Rocky View operations building gets go ahead

Rocky View County council is moving ahead with the construction of infrastructure and operations facilities at the Balzac municipal campus. The unanimous decision was made May 8.

A total of $9 million from the County’s Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) grant funding will be allocated to the construction of a fleet maintenance shop, sand and salt storage building and chemical storage building at the new County headquarters, located roughly four kilometres east of Balzac.

“We anticipate this project will move very, very quickly,” said County Manager Rob Coon. He added construction of the facilities would also allow potential consolidation of other shops.

County Agriculture and Environmental Services Manager Cole Nelson said building the facilities is preferable to restoring the existing Calgary facility, which was damaged when an employee backed out of the building with the bucket of his dump truck lifted earlier this year.

“It has become very apparent that due to the recent damage and severity of the repairs required, the need for a new facility for fleet maintenance is a high priority,” said Nelson.

“Rather than a full restoration of the current shop… savings could be allocated toward this new project.”

Deputy Reeve Margaret Bahcheli said, “This project not only replaces our broken building here, but also allows for consolidation of other areas.”

Nelson noted that a final schematic design for the entire campus, which will also include a new municipal office building, was completed last year. He said the next step will be to complete a detailed design plan.

“Throughout 2011 and early into 2012, the County has been establishing the physical, operational and financial requirements necessary to proceed with a new municipal campus,” he said.

“It is essential we move forward with a detailed design to determine the exact requirements for the facilities we are about to construct and for the best price possible.”

Councillor Lois Habberfield said she would like to see quotes from developers and to be informed once the contractor has been selected and the design has been finalized, before the project moves ahead.

“I am a little gun shy because of what happened with the Bragg Creek water projects,” said Habberfield. “I don’t want to see a $1 million overrun.”

Councillor Greg Boehlke agreed.

“If (the developer) can’t make a quote (they) can stick to, don’t make the quote,” he said.

Habberfield said she fully supports moving the fleet maintenance shop out to Balzac from Calgary.

“It makes no sense to have our graders coming all the way in on Deerfoot Trail,” she said.

County Reeve Rolly Ashdown said it is important to construct the new facility, as the existing one contains asbestos.

“The buildings that we have are not only falling apart but they’re also very unhealthy to work in,” said Ashdown.

Councillor Paul McLean made a motion asking council to approve the request to move ahead with the project.

Roughly $300,000 will be used for the design plan, with $8.7 million going to the construction of the facilities and associated site works.