A planned $38 million project will buy the city a new lift station but it also comes at the expense of closing down an important parking lot ifor storing boat trailers n Old Town for years.
Lift stations are key to the city's sewage system, moving wastewater from a lower elevation to a higher one. For this particular station across from Fritz Thiel Park, every flush in its catchment area pumps that sewage uphill until it reaches another system where gravity can take over. It then continues toward another pumping station near the Multiplex.
ThatSA国际影视传媒檚 what Chris Greencorn, the city's director of public works, told SA国际影视传媒 on July 8, during a press conference announcing the decision. The parking lot will close on July 21 and stay that way for three years, Greencorn said.
That was enough to have one concerned resident show up on his own.
Craig Thomas said heSA国际影视传媒檚 been boating for decades and relies on that parking lot to help launch his boat.
He acknowledged the need for the city to have an up-to-date, efficient lift station; the one in Old Town was built in the late 1960s. But the problem with closing the parking lot, he added, is that it leaves people with little options on where to park their cars and boat trailers.
Another boat launch located near Giant Mine is already troubled with high volumes of traffic that can back up onto a highway, he added.
"There needs to be alternatives identified in a period of time much greater than a month before you're going to close it," Thomas told city staff, speaking about the lot.
Greencorn said the city will look at finding other parking options but the reason for such short notice on the closure, Greencorn added, was because of a speedy tender process.
He said the contractor in charge of building the new lift station is called Industria, a company based in British Columbia.
"We know it's super inconvenient," Greencorn said about closing the parking lot. "It's not something that we like to do, but we really have no other choice."
Greencorn said the city has limited land in Old Town it can use for parking. In response, Thomas suggested the city could use the field across the street in front of the Racquet Club.
Whether the city owns that land, neither he nor anyone from the city could confirm. But if it doesnSA国际影视传媒檛, Thomas said the city should try to negotiate a deal with whoever owns that land.
Recycling bins at the parking lot will be temporarily removed during construction, according to the city, meaning residents will have to use other recycling depots.
The federal government is covering three-quarters of the project cost, Greencorn added.
At the end of the press conference, city manager Stephen Van Dine told Thomas he raised some good points and he could keep in touch so the city could make sure it fully addresses all of his concerns.
