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Town puts end to golf course throughway

A road providing a direct route from a Turner Valley subdivision to Black Diamond will close next month, despite opposition from some residents.
Turner Valley Town council agreed at its June 15 meeting to close Imperial Drive, which means area residents will have to take a longer route to access Black Diamond.
Turner Valley Town council agreed at its June 15 meeting to close Imperial Drive, which means area residents will have to take a longer route to access Black Diamond.

A road providing a direct route from a Turner Valley subdivision to Black Diamond will close next month, despite opposition from some residents.

The decision was made during Turner Valley Town council’s June 15 meeting, upholding a bylaw passed in 2006 to close Imperial Drive from the villas to the Turner Valley Golf Club and build a new road south of Royalite Way due to concerns of erosion and anticipated heavy traffic.

The road closure means residents in the area will have to drive around the golf course property to access Black Diamond rather than taking the direct route through it.

“For me I’m just terribly disappointed with the response of council after all the interactions that have happened since February,” said Royalite Way resident Ron Thomson.

Thomson and other residents in the subdivision expressed their concerns about the road closure at council meetings and two open houses after noticing a road being constructed south of their subdivision in December.

In 2006, Royalite Way residents were concerned about the potential for increased traffic on their street due to a proposed housing development south of their subdivision, but neither the subdivision nor road were built.

The bylaw was revisited following the 2013 flood. The Town applied for and received funding from the Flood Recovery Erosion Control Program to build an extension to Royalite Way in its rush to close Imperial Drive west of Royalite Way due to severe river erosion near the road following the flood.

Thomson said he feels council could have kept the east portion of the road open, but that council elected to hear the wishes of the golf course, a seasonal enterprise, versus the 12 month requirement to service the residents of the area.

Turner Valley mayor Kelly Tuck said if the Town kept the west portion of Imperial Drive open, it would have to pay upwards of $240,000 to widen Royalite Way, restrict parking and install a new drainage system to handle the expected increase in traffic once the new subdivision is built.

“When it’s going to cost X number of dollars to fix a road or put up signage that people can’t park on their road you have to look at the bigger picture and that’s what we did,” she said. “We didn’t do this lightly.”

Turner Valley administration surveyed area residents in the spring and got mixed results in response for the east part of Imperial Drive.

The option to keep the road open indefinitely had 49 per cent of people in favour and 51 per cent against. The option to close the road had 44 per cent opposed, 42 per cent in favour and 14 per cent neutral, while the option to close it after development goes ahead saw 72 per cent neutral, 19 per cent opposed and nine per cent in favour.

Coun. Dona Fluter told fellow councillors last week that an agreement was already made between the Town, landowner and Turner Valley Golf Club when the bylaw was passed in 2006 and it should remain as is.

“I think for me there is no question that the east side and the west side are both going to close,” she said. “Leaving it open and having to impose some of these things just doesn’t make sense.”

Royalite Way resident John Blakeman feels council made the right decision, but said the Town failed to include the cost implications of keeping Imperial Drive open in its survey.

“In order to have that built that way you would have to spend big money, not just on the road but on drainage,” he said, referring to Royalite Way.

Gary Taylor, the golf club’s general manager, said council’s decision is in the best interest of public safety, not only because of the road’s inability to handle increased traffic.

“There have been a limited number of vehicles hit by golf balls, but never an injury,” he said. “If someone got injured the liability is there and really public safety has to be number one. On my first day the superintendent said this is something we have to get resolved immediately. Here we are 20 years later.”

Barry Williamson, the Town’s chief administrative officer, said notices will go out to area residents, bus companies, the Foothills School Division and emergency services alerting them of the road closure, expected for mid-July.

He said the road from Royalite Way to 16th Avenue is almost complete.

Williamson said administration will have a review process regarding a walking trail through the area and the Town will have to meet with the landowners and golf club to amend its existing agreement.

“Things have changed since the original agreement and we’ve got to incorporate some of those things,” he said. Among those is the Royalite Way extension was supposed to be built by the developer, not the town, he said.

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