Conditional support for Tour of Alberta
Although many questions remain—including how to finance the $150,000 rights fee—council is prepared to provide its conditional support to the Tour of Alberta, allowing the organization to move forward with its logistical planning for 2015.
Organizers of the professional cycling event—which sees 120 world-class athletes cycle upwards of 700 kms in six days—attended the Oct. 21 council meeting, to gauge whether the community is interested in hosting next year’s Stage 2 finish line, giving council until the end of the month to express its support.
At the Oct. 28 committee-of-the-whole meeting, council decided that at the following week’s regular meeting of council, a motion would come forward stating council’s support, including some form of monetary support, on the condition that Parks Canada approves the use of its highways; that both Parks and council approve of the route once it’s selected; and that the town and park have the necessary infrastructure to host the event.
Council didn’t discuss how much monetary support it would commit to. Instead, it requested administration put together a document with the amounts the municipality contributed to the Special Olympics, Alberta Winter Games and Canada Winter Games, when each of the events came to town.
Since the next regular meeting of council is Nov. 4, and is passed the deadline set by the Tour of Alberta to express support, Mayor Richard Ireland said he would contact Duane Vienneau, the tour’s executive director, and inform him of the impeding motion.
Municipality books arena, nixes rodeo
Administration was given the go-ahead to book the Jasper Arena for next August, ensuring that last year’s rodeo was the last to occur in the venue.
Last spring, council informed the Jasper Heritage Rodeo Association that 2014 would be its last year utilizing the arena for its four-day event and suggested the association work to find an outdoor venue, so the rodeo could return to its roots.
Council’s decision came after a long debate around the cost of cleaning the arena following a rodeo event—a discussion that became pertinent after the Jan. 26 arena fire, which saw the entire building scrubbed from top to bottom by professional cleaners.
On Oct. 7, administration brought forward a request for decision, asking council’s permission to move forward with booking the arena for August. The request came as a surprise to council, which felt booking was an administrative decision and suggested it should be a request for direction, rather than decision. When it returned to council Oct. 21 as a request for direction, administration was told to conduct business as usual.
Skywalk receives design award
The controversial Glacier Skywalk was recognized in a national design competition earlier this month, winning the top prize for outstanding design-build project.
The award came from the Canadian Design-Build Institute (CDBI) during the National Design-Build Conference in Victoria, B.C.
This isn’t the structure’s first award. In 2011, it won an international architectural award.
The Skywalk is a an arc of glass and steel jutting out almost 280 metres above the Sunwapta Valley.
The glass-floored observation walkway, which allows visitors to see down to the valley floor, opened for business in May and attracted thousands of visitors over the course of the summer.
