Trail issues release saying boundary extension one step closer
By City of Trail
The City of Trail is one step closer to extending its boundaries into Columbia Gardens (Electoral Area A). As of Wednesday, July 2, the city has officially received support from the property owners in the proposed extended region. As directed by the province, a letter was sent to all residents who would be impacted by the extension. The city received only one response from a property owner indicating they preferred the status quo; therefore there would appear to be very strong support from the impacted property owners to proceed.
“Consent from the property owners marks a significant milestone in this process,” said City of Trail Mayor Dieter Bogs. “We feel confident the final outcome will be successful and we can move forward with further developments and improvements. The city sees this extension has an economic opportunity for the entire region. Once the boundary extension is approved, council will look to develop a plan that supports future growth and development where practical.”
Another item to finalize before formally moving forward is obtaining the approval of the city’s electors. The Alternative Approval Process (AAP) was approved by council on May 29 and concludes on July 7.
“We have not heard of, nor do we anticipate a petition from the city’s electors,” continues Bogs. “We sense the support of the community as we have clearly outlined the benefits and opportunities for local service and infrastructure development along with the governance advantages. We are now getting very close to finalizing the process and ideally council’s final request for the province to approve the boundary extension will occur in the next few months.”
Lastly, the city will meet with legal representatives from the Province and Teck next week to discuss the Supplementary Letters Patent (SLP) provisions. These will include conditions that would be entrenched in the incorporation document. In addition, the city has contacted the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) and hopes to discuss the matter pertaining to the city providing financial mitigation to the impacted regional services in the near future.
