Council unanimously supported a request from Councillor Earl Solberg to create an ad-hoc committee to address residents’ concerns about the impact the Canadian National (CN) Railway development site will have in the Conrich area.
After a public hearing Dec. 4, council defeated first reading of a bylaw, which, if passed, would have closed 20 metres of rail crossing at Range Road 281 and 55 metres of rail crossing at Range Road 252, near Conrich, to facilitate train movements in and out of the CN Rail Logistics Park.
Area farmers said the closure of the crossings would cause unnecessary detours of 8.5 kilometres.
Others had concerns of possible increased response times for fire and ambulance services and longer bus rides for school children.
During the Dec. 4 meeting, Solberg requested council create the committee. While a few members of council expressed their interest, they asked Solberg to come back with more details on the purpose of the committee and who would sit on it.
Jorie McKenzie, project delivery supervisor for the County, presented the request to council Jan. 8. He said the committee will likely be made up of four to five representatives from the community but said there is the flexibility to allow for more if there’s a greater interest.
“We want to keep it to 12 members or less,” he said, adding there would also need to be three or four staff representatives, one or two councillors and community and industry representatives.
Once the terms of reference are created, the County will advertise with information on how members of the community can apply.
“Basically, we would see this as a method to integrate CN to the neighbourhood without any issue,” said Reeve Rolly Ashdown after McKenzie’s presentation.
Councillor Greg Boehlke wanted to know what would happen if CN representatives don’t want to join the committee.
“If CN doesn’t see the value do we just fold up … and find a new option?” he asked.
McKenzie said the County needs the interested party at the table in order to make the committee work. He said at this time he doesn’t know if there is interest from CN.
The next step is to determine where and how often the meetings will occur and what key issues need to be tackled.
