With petitions signed by the residents of Village Lane Condos and Viola Beach in support of local improvement plans for wastewater collection lines to be installed in the two communities, County of Wetaskiwin council can now move forward with the improvements plans and tendering process for the project.
At its Oct. 18 meeting council approved three separate resolutions on the matter. The first was the acceptance of the sufficiency of the petitions, the second was to approve the local improvement plans for local wastewater collection lines, and the third was to direct administration to bring forward local improvement tax bylaws regarding collection lines for the two communities during the 2017 budget deliberations.
The petitions were first presented during an open house on Sept. 22, 2016. By the end of the open house 91 per cent of Village Lane Condos properties signed the petition.
“In terms of (Viola Beach) we didn’t achieve that two-thirds,” said research officer Jeff Chipley.
The county kept the petition open for another three weeks in order to get the number of signatures required.
“We had several other residents, unsolicited, act as champions for us,” said Chipley.
“This shows the co-operation between our residents and the county in improving the quality of life,” said CAO Frank Coutney.
Coutney says he hopes this will show other municipalities how effective local improvement plans can be to improve Pigeon Lake and wastewater quality.
Coun. Larry McKeever also voiced his joy in the outcome. “It’s a great day… I’m really please we’re hooking individual properties onto it.”