The R.M. of Prince Albert wants to upgrade this road to a fully-engineered graveled surface. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Dawson Thompson

Road Improvement

R.M.of P.A. can fix 48th St. if they own it all: reeve

Jun 24, 2021 | 12:00 PM

How to improve the condition of 48^th Street on the eastern side of the city has again come up at Prince Albert city council.

The RM wants to annex the city’s approximate one-kilometre portion of the artery to form a continuous road between Highways 2 and 3. The city will discuss the idea at its next council meeting after receiving a report from its planning department.

The road straddles the border between the R.M. and the City of P.A. with both jurisdictions owning part of it.

R.M. reeve Eric Schmalz explained their proposal to paNOW and talked about why the annexation would be a benefit to the public and what it would mean for the overall community.

“We’ve been in discussions before with the city on possibly co-funding the construction of 48th Street,” Schmalz said. The RM has previously offered to pay half the costs to upgrade the city’s portion.

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Due to budget reasons, the city has not been able to lend a helping hand.

Funding available to one owner

“We explored further options on how we could make this fiscally responsible and beneficial to everyone,” Schmalz said. “We found we could access funding. However, to access the funding to have that road constructed we would have to have a continuous title for the entire stretch of road.”

“Our proposal to the city is that we would annex it, we would own the road and construct it to a more user-friendly condition,” Schmalz said. “This is strictly to provide safe and secure access to our ratepayers.”

The RM would be responsible for future maintenance.

A map shows 48th St. E and the surronding area. (Council Agenda Package/City of P.A.)

At this week’s executive meeting of council, the question of ‘why now’ came up from city councilors. Schmalz said the poor state of the road is a major issue.

“I have spent a lot of time at the trailer port that intersects with 48th Street, and it was uncountable how many times I heard ‘when are you going to upgrade this road, why is this road in the state it’s in,’” Schmalz replied. “I made it a priority to have those ratepayers heard. We want to make sure there is good access for them.”

At the meeting, Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick suggested the R.M. should work on the road anyway, rather than annexing it.

“My initial thoughts would be just fix it, pay for it, and let’s carry on like normal,” Ogrodnick said. “You’ll please the people in that area. I don’t understand why you want to annex it and push forward with that at this particular moment.”

Mayor Greg Dionne brought up the idea of perhaps leasing the city’s portion of the road to the RM over a long-term period, rather than the RM annexing it.

“Then we would still own it. Planning will do the report to tell us the pros and cons of moving ahead with that suggestion,” Dionne said.

The R.M. would take care of the maintenance and upkeep of the road Schmalz added.

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Dawson.thompson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @dawsonthompson8