The last two city council meetings of the year tried to deal with a six year old issue — the Seventh Avenue Bridge.
The bridge, leading to the former Valley View Centre, two private homes and Tatawaw Park, once called the Wild Animal Park, has been closed since 2015 floods took out one of the six pilings.
That council first took a serious stab at resolving the matter now is unsurprising: There is no money unless taken from the cast iron water main replacement program or some other critical infrastructure need.
At the first of the two meetings, the Thorn and Avery families and their lawyer David Chow appeared and made presentations after having made some in a closed meeting — not closed by their choice.
Council had stalled their public presentation until it received a report from Associated Engineering. That report outlined cost estimates/options for fixing or replacing the bridge across the Moose Jaw River.
The most crucial piece of the report noted the bridge is unsafe even for pedestrian traffic and could collapse from the weight of snow and ice.
Council immediately ordered closure to pedestrians. Quite a number of people use the bridge to walk to Tatawaw Park while walking their dogs.
Chow pointed out an alternate less costly repair alternative. While he spoke, Coun. Dawn Luhning and Mayor Fraser Tolmie got into it with him.
Luhning commented about the elephant in the room but then said she can’t talk about it anymore. The “elephant in the room” might have been the reason why the last council dragged its heels on this issue — the perception that the bridge only serves two families
That is no longer true. The bridge would serve as a second exit/entrance to the residential development planned on the former Valley View Centre site by the new owner, Carpere. And it would make Tatawaw Park and Kingsway Park more accessible.
Coun. Heather Eby threw a red herring into the discussion by asking how big a tax increase would be needed to replace the $3 million bridge
No bridge, no infrastructure of that size is completely replaced by increasing property taxes.
The mayor demanded and did not get an apology from Chow for comments he made about the city administration not seeming to think this was urgent.
Rookie councillor Jamey Logan seemed frustrated when he suggested the Avery and Thorn families should have been more cordial and “not come a-blazing with lawyers.”
One wonders, would he have waited six years for a resolution if one of his business interests had similar concerns?
The real elephant in the room as this Scribbler sees it is the city’s obligation under the Cities Act to provide a road accessible by police, ambulance and fire services to all property owners.
At the second council session, the city manager expressed urgency to solve this matter.
Lawyers a-blazing seemed to change administration and council’s tune.
The whole issue could have been averted if the city had done its homework and the province had co-operated before selling Valley View Centre, merely by changing the trail around the centre from Highway Two into a legal public road.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
