Kimberley Council has decided to “shoot for the moon” in terms of grant requests, said CAO Scott Sommerville at the regular meeting of Council on Monday evening.
Council has submitted two projects to the 2015 Gas Tax Strategic Priorities Fund, which can provide up to 100 per cent funding for certain projects. After much discussion at the Committee of the Whole meeting, the two projects selected are the Gerry Sorensen Roadway Reconstruction and the Kimberley Wastewater Treatment Plant.
These are both multi-million dollar projects. The replacement of the treatment plant has been looming on the horizon for some time now and it will have to be tackled in the next five or six years. Planning and engineering design alone could take a couple of years.
The repaving of Gerry Sorensen Way is something Mayor Don McCormick has been talking about since he was elected to Council in 2011. McCormick has always been of the opinion that it is one of the most important streets in Kimberley, as every tourist eventually makes their way up to the Kimberley Alpine Resort.
“Gerry Sorensen Way is in terrible shape,” McCormick told Mayor’s Lunch attendees last week. “It reflects poorly on us. But it’ a $6.5 million project. Whole sections need to be dug out and the base replaced.”
McCormick said the City was looking at two to three years to do the entire stretch.
“But there is a sense of urgency to get it fixed,” he said.
Other, smaller infrastructure projects, such as pressure reducing stations, are being applied for under different grant programs.