Residents on a small close in Innisfail gave town council an earful about the deteriorating pavement and sinkhole that keeps coming back on their street.
A delegation led by resident Patt Churchill and Mark Kemball, whose mother lives on the close, made a presentation to town council at their July 9 meeting.
Kemball described a small sinkhole on 53rd Avenue Close, south of 50th Street, that first started showing up in 2013.
“I don’t think the pavement and what’s below it was ever prepped properly,” said Kemball. “I think that’s the biggest issue. The court has never been that great and always had some issues.
“I was staying at my mom’s for a time and one of the neighbours backed out and noticed there was a hole in the pavement. We could stick a broom handle in it. The hole was only four or five inches across, and it was almost circular, and you could stick the broom handle in and it was deeper than the handle.”
The town was called and the hole was blocked off. The street has largely become a patchwork of pavement sealing patches.
The concern on the street is that it has been steadily deteriorating.
“There are tons of patches,” said Kemball. “After a rain event, you can drive through there and really see the dips and doodles. We just wanted to get it on the town’s radar.”
The response from town council was to have city staff take a look at the problem and assess the urgency.
Mayor Jim Romane said town staff are going to check out the street, if they haven’t already.
“There are definitely some low spots out there,” said Romane. “The staff are going to check into it and make sure there is nothing dangerous about it. Then they’ll report back to council.”
Kemball said they don’t expect it to be fixed immediately, because it is a close and not a major road for the community. But they appreciated having their voices heard and are encouraged it is being looked at and could be added to the town’s list of infrastructure repair.
“It’s a street that definitely needs consideration to be torn apart, prepped properly and repaved,” said Kemball. “It’s not a major thoroughfare, but it has been in rough shape for a long time.”
The matter will come up at during the next budget deliberations.
mcrawford@reddeeradvocate.com
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