Increased costs for a component of the regional wastewater line around Sylvan Lake, left Lacombe County councillors to ante up some more money.
They unanimously agreed to the additional costs for the county so work could proceed on the North Shore Lift Station which will be located near the corner of Birchcliff Road and Range Road 1-4.
Councillors had previously agreed to pay $600,000 to have the project oversized to accommodate development in the county. They had also agreed to their portion of the commission’s cost and to upfront the costs attributed to other commission members to get the project moving.
Once bids came in, the low bid, from Knibb Development Ltd. of Standard, Alberta, was above the engineer’s estimate.
The initial estimate for the project was $1,848,000 while Knibb’s bid was $1,977,800. Engineering and project management costs will bring the total project cost to $2,205,975.
Sylvan Lake Regional Wastewater Commission approved Knibb’s bid at their June 29 meeting subject to receiving additional grant funding from Alberta Transportation (based on the actual tender price) and confirmation from Lacombe County for the costs of oversizing.
Of the total cost, commission members, seven of the municipalities around the lake, are responsible for $154,418. The county is required to pay for the oversizing it requires. The remaining portion comes from the province through the Water for Life program.
As a result of the increased costs, the amounts required from Lacombe County exceeded what had previously been approved by councillors.
Therefore they were presented with a series of motions to increase the amounts approved.
The motions were passed unanimously during their meeting last Tuesday. The included increasing the county’s maximum oversizing cost from $600,000 to $700,000. The county also agreed to upfront the commission members’ share ($154,418) if necessary.
As a commission member, Lacombe County is already responsible for $117,451 of that amount and councillors approved this expenditure.
In his report to council, County Commissioner Terry Hager said it may not be necessary to upfront the shares of other members, based on discussion at the commission meet. “All of the municipalities indicated they would be upfronting their share of the commission costs.”
“This lift station is critical to development on the east side of Sylvan Lake,” said Hager. “Until we get this, development can’t move forward. We’d like to see it started this fall and completed. That’s similar timelines with developments.”
The Slopes of Sylvan Lake subdivision, which is just north of the lift station, has been approved by the county and Belterra Land Company is already pre-marketing property in the 49 lot subdivision.
“I totally agree. With all the work we’ve put into this area we have to go ahead with this,” said Councillor Cliff Soper.
Costs for the oversizing will be recovered by the county through offsite levies paid by developers who eventually hook into the system.