By Brady Ratzlaff

Mayor covers many topics during the State of the City Address

May 10, 2018 | 5:29 PM

Grande Prairie Mayor Bill Given covered a wide range of topics at his annual State of the City Address today (May 10).

He touched on the signs of an improving economy, potholes, upcoming road closures, and affordable housing.

For example, the Downtown Incentives Program has awarded $2.4 million to 26 businesses, providing enhanced facades.

Potholes in the City will continue to be an on-going issue as the City has already filled 3,600 compared to 6,300 in 2017.

City encourages residents and visitors to continue shopping and dining downtown during construction this summer. Phase 3 of project affects 100 Ave. from 100 St. to 102 St., completion expected by fall. #GPStateoftheCity18 #gpab

— CityofGrandePrairie (@CityofGP) May 10, 2018

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“One of the things that hasn’t yet come back is our home construction,” said Given. “Ultimately, if you play that out over the next number of months, we could run into a situation where more and more people are coming to Grande Prairie because of the economic opportunities. If we have housing available for them we could see a situation, as we have in the past, where rental rates increase to unaffordable levels and availability is almost next to nothing.”

Eastlink Centre visits are also up.

According to Given, there were 8,000 more pool visits, 5,000 more to the fitness facility, and another 5,000 more to the fieldhouse between September 2017 and March of this year.

“Eastlink Centre has been really well appreciated and well adopted in our community.  I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone in the community that we went through a challenging time which can be expected with a new facility like this. I am happy to report today that the results are showing that people are coming to the Eastlink Centre in droves and our team there is really ready for that.”

He adds one sign of a better economy is an increase in the number of oversized vehicles getting permits to run in the City.

“As far back to November of 2016, we saw them shoot up to 1,100 in a single month. Through the downturn, we were seeing in the area of 500 to 600 oversized dimensional vehicles traveling through the City. We’ve seen that rapid pace sustained since 2016, in fact, we have seen it increase in 2017 and 2018.”

Given also spoke on projects that are on a budget and set to be completed on time. After being closed in 2013, the Bear Creek Outdoor Pool is set to reopen to the public this summer. The Community Knowledge Campus Grandstand is also set to be complete in time for the Alberta Summer Games. 

Given touches on Priority Based Budgeting & taxes during speech this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/y3729kDytv

— EverythingGP (@EverythingGPAB) May 10, 2018