Town of St. Paul to proceed with expropriation

The Town of St. Paul will proceed with the expropriation of a waterway south of the golf course which has been at the heart of a longstanding dispute with a landowner.

Alberta Environment ruled the watercourse was naturally occurring in May 2019 and earlier this summer the town began the process to expropriate the land after failing to come to an agreement with owner Don Belland.

According to Miller, no appeals have been filed by either the landowner or the public.

The watercourse runs directly from the north end of the county through the west side of the Town of St. Paul to the Upper Therien Lake.

“This next stage assesses the property for its value and then it will come back to town to purchase the property. And then hopefully it will be complete, with protecting a waterway that does if it is at all blocked or obstructed back up in to town,” said Miller.

A motion by Coun. Nathan Taylor to proceed passed with unanimous support.