Turner Valley town council gave its support to connect two multi-use trails in the community with a new path this year.
Town council gave the Town’s Paths, Parks and Recreation advisory committee the green light to build a new trail on the west side of Main Street from Decalta Road to the four-way stop during its April 18 meeting. The Decalta path was built last year in conjunction with repairs to the road after the 2013 flood.
Irene Waring, advisory committee chairperson, said the Decalta trail has brought out more walkers and runners and the new section of pathway will improve safety.
Once people reach Main Street they have to walk on the road to get to the centre of town or access the Friendship Trail, she said.
“There is no logical connection to that end of town,” said Warring. “There is no sidewalk.
In the winter you basically have to walk in the middle of the road. We see that as a real safety issue. We would like to see it completed this year if possible.”
The advisory committee is also suggesting a crosswalk be painted to connect the Decalta Road pathway with the Main Street one.
Council asked administration to look into the cost and feasibility to build the pathway and present their finding at a future meeting.
Waring said a quote requested by the Town after the flood estimated the cost at $90,000.
The Main Street pathway is one of nine the Paths, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee proposed to council, all of which were approved at its April 4 meeting.
Administration and the advisory committee worked together to review the town’s existing pathways, the committee’s master plan and other supporting documents to create a pathway layout for the town.
“We looked at the overall plan and decided that was our number one priority,” said Waring of the Main Street pathway.
“The plan that we’ve got at the moment is a long range plan. Even though council’s approved it there is a couple of projects where private landowners would need to be spoken to and a couple would include developer-driven pathways.”
Waring said the Town will post the plan on its website once those details are sorted out.
To help cover the cost of the various pathways, the committee received permission from Town council earlier this year to work with a non-profit organization to apply for grants that municipalities can’t access.
“There won’t be any extra taxpayers costs,” Waring said, adding the costs will be covered by either grants or money in reserves.
Council and administration discussed using money allocated to parks and recreation in the 2016 budget for the new pathway.
Barry Williamson, chief administrative officer, said $100,000 has been budgeted for parks in 2016, of which $10,000 was used to upgrade the park on John Street. He said another $5,000 would likely be needed to complete the park, leaving about $85,000 in the budget.
Waring said the Paths, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee isn’t just focusing on path and parks, it’s also exploring other recreational opportunities and will present those to council in the future.
“We’ve been meeting for a year now and we achieved a lot in that time and council has supported us in everything we proposed,” she said.
