundre Hotel and Restaurant that owns the bulk of the lot involved, was brought back before council during the June 10 meeting following a preliminary discussion on May 27.
“This will be likely a two-phase project,” said Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer.
“So we’re just looking at the first part of the project right now,” said Nelson.
The proposal, which provides 80 regular parking stalls plus an additional nine pull-through double stalls, would include some landscaping and bumper stops, but no paving at this point, reads background information in council’s meeting agenda.
“We’re giving you two options for costs,” said Nelson.
The first, at roughly $20,000, includes parking stall bumpers, the rebar for the bumpers, landscaping and signage. But for an additional cost of almost $8,000, other elements such as a bear safe garbage bin, post and chain-link fence, as well as 10 planters to delineate the parking areas could be included, she said.
“The way we are recommending that we pay for these improvements to the parking lot, is we have just sold a piece of municipal land that had been informally used for parking,” she said.
“If we took the proceeds from that land sale, we could attach it to this parking lot and put the balance of the funds in a restricted surplus account that could be used in the future for additional parking in the downtown or wherever we need it,” she said, calling the proposed lot the first step in addressing concerns expressed by business owners downtown regarding lack of parking.
Mayor Terry Leslie wondered how much of the proceeds from the land sale would be spent if all of the additional features were included, and how much would be left over.
Nelson said the sale of the land brought in about $52,500. So if council decided to proceed with the second option to spend about $28,000, that would leave a remaining balance of $24,500 for the restricted surplus.
Coun. Richard Warnock, who is in favour of the proposal, said the project should be done right and suggested spending a little more to make the parking lot more appealing.
“Let’s make it attractive; let’s make people want to stop there,” said Warnock.
However, the councillor expressed a concern that bumper stops could be a hindrance to vacationers with RVs.
Jon Allan, economic development officer, said the double-length, pull-through stalls won’t have any bumper stops.
“So they would pull in and pull through,” said Allan, adding the nine larger stalls are 11.2 metres long, or almost 37 feet.
“That would be a pretty good sized RV,” he said.
“We are trying to make it as convenient as possible for them.”
Hypothetically, the plan could be revised to increase the number of double-long stalls by reducing the number of regular sized stalls, he said.
Coun. Paul Isaac said nine long stalls seemed a bit low.
“Those are the people that can’t park anywhere,” said Isaac, adding smaller cars or SUVs have more options along the side roads.
The mayor agreed and suggested perhaps creating more room to accommodate holiday trailers.
“That is something that we thought about too,” said Allan.
“This is merely a proposal…there’s nothing stopping us from removing extra bumper stops to make more room for more RV spots,” he said.
Coun. Charlene Preston, who expressed enthusiasm for the project, agreed more space should be dedicated to accommodating bigger vehicles, and also wondered whether Alberta Transportation would be allowing signage from Highway 27 to direct traffic to the lot, which she described as being “a bit off the beaten path.”
While the provincial agency responsible for Alberta’s highways has not yet officially provided approval for wayfinding signage, Allan said an application was being reviewed and added he was confident that would happen.
“Let’s keep our fingers crossed,” he said.
Isaac, who is in favour of the project in principle, expressed doubts that the double-length stalls would be suitable for larger rigs and work trailers, including super-Bs that can reach 24 to 30 metres (80 to 100 feet) long.
“I have a lot of truck drivers that come to my yard and what they say to me is, ‘Where can I park that I can go and have a meal?’”
However, Allan pointed out the intent of the project is to accommodate recreational, not industrial, traffic.
The mayor suggested council would prefer to see slightly longer stalls, as well as more of them, and sought a motion to approve funds to move forward pending a revised design.
Community peace officer Kevin Heerema suggested large industrial loads could park along Centre Street and other roads branching off of Highway 27.
However, Hall cautioned those roads would not withstand that kind of traffic.
“It will destroy them,” he said.
“They’re barely hanging on now, and I don’t have it within (the five-year) capital budget to be rebuilt.”
Warnock said he was under the impression council understood the project was for recreational vehicles.
“That should be a non-issue if we have proper signs,” he said.
Coun. Cheri Funke expressed support for the project but was reluctant to approve funding without all of the information lined up.
Warnock said the discussion would still be going on in the middle of winter if council did not take the next step.
“We need to get this going,” he said, making a motion to approve the second option in the amount of about $28,500 for the parking lot’s upgrades with the remaining balance of $24,000 being allocated to the restricted surplus.
That motion carried with everyone in favour except Funke.
Warnock made another motion for administration to bring back the final design for council’s approval, which also carried. Council was to further discuss the project during last night’s meeting. Stay tuned for that update.
