Rotary Club considering fundraising project for Blue Heron Boardwalk reconstruction

When it comes time to reconstruct the Blue Heron Boardwalk, the Town of Barrhead may have some extra help in the form of the Rotary Club.

On Nov. 12, Barrhead Rotary Club president Kerry Van Hecke told town council that the service organization is considering contributing upwards of $50,000 to the reconstruction of the Blue Heron Boardwalk.

Later in the meeting, council accepted the delegation as information and instructed administration to continue to work with the service club to see how they can get involved in the project.

The popular attraction was closed in early October after the town received an engineering report from Associated Engineering recommending its closure and demolition.

The report stated that the boardwalk did not meet the 2014 Alberta Code and that due to the “significant number of elements that are under-designed,” the firm recommended that the structure be closed and be “demolished as soon as possible.”

After receiving the report, chief administrative officer Edward LeBlanc consulted with the town’s legal counsel, before deciding to close the boardwalk.

“(Our lawyer) said that when you have documented recommendation from an engineer to close a structure to the public and demolish it, you do exactly that,” he said at the Oct. 8 council meeting.

Later in the meeting, councillors officially approved the demolition of the boardwalk and instructed LeBlanc to add its potential reconstruction to its 2020 budget deliberations.

Van Hecke said the closure of the boardwalk was fortuitous as the Rotary Club has been looking for another large project to become involved in.

Rotary Club board member Mickey Fitzgerald agreed, saying even though the Rotary Club has been active in the community for 60 years residents don›t know much about the organization.

“What we need is something that helps identify the Rotary Club. Over the last few years, we have lost that recognition of what we do in the community, which makes it hard to attract new members,” he said. “By putting our name to a project like this, it makes us more visible not only to the general public but the business community as well.”

Coun. Rod Klumph said he was excited about potentially having the Rotary Club involved in the project.

“The town was thinking of just putting in a basic trail,” he said. “But with the money you put in, there is so much more that can be done. Lighting systems can be put in, which would make the trail more useable at all times of the year.”

Associated Engineering pegged the cost of replacing the boardwalk with a raised pathway that would align the current path with the roadway near the water treatment plant at about $182,000. The new construction would be about 238 metres long, approximately 90 metres would be the boardwalk itself.

Coun. Ty Assaf asked what form a potential contribution from the Rotary Club would take.

“I can tell you right up front that we don›t have $50,000 just sitting in a bank account, so it would be in stages and would involve a fundraising effort,” Van Hecke said. “We are looking at some different [fundraising] options whether it be a raffle or a large gala type of thing, we don’t know yet.”

Fitzgerald also invited the councillors to join the Rotary Club, noting 2019 was the first time in 60 years that they didn›t have any representation from either of the Barrhead municipalities.

“If you are really thinking of us being part of this project we would love to have representation from the town,” he said, noting there were multiple ways to getting involved, such as becoming a corporate member.