BARRHEAD - The Town of Barrhead and the Barrhead Rotary Club are officially working together to restore the Blue Heron Boardwalk.
On Feb. 24, council unanimously approved a request from the Rotary Club for a letter of support for its application for a $100,0000 Co-op Community Spaces Program grant.
The program is part of the Co-op’s larger Co-operative Retailing System (CRS) — a network of over 170 member retail co-ops across Western Canada. Co-op Community Spaces provides funding for projects on behalf of co-ops across the CRS, to create spaces where people can come together.
Since 2015, 115 projects have been supported for a total of $8.5 million dollars in capital funding.
If successful, the service club would put the grant towards helping the municipality replace the Blue Heron Boardwalk.
The popular attraction, which parallels the Paddle River, was closed in early October after the town received 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.
To apply for the grant LeBlanc said the not-for-profit service club either needed a letter of support from the municipality of a certificate of incorporation.
After having discussions with the service club, LeBlanc decided the option that would give the Rotary Club the best chance of success, would be the letter of support.
Deputy mayor Don Smith, who was acting as chair in the absence of mayor Dave McKenzie, asked if in addition to the letter of support there was any need to provide additional help in submitting the application.
LeBlanc noted community groups are responsible for making their own applications, but on occasion, administration does provide guidance.
“Last year the [Barrhead Seniors Club] made an application for a grant and we reviewed their application providing another set of eyes, but typically we don’t get involved,” he said.
In its report recommending the board walk’s closure, Associated Engineering estimated the cost of replacing it with a similar structure that would align the current path with the roadway near the water treatment plant at $182,000.
In the Request for Decision (RFD), LeBlanc noted that in the 2020 interim capital budget, $100,000 has been set aside for the project.
On Nov. 12, Rotary Club president Kerry Van Hecke and Rotary Club board member Mickey Fitzgerald told councillors the service club was considering donating upwards of $50,000 towards the project.
Van Hecke was quick to point out that they didn’t have the funds on hand and would have to embark on a major fundraising effort, looking for available monies through private and government grants along with its own fundraising efforts.
Fitzgerald noted they were looking for a large project to become involved with to raise their profile in the community.
“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.”
