George Freeman Trail ‘a mess’

Times Reporter  

 

Anyone who has driven George Freeman Trail lately has likely noticed the new, and confusing, lines painted on the road at the Park Avenue intersection. Councillor Bob Sobol questioned the status of the road, stating that it’s a mess and a potentially dangerous situation. 

“This was identified as such the day after unauthorized changes were made to that roadway. This was six weeks ago and although numerous meetings have taken place, no action has taken place,” said Sobol at the Sept. 17 town council meeting. 

Chief Administrative Officer Dwight Stanford read comments written by Jesse Parker, director of operations and engineering, who said the town and the developer have been working on trying to figure out a potential interim solution. Unfortunately, finding a temporary solution that addresses the many factors associated with this intersection has proven more difficult than had been anticipated. As a result in the short term the roadway will be restored to a two-lane road.

”I think it’s going to be a lot better going back to the original, in the future something’s got to be done, and I would be more worried in the future about crossing there. When people are living … over in Edgefield and they have to cross the road there over to the soccer pitches, if I had young kids, I wouldn’t want them running across there,” said Stanford.

There’s a lot traffic going both ways on George Freeman Trail, and administration have been looking at several possible solutions for the future-like possibly putting in a crosswalk light until Phase One is complete.

The long-term plan is for traffic lights at that location, and Councillor John Rempel wondered why the town would consider crosswalk lights when it’s going to be a controlled intersection later on. 

“Put lights in there, and pay for them and then bill them back to the developer,” said Rempel.

“Hopefully next time the town will learn from this and not make that mistake again in the future.”

In the agreement with the developer it states they will have to pay for traffic lights upon completion of Phase One.

“He has to pay it or else he wouldn’t be able to go ahead with the next phase,” said Stanford 

The matter will be brought back as a fall budget item for consideration. 

 

Land Use Bylaw 

The Town of Strathmore has been working on updating a number of different bylaws and policies over the past year. Recently a new version of the Municipal Development Plan was adopted, and at the Sept. 17 meeting the new Land Use Bylaw was presented for approval. The previous bylaw had been created and saw over 100 amendments made to it over the 25 years. The new bylaw, which was approved at the meeting, will better meet the needs of the town and includes guidelines for the annexed lands, among other areas. 

 

Repairs needed at Youth Club 

The furnace ducting and air supply at the Youth Club of Strathmore are in dire need of replacement said Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Linda Nelson at the Sept. 17 council meeting. On Sept. 8, furnaces were down, one has since been repaired but the other needs to be replaced, the ducting and airflow also need repairs or upgrading. 

“We’ve had comments that the air flow system in the building is quite bad and is actually not very healthy. As this building is occupied this work is considered to be an emergency and administration authorized staff to engage a contractor to complete work immediately,” said Nelson. 

Administration was looking for a motion to approve the supply and installation of venting, furnace and subsidiary work for the cost of $22,030 + GST with funds to come from financial stabilization.

The current ductwork is below the flooring, and kept flooding. After the repairs the ductwork will run overhead, eliminating many of the previous problems. Council approved the project.