There are still questions to be answered regarding the sewer system’s ability to handle flows from the new school.
The sanitary sewer that runs along 50th Avenue between 49th and 47th Street could cost $1.6 million to upgrade, based on discussions by Athabasca town council.
The topic was heavily discussed at a special Aspen View Public School Division board meeting last Tuesday at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex, where the councils from the town and county were invited to participate.
The school division called the meeting to discuss the contents of the site services report it received on Sept. 22.
“We had the engineering plan for a 1,000 capacity school,” Aspen View superintendent Mark Francis said.
“We went up. (Edwin Parr Composite School) is sitting at 550 students today. The engineers also looked at several pools of what would be expected in this size of town and used industry rates.”
The site services report also took into account a pool that is average for a town this size, and for 450 more kids than currently attend EPC.
“That trunk line that we referred to is 80 per cent capacity. We wouldn’t be increasing the flow, we would be changing the direction it comes from, and in fact, the report based on 1,000 students says it shouldn’t impact the overall capacity of the sewer line,” Francis said.
“The position of the school board is not to say that the sewer line should not be looked at. Of course, if you are sitting at 80 to 85 per cent capacity when you have a storm, you could have the capacity go over 100.”
Francis also pointed out there is a 2008 report from the Town of Athabasca that suggests there are other sewer mains pushing 100 per cent capacity in the community.
Athabasca County councillor Kevin Haines explained the project should go ahead.
“That shouldn’t stop the project,” he said referring to the sewer main.
Aspen View trustee Lewis Semashkewich asked if the line would have to be upgraded anyway.
“We are way past the 25th hour,” Semashkewich said.
“The minister has been very cooperative saying that because it is a joint project, they are allowing us to drag our feet. We need to get this done. We need to make people aware that we can’t wait any longer.”
He also stated that if development continued to the east, that might effect the line.
“We are looking at the process,” said Town of Athabasca mayor Roger Morrill.
“That is what this is all about, finding out where we stand. We want to tread as carefully as possible so not to get ourselves into a situation that burdens our councils down the road. This is a very important time. I understand the ministries have been very understanding.”
