SUNDRE — The municipality has agreed to begin negotiating with Mountain View County to determine a mutually agreed upon approach to allow a gravel pit operation access to a town street.
The county is planning to use county-owned land just outside the town’s southwest industrial district. County officials have identified 10th Street SW as a potential access route for trucking out extracted aggregate to other areas throughout western portions of the county.
“That is the far west end of our boundary, right next to Tim Hortons there,” Chris Albert, director of corporate services, told council on Monday, June 27 during a regular meeting.
“So what they would like, is to have some of the gravel trucks to be able to come up 10th Street,” said Albert.
The motion, he added, was only to initiate those discussions with the county to establish some of the parameters of what that arrangement will look like.
“Whether it be restrictions on timing or weight loads or number of trucks, as well as ensuring that the road itself can handle the large trucks and heavier weights,” he said, adding a cost-sharing strategy will also need to be negotiated with the county to account for any repair or remediation work on the road resulting from subsequent wear and tear caused by additional truck traffic.
Council proceeded to carry a motion directing administration to commence discussions with the county for the use of 10th Street SW as a trucking route from the airport pit location southwest of Sundre.
“We are in the process of preparing a development permit application," Jeff Holmes, the county's chief administrative officer, wrote by email in response to follow-up questions. “And one of the remaining items we are working on is access routes to and from the future proposed gravel pit.”
