The former site of Leroy's Motor Inn on Strathpoint is currently seeing development of a new commercial area. The development of this new commercial area has gone faster than anticipated, with projections of it being partially open by the end of this year.

This could cause some problems for the central sanitary trunk upgrade project, which was scheduled to start in 2023. This sanitary line collects around 80 per cent of the town's sanitary flow and is nearing its capacity, which could cause some development issues in the future. Because of this, it was planned that over the next 5 years, this line would see upgrades to prevent any upcoming issues.

The plan to improve this line has already been met with a problem from the Strathpoint development, as the pipe runs under this land. If the project would start in 2023 as planned, it would significantly disrupt the Strathpoint project. To work around this, Ethan Wilson with infrastructure services explains how they have worked together to find a way to make both projects work.

"We've started to coordinate with the developer to see what works for them, what works for the town, and we've come up with the possibility of them installing the sanitary line for us, and then the town would reimburse them for the costs of that. In order to do that, we would have the engineers that designed the project be on site at the necessary points to make sure that it's done correctly."

The costs of building through this section would be around $315 000. Wilson recommends the town takes this from the $850 000 they have in the utility reserves. The alternative would be to take a loan or take on debt, which would significantly alter the town's operating budget.

While this was an unexpected development in the sewer upgrade plans, Wilson says it's not unusual to face problems like this. He expects a lot more work to be required as this project continues.

"it's not ideal but not unusual. So this trunk line, as it goes through that property, once it crosses the highway it actually goes through the backyard of pretty much every other property on the way to the wastewater treatment plant. So next year will be interesting, there will be a lot of coordination required with businesses in order to complete that project."

If everything goes as planned, this project will be done by 2028.

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