Discussions between the province and the Athabasca Golf and Country Club about the new bridge and a potential land sale are set to start again.
Discussions between the province and the Athabasca Golf and Country Club about the new bridge and a potential land sale are set to start again.
The Alberta government announced funding for a new bridge over the Athabasca River at Highway 813 in its capital plan March 16. Since then, the Athabasca Golf and Country Club board members have been waiting to restart negotiations for the purchase of their land to accommodate the project.
Brent Herrick, Ministry of Transportation bridge manager for the north central region, said the original design was to put the bridge on a new alignment with Highway 813. This design would run through approximately six acres of the Athabasca Golf and Country Club's land, and the land disruption would impact the layout of golf course.
“It has that very sharp curve right as you're leaving the bridge, ” Herrick said. “We wanted to look at trying to improve that alignment, and that was planned in 2014. ”
“We (were) in discussions with the golf course back then, but because the project was not put onto a construction program, that's where it kind of stayed, ” he added.
Trevor Martin, an Athabasca Golf and Country Club member-at-large and chair of the Athabasca River Bridge committee, said the committee completed the preliminary work on the golf course changes in order to sell the land to the provincial government.
These plans included building of the new maintenance facility, realignment of two tee blocks, building of a new green on Hole 16 and the driving range. Martin said the committee has already hired a golf course engineer to design the course around these changes.
“For us, it will be easy because we just have to update our numbers, ” Martin said. “We got estimates on the new maintenance shed and what it will do to the course. We just have to plug in the new numbers for today's cost. ”
Herrick said the Alberta government would be responsible for the land purchasing and any rebuilding costs of the golf course.
“We will talk to the golf course. Find out what they're looking for, for compensation, and try to come up with an equitable solution to both our issues, ” he said.
Herrick said he expects the bridge construction to begin 2019 with a completion date around 2021-2022.
Martin said before the committee will update their estimates, they first need a more accurate time frame, not to run into a similar situation as the past. He said that as of last week, the board had not received any contact from the provincial government for the project.
“We just want to get a date and a commitment from the government, ” he said.
Martin said the committee will submit a letter to Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater MLA Colin Piquette and estimated it will be sent during the first week of May.
Herrick said their next step is to meet with their consultant and contractors again before communicating with the Athabasca River Bridge committee about land purchasing. He said they plan to have a meeting sometime in the first week of May and expects to have the land purchase complete within eight months.
“The first step - we need to get back in touch with our consultant, kind of get an action plan in place of where do we need to start, ” Herrick said. “Then the critical phase of it is definitely the land purchase. ”
Editor's note: The print version of this story incorrectly listed the town and the county as the owners of the golf club's property. ;Neither ;Athabasca County nor the Town of Athabasca own the Athabasca Golf and Country Club property. The property is owned by the club, which is managed by the ;membership. There is a caveat in the title of the property - both town and county portions - that it must remain a public facility.
