SUNDRE — The municipal council has directed administration to draft a letter to the Town of Didsbury requesting the postponement of a proposed bylaw that would restrict heavy truck traffic on an access road to the Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission landfill.
The move came by way of motion on Tuesday, Aug. 9 during a special meeting of council following a closed-door discussion.
“We received some recent information that the Town of Didsbury has proposed a bylaw to close truck traffic to the location where the landfill is where our regional waste commission deposits all of the waste from all of the member municipalities,” Linda Nelson, Sundre’s chief administrative officer, told council upon returning to open session.
“There has been some concern expressed that the additional kilometres that it would take to now get to the landfill may raise some of our fees for the waste commission,” Nelson said.
Didsbury’s municipal council gave the proposed motion first reading in July.
At the time, the Didsbury council was informed by its administration that the road in question – 23rd Street – is the primary route used to access both the waste management commission's landfill as well as the Alta Gas propane transfer site.
“Heavy loads are constantly wearing down the granular segment of 23rd Street, causing severe washboarding and ruts which impact residential and commuter users of the roadway,” Ethan Gorner, Didsbury’s chief administartive officer, said during the July 12 meeting. “This (proposed bylaw) is a step to help regulate that and help move the heavy trucks through alternative routes.”
The updated truck route would limit the number of heavy trucks to local users.
During the Didsbury council’s discussion, different perspectives were expressed.
Coun. Dorothy Moore said 23rd Street is not a truck route and should be protected from the costly wear and tear of heavy loads.
“They (heavy truck traffic) should be paying us for using that road,” said Moore. “We can have load limits on roads just like anyone else can and I do think we need to do that because that road was never built for the kind of traffic, the heavy traffic, that it is getting right now.”
Coun. Bill Windsor was concerned not only about how enforcing the bylaw would be possible – especially at night – but also how neighbouring municipalities would react.
“Who have we talked to about this?” asked Windsor. “Have we talked to the waste commission? Have we talked to the county? Because they are going to be ticked. Have we talked to anybody outside our partners who are going to be impacted by this change? I don’t think it is going to be well received by our neighbours.”
Once first reading was given, council referred the proposed bylaw back to Didsbury’s policy and governance committee for review and recommendation.
Sundre’s administration outlined its recommendation and sought direction from council to send the Town of Didsbury a letter requesting that second and third readings of the proposed bylaw be postponed until such a time as more information on the potential cost impact of closing the road to heavy truck traffic is available.
Physically present for the meeting were councillors Owen Petersen and Connie Anderson as well as mayor Richard Warnock, while councillors Paul Isaac and Chris Vardas participated remotely. Councillors Todd Dalke and Jaime Marr were not present.
Coun. Petersen’s motion directing administration to draft and send the letter to Didsbury carried.
— With files from Dan Singleton
