ATHABASCA – After calling for more information at their previous meeting, Athabasca town councillors received an update from administration Feb. 2, and the original suggestion to connect the planned Old Man Winter Brewhouse to the town’s sewer system is still at the top of the options list.
Councillors asked for more details to be presented on whether using a gravity line to connect the development, at the site of the former Home Hardware, to the town’s sewer system would suffice, considering the one per cent grade and the potential for future line sagging.
CAO Rachel Ramey told council utilities supervisor Terry Kosinski had met with the town’s engineers to go over the firm’s recommendations and look at another potential option involving a pump-out system that would connect to the town’s main line via directional drilling.
“They did acknowledge that it is near minimum requirements for line grade and the surface cover,” said Ramey, adding that because breweries tend to produce large amounts of wastewater, so problems with freezing shouldn’t occur, unless the building is converted to another use in the future that doesn’t produce as much wastewater.
“Ultimately, right now, the design that we have will work for the purpose intended.”
Coun. Dave Pacholok asked Kosinski for a little more detail on the meeting, and what his thoughts on the gravity system being installed. He said the design looks good on paper, but he still has his concerns, as a lot of unknowns still remain.
“I've been involved in excavations both in front and behind that lot. The ground has a little bit less than favourable soil conditions,” he said. “So, we are going to put a line in at a minimum grade, I mean there's going to be a degree of some sort of settling in some aspect … It's a bit of a concern, so maybe looking at a second option might not be a bad idea.”
Coun. Tannia Cherniwchan asked Kosinski directly if he thought there was now enough information for council to make a decision.
“I guess, in my opinion, no,” he replied.
Coun. Ida Edwards agreed: “I don't feel like I have enough information right now, and I am concerned about the one per cent grade.”
Coun. Rob Balay recommended moving the discussion to a future public works committee meeting to decide if and to what extent they want to proceed.
“First we have to make a decision as to whether or not we will consider this in the first place, we sort of have costs in mind and whether that involves talking with the developer, so be it,” he said. “And I don't really want to discuss negotiations with the developer in in open.”
Coun. John Traynor doesn’t sit on the public works committee though, but said he wants to be part of that decision.
“I would like to be a part of that. I think that's a big part of our moving forward with the challenges and I'd like to be able to have some voice, if I could,” he said.
CAO Ramey suggested the end of the meeting that evening could be used to go into a closed session to discuss.
“I have no problem with discussing it tonight to some degree,” said Pacholok. “I don't know if we can come to a possible conclusion to this work, but we could certainly get a start on it tonight if everybody's willing.”
“I think you're absolutely right,” said mayor Colleen Powell. “We can't finish it tonight, but I think we can get some of the other stuff on the table.”
No motions were made when council came back into open session.
