The City of Kimberley will make another attempt to convince the provincial government to reclaim responsibility for St. Mary Lake Road.
Mayor Ron McRae told Council this week that he would have a meeting with the Minister of Transportation when he attends the Union of British Columbia (UBCM) meeting later this month.
At that time, he will once again make the argument that the road — responsibility for which was passed to Kimberley some 12 years ago — is in fact a provincial road.
The City should not be responsible for a provincial road, he says.
“We will meet and see if they will take that stretch of road back,” said McRae. “It was a download. I’m not optimistic, but we’ll give it a go.”
McRae said traffic counters had been placed on the road, which appear to indicate that at least 51 per cent of the traffic on the road is not staying in Kimberley city limits but proceeding out to the lake or beyond. That’s how you make your case that it’s a provincial highway, the Mayor said.
Coun. Albert Hoglund, who was on Council at the time of the road download, says the City has tried that argument before, to no avail.
“We even argued that the Grey Creek Pass is on government maps and the road is the access to it, but we weren’t successful,” Hoglund said. “I can just say good luck to you.”
“Times change,” McRae said. “Maybe there will be a willingness to take a look at it.”
The conversation arose because Council was asked to approve an expenditure of $5,000 to do some repairs to the last kilometre of the road. Coun. Darryl Oakley did not vote to do the repairs, saying he wasn’t in favour of spending money in an area where the City had no taxpayers.