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Cave Avenue project on hold - again

A proposal to postpone yet again the long-awaited redevelopment of Cave Avenue has left some residents extremely disappointed. The draft 2012 capital budget identified no road projects moving ahead in 2012, although $2.

A proposal to postpone yet again the long-awaited redevelopment of Cave Avenue has left some residents extremely disappointed.

The draft 2012 capital budget identified no road projects moving ahead in 2012, although $2.973 million is earmarked in 2013 for the Cave Avenue project.

Council is currently discussing the capital budget, but the discussion at yesterday’s (Nov. 30) meeting could not be reported before the Outlook’s deadline.

The reconstruction of Cave Avenue was first brought forward in 1994 and Liz Hogg, president of 113 Cave Avenue development, said residents are disappointed.

“If Parks is making the Cave and Basin more beautiful, you’d think the Town would want to make the street leading to it just as beautiful as soon as possible,” she said.

“Our street has a lot of issues and safety is a big concern for a lot of residents, but I guess we’ve waited this long, so one more year in the grand scheme of things isn’t going to kill us.”

The reconstruction of Cave Avenue includes a sidewalk, bike path and new roadway surface.

In addition to the surface works, there are plans to upgrade the underground water, sanitary and storm drainage systems, and possibly put power lines underground.

Cave Avenue resident Brad White said his main concern centres on the fact that most homeowners have paid a development levy, on top of general taxes, for the project.

“That off-site levy money has been sitting there for over 15 years in my case. I think the money I put in was about $10,000 and I haven’t had use of that money and the project is still not done,” he said.

“That money is supposed to be earmarked for this capital project, so you would think in theory and in good faith it would have been undertaken sooner rather than later.”

Chris Hughes, the Town of Banff’s senior accountant, said the order of road projects now follows a new ranking criteria based on the current condition of the infrastructure.

He said the one exception is Cave Avenue, which goes first in 2013, followed by the 300 block of Banff Avenue the following year, with a total of $3.9 million to be spent in 2014-1015.

“Our internal capacity is to do about one a year, so we’ve stacked them,” said Hughes.

Councillor Leslie Taylor said St. Julien Street residents will be happy to see their project – which includes road, a sidewalk and storm water improvements – is to be moved up to 2017 from 2018-2020.

“I know some of the Cave Avenue people are expressing disappointment it’s been pushed back… I’m not saying I’m unhappy with this because I do think it’s the right direction, but there is some disappointment.”

Otter Street reconstruction is on the books for 2015-16, followed by St. Julien in 2017, Cougar Street in 2017-18, Bow Falls Avenue in 2018-19, Spray Avenue reconstruction in 2010-20, Marmot Crescent reconstruction in 2020-21 and Grizzly Street in 2021.


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