Beiseker Village council kicked off the May 12 meeting with resident Steve Reynolds making a passionate request for a permanent solution to the mud bog on Second Ave. and Seventh St.
“I’ve lived here for a while,” Reynolds said.
“This is a problem I’ve been facing year-after-year and it ends now.”
Reynolds is an 18-year resident of Beiseker and has spent 25 years working on road maintenance.
He was upset that the property taxes on two houses he owns increased due to the continuous repairs.
The Beiseker resident suggested that a bigger pipe could be placed underneath that would connect to a nearby catch basin.
Councillor Warren Wise said that solution may not work as the catch basin is higher up in elevation than the ditch where Reynolds’ house is.
“We don’t have the elevation to get the water to flow south.” Mayor Ray Courtman added.
Reynolds was featured in a Rocky View Weekly article last year on the same issue.
“He’s absolutely correct,” Wise said on getting the issues resolved for Reynolds and surrounding streets.
“We do have to address this in a way that it’s not just the easy way.
“This is a serious problem that needs to be fixed.”
A public works report stated there is a temporary plan to dig and clean the ditch and swale currently in the area. A temporary gravel swale and culvert will be placed there until the avenue goes through remediation.
“My concern is not how you do it,” Reynolds said. “My concern is that it gets done.”
Beiseker CAO Jo Lambert said she is optimistic that a permanent solution can be found soon.
“Well after they read the article that came out in the paper, we had engineers phoning us (to help find a solution),” Lambert said referring to the May 12 article in Rocky View Weekly on road works.
The council decided to bring in an engineer as soon as possible.
Campground delayed
The opening of the Beiseker municipal campground will be delayed as some of lines for the trailers were installed on the wrong side.
According to Courtman, the lines were improperly installed due to “miscommunication” between departments. See next week’s Rocky View Weekly for a more detailed story.
The Mayor said that while the sewer line is an inconvenience for the drivers right now, the other lines are still fully functional and convenient.
CAO Lambert said she will investigate before a decision is made.
Playground Removal
The soon-to-be former Beiseker school playground will officially be removed by June 2014.
The playground had run its course with the Rocky View Schools system, according to Darrell Couture, the associate superintendent of business and operations for Rocky View Schools.
Wise said the playground will need to be completely disassembled before it is moved.
“We’ll have to draw up the plans for the playground to make sure it gets properly put back together,” Wise said.
The bottom posts will also have to be cut free from the concrete that currently holds it in the ground.
Councillors Wise and Karen Ursu said the project may take up to 250 hours and will likely require volunteers. Beiseker plans to apply for a $15,000 grant to help pay for the move.
Trail
Councillor David McKenzie is helping to spearhead a trail that will run around Beiseker.
The walking trail will likely connect different areas such as the campground and playground together according to Courtman.
The mayor also said that the trail will run along some of the old CP rail in Beiseker.
The trail project had previously been in the works, but plans fell through when some of the residents in charge left Beiseker.
The project had been dormant for nearly two years before interest from council helped revive it.
The cost of the trail has not been announced yet.
