The people have spoken and the town has listened.
A packed crowd at the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre was told last night (Sept. 30) the town's Operational Services Committee is recommending to Innisfail council that it should not relocate the municipal dump beside Westwood Court Mobile Home Park but instead keep it at the current waste transfer site. The town's new choice – officially named New Option B – is located about 500 metres away from the 230 residents at the trailer court, located on the east side of 57 Avenue.
The New Option B site of just over four and a half acres was once envisioned to be sold off for future industrial development once the relocation of the waste transfer site was completed.
“We heard the residents loud and clear,” said Coun. Mark Kemball, one of three council members on the committee. “I think we always try to listen to what the public has to say. You get a bit of a reality check when people say, ‘Hey I don't think that is the right decision and here is why.' It made us take a step back and look. That is all part of the process.”
The crowd of about 100 concerned citizens, most them from Westwood, was told council will formally vote on the committee's recommendation next month.
“If they would have started in April with this to begin with maybe the uproar might not have happened,” said Westwood resident Don Corcoran, one of the trailer court's leaders in fighting against the town's original controversial plan to relocate the dump beside the trailer court. “I am still a little bit nervous because the decision is not being made and won't be made until November.”
The new preferred site by the committee is a three-acre parcel of land on the west side of the current waste transfer facility. The town is proposing that the compactor be removed but the burn pit still remaining in use.
The audience was told the capital onsite and offsite costs to construct the new waste transfer site at New Option B is estimated to be about $492,000 if the work is fully contracted out. The biggest single cost for New Option B is the $355,000 price tag to build a new access road. The total cost for New Option B compares to about $282,000 for Option A, the site beside Westwood park.
However, town officials said last night that $200,000 can be saved with New Option B over the next five years with the continued use of the burn pit and not having to contract services for mulching, which was being envisioned for Option A.
As well, the audience was told the new access road needed for New Option B was already being looked at for a future industrial subdivision to the south. The town purchased the land for the road in July for $125,000. In the end, the final costs to the taxpayer are expected to be a “wash” when both options were compared, the audience was told.
“Initially the start up costs will be more, depending on how long we can continue to use the burn pit. And then we recover those costs,” said Kemball. “All in all I think the costs will be a wash, maybe (we) even end up ahead.”
Mayor Brian Spiller, who hosted the presentation last night with Craig Teal - the town's director of planning and operational services, said the new proposal is a “win win” for both Westwood residents and the town.
“I think it is a win win. I hope so. I'm sure level heads will prevail. They (council) will look at the pros and cons too,” said Spiller of council's upcoming vote on the committee's recommendation. “They will choose with a level head. I am sure the right choice will be made.”
For more information on this story read the Oct. 7 Innisfail Province.
