Town council has approved the expenditure of $390,153 for additional work on the east side water and waste water servicing project.
The approved work will take place immediately and will finish off the current phase of the project.
In approving the additional work at a special council meeting on Nov. 26, the town will use $130,051 from the connection fees it collected from east side property owners last month towards paying for the work. Last month, 41 out of 46 east side property owners each paid $7,000 to connect to the multi-million project. A total of $287,000 was collected.
The remaining $260,102 will be paid through the Building Canada Fund (BCF), a federal-provincial program that addresses infrastructure needs of both rural and urban communities with populations of less than 100,000.
In a report to council, administration noted the project to install water and waste water services along 1st Ave. N.E. was approved in the amount of $1,262,976.90 but did not include the extension of services on 7th, 9th and 11th streets because it was not the original project's intent at the time.
“It is now become apparent the lots within these extension areas should be added to the water and waste water grid system as an increasing amount of residents have requested to connect to the newly installed system,” said the administration report.
Dean Pickering, the chief administrative officer for Sundre, said four properties north of the 7th Street lift station will now be connected to the service.
The total cost of the extension work includes allowances for road rehabilitation, silenced dewatering, tree removal, cleanup of access to Tall Timber campground and 50 per cent new pit run gravel for road reconstruction. According to the town, the cost estimate is exclusive to service connection for the Tall Timber campground, mobilization of a contractor, construction of temporary access roads, residential water sampling and testing and if required, temporary water systems.
Pickering said the extension work will move ahead immediately and be completed within the next four to five weeks.
“It is all going to happen. It will be completed. No more will be done beyond this,” said Pickering, adding it is better for the contractor to do it now rather than wait for spring. “In the spring the water table rises as the snow melts and the cost will go up significantly.”
Meanwhile, the special council meeting attracted several east side residents who have been calling on town officials for several weeks to provide better communications on the neighbourhood's construction and the connection fees.
Arnie Gess, who spearheaded opposition to the town's connection fee policy, praised council for approving the funds to complete this phase of the east side services installation project.
“Hopefully a developer can come along and invest some infrastructure dollars so the next phase of the project can be completed in the next year or two at a cost that is also fair to those residents and businesses,” said Gess. “This would be good for everyone in Sundre.”
