Rocky View County (RVC) council unanimously approved two funding requests and denied a third at its meeting July 16.
Kathryn School Council (KSC) was approved for $15,000 in capital funds to help cover the cost of building a new playground at Kathryn School - a public school in Chestermere area-. The funds will come from the Rocky View East Recreation Board’s section of the public reserve.
According to a County report, the Kathryn School’s playground does not meet Rocky View Schools minimum safety standards and is slated for removal early in 2014.
KSC, a non-profit organization that supports the school through fundraising initiatives, requested council’s support of eight per cent of the projected $185,364 cost required to replace the playground structure.
The organization is also applying for a provincial Community Facility Enhancement Program grant, and hosting other fundraising initiatives.
Although all councillors voted in favour, Councillor Lois Habberfield said she thinks “it’s outrageous the cost of these playgrounds. Thousands and thousands of dollars (is being spent) and their lifecycle is not very long because the standards keep changing.”
Council also approved Rocky View School’s (RVS) $243,500 capital funding request to cover the cost of upgrading Banded Peak School’s - a public school in Bragg Creek - access road and parking lot. The funds will come from RVC’s section of the public reserve.
A County report stated RVC determined the access road and parking lot “has been a concern for a number of years” as it is difficult to maintain during the rainy season and a lot of dust is created during the summer.
The site upgrades will include a paved parking lot and a redesigned roadway.
According to the application, this will improve general safety by separating the bus zone from the parent parking area and reduce maintenance.
As of May 31, Rocky View School’s section of the public reserve held about $1 million in uncommitted funds. Administration stated in its report to council that there would be no budget implications as the County’s public reserve accounts are allocated to support capital funding approved by council.
Bragg Creek Community Association
Bragg Creek Community Association’s (BCCA) capital funding request for $114,750 was brought back to council for final consideration after it was tabled at the May 7 council meeting pending further information from members of the BCCA.
The requested funds represented 50 per cent of the projected cost needed to do studies to identify the future development and use of the BCCA. However, council decided to deny the application in light of the flooding disaster that recently impacted Bragg Creek, including the BCCA’s land.
Area Councillor Liz Breakey said the application was made “in good faith” prior to the flooding, but the proposed expansion site was affected by ground water saturation and several amenities such as the playground and tennis courts are still non-operational.
Because the funds would be used to conduct studies for future expansion, council said the application was no longer relevant since there was a possibility the site could be moved to a new location out of the flood way.
“We feel we have the support of the Rocky View County,” Sunnil Matta, president of the BCCA said.
“A lot of things are happening at this time and we’re just waiting until we get more information.”
With encouragement from the other councillors, Breakey made a motion to deny the funding request and encourage the BCCA to reapply once more information has been provided from the provincial government and the County’s Infrastructure and Operations department about flood recovery and future flood mitigation.
Councillor Greg Boehlke was absent.
