Crossfield residents took part in a Vote on a Question, June 9, at the Crossfield Community Centre.
The vote was to determine which of four sites the Town of Crossfield should use to build a new Town office. With more than 65 per cent of the vote, residents chose the grader shed site at the north end of Railway Street.
Four hundred and seventy three votes were cast from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the community centre.
Three hundred and fourteen votes went to the winning choice, while Banta Park received 67 votes and the ball diamonds at Whitfield Ave and Railway Street got 48. Nine votes were spoiled.
The issue dates back to 2006, when council was working towards a replacement municipal library and Town office building, but a December 2009 petition by residents to not allow the Town to build in Banta Park slowed the process down, sending the question to a vote by residents.
Four locations were presented to residents; the first being the Banta Park location, at the current location of the tennis courts in the park.
The baseball diamond behind the community centre was another choice, along with a parcel of land on the southeast corner of the Highway 574 and Limit Ave.
The final option on the ballot, and the resident’s choice was the north end of railway street, a small parcel of Rocky View County land, which is currently home to a Rocky View grader shed.
The County has agreed to allow the Town use of the land, in a land swap agreement.
Deputy Returning Officer for the Town Lindsey Nash says she was impressed with the turnout.
“People who came out to vote and wanted to know what the turnout was and how it was going,” said Nash.
“It was a really good turnout, it’s great to see people getting involved in this vote on a question.”
Residents who came out to vote all seemed to have a similar point of view.
“We can’t vote for this site (baseball diamond) because our kids play ball there,” said long-time Crossfield resident Lila Greebe.
“We don’t want to use any land that is used for parks.”
Residents were against the parcel of land across the highway because it is an inconvenient location.
“It has to be localized for everyone to find it,” said Gail Thompson, who has lived in Crossfield for four years.
“It has to be convenient too, we don’t want the older generation who doesn’t drive to have to ever cross the highway.”
Stacy Demers, whose family has lived in the town for five years says keeping the cost down and not losing any green space were important issues for him.
“That ball diamond gets used a lot in the summer, we don’t have a lot of recreational areas so we have to keep that,” he said.
“We need to keep the cost down. This is a small town, I don’t think we need a huge facility.”
The results of the vote will be presented to council during the June 15 meeting at the Town office starting at 7 p.m.
