Kensington infrastructure project cancelled

The Town of Kensington is cancelling a significant infrastructure project with help from the provincial government.

The province has agreed to buy a set of engineering designs the town spent federal money on, so the town can avoid having to pay back the cost to Ottawa.

The situation revolves around the town’s move earlier this year to give up ownership of its streets to the Department of Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy. Responsibility for maintaining the streets and paying for snow clearing transferred to the province on Nov. 1, while the actual ownership is being gradually migrated over time.

In 2015 the town applied for and was approved to receive funding under the federal Building Canada Fund.

It intended to install a storm drainage system in the Linwood Drive/Pleasant Street/ Maple Lane area of the community.

The total project was valued at $1,401,555 and the town got access to $934,370 under the federal fund. However, a review of the town’s finances in 2016, plus additional unforeseen costs related the project, put the town’s ability to complete it in question.

But by the time the town decided to give up responsibility for its streets, which would put the drainage project into the hands of the province anyway, it had already spent $40,804 of its federal grant money on engineering designs. In order to officially cancel the project, the town had to pay back the money.

As part of the street handover, the province has agreed to buy the designs from the town for the amount they paid for them.

Mayor Rowan Caseley said Wednesday that the storm drainage project can still go ahead in the future, but the town will have to solicit the province to make it happen.