Cranbrook City council has decided to borrow $10 million for the Gold Creek dam replacement project.
Work will include a complete rebuild of the century old dam, which will fix a number of structural issues and greatly expand water storage capacity.
The estimated total cost for the project is $15 million. The city was awarded a $5 million grant so they only need to borrow the remaining $10 million.
“Infrastructure renewal is such a challenge for municipalities right across Canada. I cannot stress enough how important this funding and this project is to Cranbrook,” said Mayor Wayne Price.
Price says its a project that kept getting looked over, but the dam is at the end of its useful life.
“This is a priority project for the city of Cranbrook,” he said.
“This is just one of those ones that really slipped through the cracks over the years and now has become a critical project.”
New provincial regulations allow municipalities to borrow up to 10 per cent of their annual revenue without having elector approval for projects that support population growth and housing development.
This borrowing would be under that 10 per cent, so the decision will not need to go to an Alternate Approval Process (AAP) or referendum.
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