BATTLEFORD ‑ Battleford council provided a cool reception to the idea of cost-sharing a proposed sound barrier for the Country Estates subdivision.
Council has voted down a request for $22,500 for the first phase of a sound barrier wall by the highway, with the project being funded 50-50 with developer Dean Kupchanko of Battle West Properties Ltd.
The proposal was to build a cement block wall along Highway 40 adjacent to the subdivision, which would slope down towards Battle River.
The main stumbling block for council was that the request had fallen outside of the 2022 budget, meaning they would have needed to add the item to the list of budgeted projects for the year. Councillors made it known they weren’t thrilled with that idea.
“Because it wasn’t budgeted … I have a bit of a problem with that. I just think there needs to be some better planning,” said Councillor Alexis Christensen. “Certainly, I’d like to see more of a plan for development.”
Others on council expressed similar sentiments.
“It does feel like this is becoming a bit of a theme,” noted Councillor Doug Laing. “It seems like this is the third council meeting in a row where we’ve been asked to add something to the budget after the fact. Makes it tough to go back when our budget has been set for almost four months now or three months. We’ve got enough projects in the works with other stuff that was planned quite a while ago.”
“It’s a pretty big ask to do this,” said Mayor Ames Leslie. “It’s not fair to ask this council to approve funds, especially when it’s something that close to one per cent of our taxation or half a per cent of our taxation.”
It was a unanimous vote by council against the request.
