Town holds off on transportation study
Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter
As part of a commitment to the Calgary Regional Partnership, which the Town is a member of, an RFP, Request For Proposal was sent out for a feasibility study.
The recommendation from administration was for council to accept the proposal from Stantec for a total of $20,864, including GST. The cost of the study had previously been approved and budgeted for by council.
“I think we’re putting the cart before the horse here. I think we’re well ahead by doing this study than where we are or where we will be in the future and in that case. I don’t know that I can go with this,” said Councillor Earl Best.
“It’s a long process and communities in the area are realizing that having knowledgeable transportation and planning for transportation in the future encompasses a whole bunch of different areas,” said Councillor Bob Sobol.
“Planning and future transportation is hand in hand. If we don’t know what our future needs are or when our needs are going to kick in, it’s very difficult for us to have a formulized plan in regards to how we build and where we build, and what kind of facilities we build.
“It’s all connected, planning is an integral part of the transportation issue. The information we’re going to get from a feasibility study is going to affect many of our departments and it’s going to be information that we’re going to use and we can plan with.”
Sobol said the best way to think of the future is by having a feasibility study done which can help assess the needs of the community as it grows, and will give a rough idea of when would be the time to start looking into different things in regards to transportation.
Councillor John Rempel was concerned that it may be premature to conduct such a study at this point. Councillor Fule made the point to council that if the town is considering city status and a number of other things, then the study is something which should be done right away.
“I think if we’re going to step into the future we need studies like this to show us the right direction to take. We can’t suddenly become a city, if that’s the wish of the people, and then all of a sudden realize we don’t have a transit system or transportation,” said Councillor Dave Hamilton.
“We may as well do it now than later, pay it now or pay it later.”
Mayor Steve Grajczyk did say that he believes the study is important, but would like to see it put off for at least one more year, to see what’s happening with the economy.
Sobol reiterated the fact that the study wouldn’t only be for transportation, but would also deal with a lot of planning issues and how to go about planning for the future.
“It is actually quite helpful with work that we’ll be doing for the Municipal Development Plan because a lot of this does actually impact design, urban design for communities because you want connectivity,” said Tammy Henry, Director of Planning and Development for the Town.
“You don’t want dead end roads and things like that. It does have some clear linkages to future planning, and forethought for new communities in town.”
Sobol made a motion to accept the proposal from Stantec to conduct a regional transit feasibility study that may approve linkages to other communities for a total of $20,864. The motion was defeated with only councillors Hamilton, Sobol and Fule voting in favour.