Trail mayor/staff to meet with ministry officials
By City of Trail
Trail Mayor Mike Martin, and the city’s chief administrative officer, David Perehudoff, are scheduled to meet with officials from the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI), and the Ministry of Health over the next two days in Victoria. These meetings will provide council with needed information on the city’s boundary expansion (into Electoral Area A) project, the old bridge demolition project, and the construction of a second access road as part of the Interior Health Association’s (IHA) expansion plans.
“The City of Trail recently held its strategic planning session to set out the city’s goals and objectives for the next four years,” said Martin. “Now that we’ve set our priorities, it’s important to keep the momentum going so we can see these projects come to fruition. The meetings with ministry officials will provide clarity and direction so we can continue to move forward.”
The meeting with the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development will also involve officials from Teck Trail Operations and will focus on the boundary expansion into Electoral Area A. The main topic of discussion will be the Supplementary Letters Patent (SLP) issues associated with local government authorities. If the outstanding issues can be resolved it will clear the way to commence mitigation discussions with the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) in respect to the impacted regional services.
“The province has committed to provide an individual to assist in the mitigation,” continues Martin. “If we can sort out the SLP issues and come to an agreement with all parties involved, it is hoped we will have ministry approval for the expansion sometime this year.”
The emphasis on the MOTI meetings will be the Old Bridge demolition.
“The city believes that the ministry should be financially involved in this project as the province owned and maintained the old bridge for half of its useful life,” states Martin. “The bridge is now 103 years old and it’s imperative the RDKB sewer interceptor line be moved off the bridge before developing the necessary demolition plan and finalizing a budget. With the new Pipe/Pedestrian Bridge slated to commence construction later this year, the line will moved off the Old Bridge by the end of this year or by early 2016.”
The city’s meeting with the Ministry of Health will focus on the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital’s (KBRH) Sustainability Plan and the IHA expansion plans.
“We want to ensure the province is familiar with the IHA’s plans and council’s commitment to the construction of a secondary access road to KBRH,” said Martin. “We will also take this opportunity to request ministry endorsement for the city’s current Gas Tax Funding application.”
The city remains hopeful that a final commitment with respect to the plan and the investment will be completed in the next year or two.
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