The RM of Corman Park has ambitious plans for the 2020 construction season, including upgrading several major roadways and completing the expansion and renovation of its municipal office in Saskatoon.
At its meeting on Monday, April 20, Corman Park council approved a motion to formally apply to the province for permission to borrow $1.5 million by way of debentures for the Corman Park office expansion project. The debentures will be repayable in annual installments over a period of 10 years.
Council also approved a recommendation to fund four capital projects, all involving upgrades to roadways, which were not already included in the municipal budget for this year. The financing for the projects includes a combination of transfers from reserves, external borrowing and funding through local improvement levies.
The additional road projects are being done this year in order to take advantage of lower costs and also to help stimulate the local economy, according to RM councillors.
Three projects will be funded 25% from reserves and 75% from borrowing.
These include:
* upgrades to a 1.3 mile stretch of Township Road 382 (Lutheran Road) from Highway 11 to Range Road 3052;
* a 1.0 mile section of Township Road 394 from Highway 11 to Range Road 3043;
* a 0.6 mile portion of Township Road 394 from Highway 11 to the Carlton Trail Railway tracks.
For both Township Road 394 projects, the RM loan costs will be recovered through local improvement levies.
One other project, a 2.8 mile portion of the Riverside Estates Road, will be financed through a loan by the RM which will be recovered through a local improvement levy in the hamlet of Riverside Estates.
All four projects are expected to go to tender this spring.
The 2020 construction season also includes a range of projects for road upgrades throughout the RM that were previously approved in the 2020 municipal budget.
Among the contracted paving projects on the list:
* completion of the paving of 1.5 miles of Township Road 384 from Martensville city limits to Highway 11;
* paving 1.7 miles of Township Road 354 (Baker Road) from Highway 11 to Range Road 3052;
* paving 1.5 miles of Range Road 3050 between the Saskatoon city limits and Township Road 374 and also Township Road 374 between Range Road 3050 and Range Road 3045.
The RM’s public works crews will be carrying out several in-house projects involving gravel road buildups and seal coating.
Three of the top priority projects for in-house work by the RM include:
* a one-mile stretch of Township Road 374 between Range Road 3044 and Range Road 3045 in Division 1;
* a two-mile section of Township Road 374 between Range Road 3064 and Range Road 3070 in Division 4;
* a 1.1 mile piece of Township Road 395 from Highway 12 to Range Road 3055 in Division 7.
While the projects are all expected to be completed this year, they are all dependent on weather. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has also thrown some uncertainty into the mix.