The future of the city’s portion of Dog Creek Road was debated during the committee of the whole meeting Tuesday, Aug. 24, including the idea of gifting it back to the province.
In August the city wrote to the provincial government to request monetary compensation for the city to complete remediation works of Dog Creek Road from Highway 20 to the municipal boundary, now and on an ongoing basis as needed until such time as the ground water and slide issues in the area are addressed.
Along with the request, the city asked for a reply within two weeks, but to date has not heard back.
READ MORE: City of Williams Lake to request provincial funding for Dog Creek Road remediation
During the meeting, council voted on four motions, which will be brought to the next regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 31 for further consideration.
A motion to defer making a decision on the road until after council attends the Union of B.C. Municipalities Convention from Sept. 14 to 17 brought forth by Coun. Jason Ryll was defeated.
When he made the motion, Ryll said he would like council to make one final attempt to meet with ministers of forests and transportation at UBCM to talk about cost sharing the venture of fixing Dog Creek Road and addressing the movement that is happening on Crown land outside city boundaries that is impacting city infrastructure.
Ryll made a second motion that the city website have something to make it easier for residents to write to government with concerns about Dog Creek Road.
His motion was endorsed.
Coun. Scott Nelson recommended that the city gift its portion of the road back to the government.
Council endorsed the recommendation unanimously.
Mayor Walt Cobb recommended the fourth motion, which was endorsed, to begin the process of creating a bylaw for the possible closure of a portion of Dog Creek Road and that the bylaw be brought to the next council meeting for first and second reading.
Cobb said earlier he did not agree with waiting until after UBCM to get started because the process of closing the road would take some time.
“It’s an arterial road and I think if we stall it one more time, we are only giving the government the opportunity to stall their side one more time,” said Cobb.
Council also agreed that public input will be sought on any proposed closure of the road before any final decisions are made.
READ MORE: Quotes to repave city’s portion of Dog Creek road hover around $430,000
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