County councillors unveiled their wish list for proposed Green Trip funding last week.
Sturgeon councillors add their ideas to a growing list of projects from municipalities across the region that will go in front of the Capital Region Board (CRB) before going to the province.
The province originally announced its $2 billion Green Trip funding in 2008, but only recently set out the application process to allow municipalities to apply.
The county has two projects that could qualify for the grant program that would fund two-thirds of any potential project.
One project is a proposed park and ride lot that would be built jointly with the city of Fort Saskatchewan near the intersection of Highway 37 and Highway 15.
The proposal is at the very early stages, but would create a parking lot for approximately 1,000 cars. While the general area has been established, no exact location has been identified or land purchased.
The other project on the county’s list would be a joint project with St. Albert to create a park and ride lot on the northern boundary of the city.
That project is also only an idea, but the city has also submitted it as a potential project. Early estimates put the cost at more than $6 million.
County manager of public services Peter Tarnawsky said both projects are at the early stages and don’t have funding allocated or any specific engineering done.
He also said both would serve the county well and neither is above the other in terms of priority.
“They are both projects that the county could proceed on.”
Sturgeon County mayor Don Rigney said he doesn’t know whether the proposal will be successful in getting any funding because it is out of their hands.
“That is going to be decided at the CRB. That decision will be made at the board.”
Rigney has been critical of the loss of autonomy the CRB has imposed upon municipalities, but he said in this instance he is not overly concerned.
“There are two sides to that story. It is a loss of autonomy, but on the other hand it is more of a co-ordinated effort.”
If the county were to receive funding for these projects it could be facing a fairly large bill of its own because the program requires municipalities to pay one-third of the costs.
Rigney said the county has been spending wisely and would be in a good position if that came up, but it will be up to future councils.
“We are in a pretty good, if not enviable financial position and the council of the day will have to decide what to do.”
The CRB is set to meet on Sept. 9 to consider all of the regional proposals before sending a list to the province.
