Title
Range Road 23 Gravel Pit Access Road
Recommendation
That the Governance & Priorities Committee direct Administration to abandon, reclaim and barricade the Range Road 23 Gravel Pit access road.
Body
Purpose
At the January 17, 2012 Governance and Priorities Committee Meeting Range Road 23 local area residents requested Council support the abandonment and removal of the Range Road 23 Gravel Pit access road.
Summary
Range Road 23 Gravel Pit is located along the north side of the North Saskatchewan River within the NE 1/4 Sec 33-50-02-W5M.
Parkland County received Provincial approval to construct an access road and extract gravel from this location through a License of Occupation (LOC) and a Surface Material Lease (SML) issued in December 1984 and January 1985 respectively. With that approval Parkland County constructed an access road from the end of Range Road 23 to the North Saskatchewan River Shoreline (gravel deposit) and started to extract and produce roadway traffic gravel in 1985. The extraction, production and hauling of gravel continued up to 1991 with an additional small amount being removed in 2002 as part of the SML reclamation construction.
The LOC and SML both require Parkland County to reclaim the area by contouring the property, replacing the organic soil and establishing a growth of vegetation on all disturbed areas. The majority of this work on the SML (gravel stockpile and extraction area) has been completed however the reclamation work on the LOC (access road) has not commenced to date. Administration, under the direction of Council, has postponed the LOC reclamation as a result of the public interest in maintaining access to this area for outdoor recreation.
In an effort to better understand the concerns brought forward by the adjacent local residents and the desire by other residents to maintain access and use of this area; Council directed Administration to organize a town hall meeting and report on the activities and potential soluti...
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