Questions by town council on an anticipated $14.78 million infrastructure project in Glenbow centred around public engagement and not repeating the struggles faced in completing the Centre Ave. project promptly.
The delayed, then expanded project calls for replacing all water, storm, sanitary systems, and roadway infrastructure from 5th Ave. to the Glenbow Elementary School along Glenpatrick Drive that becomes Glenpatrick Rd.
It includes a traffic roundabout at the three-way intersection near Glenbow Elementary School and traffic calming measures such as pedestrian bump-outs and curb extensions.
Should funding be approved, the complex project is anticipated to begin next spring and be completed at the 2026 construction season.
Drew Hyndman, town development and infrastructure executive director, says they have been answering questions and listening to the concerns of Glenbow residents. Still, no formal engagement with residents impacted by the project will occur until after the budget is approved by town council.
He says close attention will be paid to how contractors submitting bids will stage the project.
"A big part of our evaluation of some of the submissions that come in is how this will be staged to be delivered and not impact the community, because we understand what happened on Centre Ave. and we don't want to repeat that."
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Councillor Morgan Nagel pressed to understand the full impact of the project on residents and how long some may be left without services. No clear answers could be provided at this point, but Hyndman assured him temporary services would be provided for those households impacted.
Councillor Marni Fedeyko was concerned about the minimal engagement with Glenbow residents since the project's expanded scope.
"We've probably had a year or more that we should have been engaging the residents," says Fedeyko.
"I don't think we've overly identified the scope of the project and why it's such a big increase in an engagement-style process."
Despite the inconvenience it will cause there are long-term gains for Cochrane. The infrastructure of the 40-year-old community is near the end of its life. Multiple water leaks have impacted Glenbow residents and resulted in increased operational and maintenance costs due to unplanned or emergency repairs, states the report provided to council.
The town began work on a smaller version of the project in 2023 that was anticipated to cost $5.86 million and be funded through a combination of grants and reserves. The town held an open house for residents that March and initiated the procurement process. It all came to a grinding halt when inconsistencies in funding were identified in a town financial audit.
The 2024 budget included $150,000 to complete detailed design work.