City administration has developed possible solutions to address the Seventh Avenue Southwest bridge, but city council wants more time to review the situation and recommendations.
During the Dec. 7 regular council meeting, city administration put forward four motions that it thought could provide a temporary fix until a more permanent solution — namely, a new bridge — could be found. Those four motions included:
- That the municipality direct engineers to prepare a tender to repair the bridge to allow for one-way commuter traffic to accommodate the nearby property owners and users of Tatawaw Park and Wakamow Valley
- That a formal offer be made to Carpere Valley Development Corporation for a 50/50 cost-share on the bridge project
- That a formal offer be made to Carpere Valley Development Corporation for a 50/50 cost-share to construct a road and fencing so that unfettered access to Seventh Avenue Southwest through Valley View Centre property is established
- That funding for the city’s share of the projects be provided through the land development reserve as this private development requires access and would be subject to negotiations about the development and servicing agreement
However, city council voted unanimously to table the motions to a future meeting to discuss the situation further. It also wanted more time to review a report from Associated Engineering that analyzed the Seventh Avenue Southwest bridge’s structural integrity, a report that council received just before the meeting.
Coun. Crystal Froese was absent due to family reasons.
Council discussion
Coun. Dawn Luhning — who introduced the tabling motion — had concerns about the situation, saying she thought Carpere had “manipulated” the city into building a new bridge, even though city council and city administration had “tried very diligently” to make this situation work for the Thorn and Avery families.
A council report pointed out Carpere was not interested in sharing costs or entering into an agreement to construct a road through the Valley View property, which was concerning, continued Luhning. Since it bought property near the families’ homes, she thought the Vancouver-based company should do everything to ensure the relationship between the residents and city hall remained positive.
“I’m having a real difficulty believing this negotiation has been upfront or even truthful since the beginning of what has been going on,” Luhning remarked, adding Carpere wants the municipality and taxpayers to pay for a new bridge even though city hall has worked to get an agreement completed.
A report from Associated Engineering indicated it could cost $250,000 to demolish the bridge and $2.7 million to build a new structure, while a contingency fund and the type of bridge that could be built pushed that cost to roughly $3.65 million, said Coun. Heather Eby. She wondered what kind of tax hike that would require to generate that amount of funding.
Finance director Brian Acker replied that, based on his calculations, a tax increase of 12 per cent would be necessary.
“I still feel like, at some point, this is something we need to do,” replied Eby. “(I’m) not sure how we’ll fund that or how happy everyone in the community will be. But we sure heard in the last few months that people of Moose Jaw feel that bridge is important.”
Before council voted to table the motions, city administration indicated it would install signs at the bridge warning people against crossing the structure.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Dec. 14.
