A St. Albert ski club plans to build a solar-powered shed on the Red Willow Trail.
The St. Albert Nordic Ski Club (STANSKI) presented plans to build a new storage shed Thursday night at an open house in Kingswood Park. The shed is part of a 15-year, $1.67-million renovation of the park by the ski group and was funded by a $350,000 grant from the city and province.
STANSKI sets ski trails throughout Kingswood Park during the winter and has a storage shed behind the sewage pump station on Sturgeon Road and Sir Winston Churchill Avenue.
The land the shed sits on has been claimed by the Alberta Capital Wastewater Commission as part of an upgrade to the pump station, said Erin Gluck, community recreation co-ordinator with the City of St. Albert, so it has to move. The club and city decided to put the shed by the shelter in Kingswood Park to minimize its effects on the trail system.
The shed will be a two-storey, 30-by-60-by-19-foot steel building painted to match the ski shelter, said Wayne McCutcheon, STANSKI’s director of strategic planning. It’s almost three times bigger than the old shed, which should make it easier to hold rental skis and trail equipment. It will also feature doors on either side so trail groomers can drive straight in and out — you need a three-point turn to get out of the current single-door shed.
The south side of the shed will have solar panels on it, said Hugh Rutherford, the club’s trail manager, which will produce 2.2 kilowatts of electricity to light and heat the place. The shed will be the second grid-connected solar-powered building on city property.
“We’re going to be using [the shed] intensely for a short period of time in the winter, but virtually not at all in the summer,” he says. These panels will provide clean power year-round, offsetting pollution caused by winter electricity use.
Two picnic tables will be moved and several trees replaced to make way for the shed, McCutcheon said. A small part of the trail behind the ski shelter might be blocked during construction. If the project meets city approval, he hoped to start building by September.
Questions on the project should go to McCutcheon at 780-458-5133.
The city has spent about $20,000 so far cleaning up diesel-soaked fields at Legion Memorial Ball Park and isn’t sure who will foot the bill.
Police and fire crews rushed to the park’s mosquito diamond July 16 after a maintenance person tried to dry it using diesel, gasoline and fire. A hazardous response team later dug up part of the diamond to remove soil contaminated by the fuel. When tests of the park’s other diamonds found similar contamination on a pitcher’s mound, the city asked the St. Albert Minor Baseball Association (SAMBA) to re-cap that mound with clay.
Media reports this week suggested that the cost of cleaning up the contaminated diamonds could be up to $20,000.
SAMBA doesn’t actually know how much it will cost, said Bob Klim, the group’s vice-president. “We probably won’t know until we get it fixed.”
The city has spent $16,000 to $20,000 so far on soil tests and the hazardous response team, said Chris Jardine, general manager of community and protective services. Further tests and remediation will happen once the baseball season is over.
Insurance companies have yet to work out who will pay for the repairs, said Mayor Nolan Crouse. “It’s ridiculous to think that we can’t find a way to do this without tens of thousands of dollars in cost,” he said. Volunteers could repair the diamonds for little cost, he suggested.
