Cold Lake getting nearly $1M in infrastructure money

Trails and a future transit bus are earmarked for the federal dollars.

Last week during regular council it was revealed Cold Lake will have access to over $980,000 in federal funding to support public transport infrastructure projects.

The money is part of the government’s COVID-19 relief efforts, and the City plans to put the funds towards improving trail systems throughout the community as well as their transportation.

“What we’re going to do is we’re going to park some money for a future transit bus,” said Mayor Craig Copeland on The Morning After. “That’s a couple hundred thousand dollars over there.

“But we’re also going to put about $700,000 of this money into trails — establishing new trails because we have a lot of areas in Cold Lake the residents have asked us to make trails.”

Areas outlined in the staff report include Red Fox Estates, Creekside Estates, École Voyageur and English Bay with connections between Lakewood Estates and Beach Avenue.

“We’re going to refurbish the existing Millennium Trail. It’s failing in certain areas and needs to be refurbished,” Copeland added. “We also have a lot of dark patches on the trail so we’re going to look at lighting it up.”

Copeland went on to say that any money left over will be bundled up and be considered for topping up during council deliberations.

According to the staff report, the feds will cover 80 per cent of the project costs, with the catch that the money will have to be spent by December 2021 as the funds are being allocated to the city’s COVID-19 Resilience Stream, save for $280,000 for new transit bus which will be allocated through the Public Transit Stream.

Councillors had the option to allocate the full amount through the Public Transit Stream, which would have extended the deadline for spending to 2027/2028, but would have also required the city to cover 60 per cent of the overall costs.

Other areas of interest presented included making repairs to the dasher boards in Reid Fieldhouse, upgrades to Kinosoo Beach’s restrooms and concession, and addressing wear-and-tear concerns in the North Arena.

North Arena was not considered for funds due to council’s current stance on the arena’s future.