The city is closer to tying up loose ends for the first two stages of Ray Gibbon Drive after council approved a $1.3-million deal to snatch up land alongside the road.
On Monday, council met in private before approving the additional land purchase. The $1.3 million cost will come from existing borrowing bylaws, assured Mayor Nolan Crouse.
“It’s coming out of the money that we [previously] borrowed,” said Crouse. “It is not additional, we have already made this commitment. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been made public in the past.”
Council originally approved borrowing $35.5 million for stages one and two, and it currently has withdrawn $29.5 million for the project.
Crouse said the city had been trying for some time to purchase the remaining land for the road right of way from Genstar. The first two stages are now closer to completion, paving the way for the road becoming a future highway.
“This is going to allow us to have all the land that’s going to be required so when Ray Gibbon Drive is transferred over to the province that they get the land and the road all in one fell swoop,” explained Crouse.
According to planning and engineering general manager Neil Jamieson, the land purchase includes a number of small parcels along Ray Gibbon Drive that are needed for an eventual eight-lane highway, plus land for future connections to Riel Drive and LeClair Way (the 137th Avenue extension).
“We have to purchase those lands so the land is available when they do want to go eight lanes at some point,” said Jamieson.
But that isn’t the end of the city’s land acquisition in the area. Jamieson said administration would return to council soon with recommendations to make the final purchases for the road right of way.
Crouse added that the city will eventually need to purchase land for stage three from Giroux Road to Villeneuve Road.
“We’ve still got more land purchases to make when we go on to stage three,” said Crouse. “This is really about carrying on with business.”
