Heritage Ranch, the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and Red Tourism’s visitor centre will be hooked up to the city’s water and sewer systems as part of a two-phase project just getting underway.
The first phase will see services extended to Heritage Ranch, which currently relies on well water and a septic system. Construction has just begun on the project that will take until about the end of October to complete.
Extending services to the tourism offices and sports hall of fame will follow next year.
Heritage Ranch operator Joel Martens said the new services are welcome at the site, where the Westlake Grill restaurant is also located.
“This is definitely an improvement,” he said. “There are cost savings as well.”
While some vegetation and trees must be removed to make way for the new lines, Martens said the city has done its best to limit the impact and even revised an earlier route to further reduce the amount of natural vegetation disturbed.
Some of the bigger trees were saved by running the lines along existing paved areas.
During construction, the ranch and the restaurant will remain open.
The city has big plans for Heritage Ranch. Next year, work is expected to start on a project to build additions on to the kitchen, dining room, offices and outdoor decking. Washrooms will also be made wheelchair accessible and the kitchen and main entrances will be reconfigured.