The City of St. Albert and the provincial government will need to spend an additional $8 million each to finish twinning Ray Gibbon Drive, according to a new report to council included in the June 2 meeting agenda.
The cost increase was identified, according to the report, last year when design work was completed for the next two stages of the four stage project, which got underway in 2020.
The city and the province signed a cost sharing agreement for the project back in 2019, and that agreement involves each party paying 50 per cent of the cost. At the time, the project's budget was $54.2 million, and the cost sharing agreement was set up to have the city pay for the first two stages, while the provincial government would be responsible for stages three and four, which are scheduled to be completed in 2025/2026 and 2028/2029 respectively.
With the $16 million cost increase, the project's overall cost is now pegged at $72.2 million, with the city and the province both paying about $35.1 million in total.
Stage three will see the section of Ray Gibbon Drive between the McKenney Avenue intersection and the Giroux Road intersection be expanded to have two lanes travelling in both directions. The fourth and final stage is for the section of Ray Gibbon Drive between the Giroux Road intersection and Villeneuve Road, where Ray Gibbon Drive ends.
City administration's report, written by transportation manager Dean Schick, says during stage three the city also plans to widen the part of Giroux Road that connects to Ray Gibbon Drive, expanding the roadway into two lanes travelling each direction rather than the one lane in each direction that currently exists between the Nevada Place intersection and the Ray Gibbon Drive intersection.
The Giroux Road widening is not covered under the city's agreement with the province, Schick wrote, and as such the city will need to spend $1.28 million to complete that work.
In all, council is being asked to approve the additional $9.28 million in spending on Tuesday.
Of that total, the city can borrow about $8.39 million from the existing $36.6 million Ray Gibbon Drive borrowing bylaw council approved back in 2019, while the remainder can be funded between the capital reserve ($527,000), and “$364,000 [will be] funded from recovered costs received during phases one and two,” according to Schick's report.
The Gazette will have further coverage on council's decision to come.
Accessible playground strategy
Another item on council's agenda this week is a motion brought forward by Coun. Wes Brodhead to have the city develop an “Accessible and Inclusive Playground Strategy,” for $120,000.
The strategy, if Brodhead's motion is approved, will be developed by a consultant and will “address standards and planning for the development of inclusive and accessible playgrounds” in St. Albert, a report to council explains.
“Of the 65 city-owned playgrounds, one is fully inclusive (Fountain Park), with a second (Lodgepole playground) to be completed later in 2024,” the report reads. “Many of the remaining playgrounds have some elements of inclusivity and/or accessibility, including partial or fully accessible play surfacing.”
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Brodhead's motion comes after another administrative report, published back in May, explained the city could, over time, turn every existing city-owned playground into a fully accessible and inclusive facility by increasing the city's annual playground redevelopment budget by an additional $190,000 per year, which would mean spending about $550,000 every year on playground replacement.
READ MORE: Accessible playgrounds would cost $190k more annually, report says
In the report from May, administration recommended against that idea, as it's administration's position that not every playground should be made fully accessible as doing so “would reduce play diversity opportunities across the city, and may not support needs across the full range of ages and abilities.”
Instead, administration recommended council support the creation of an accessible playground strategy.
“Administration believes that each playground should be designed as part of a city-wide network of playgrounds, which, together, meet the needs of our community,” reads the new administrative report. “This means that, while not every playground is fully inclusive and accessible, a lens of inclusion and accessibility should be applied to all playgrounds, and fully accessible playgrounds should be available in appropriate places throughout the community.”
“If developed, a network-based strategy would consider how playgrounds can work together to provide a range of play experiences for all children in our community.”
The new report says creating the strategy will likely take a year, and it is “unlikely” it would be done in time to have its recommendations included in the 2026 budget process, meaning that any work that comes as a result of the strategy, if it's even approved by council on Tuesday, won't take place until 2027.
The Gazette will have further coverage to come after council's vote.
